Hip Hop in China (Blog)

Self introduction

Angela (L) & Lila (R)

Dongting is a research blog on Hip Hop in China. It is a space to share the music and the stories of the Hip Hop artists we encounter, the questions we explore, and the ideas we develop. Dongting is not a chronological history nor is it a comprehensive profile of Hip Hop in China. Rather, it is a our personal record of what we find interesting to listen to and pleasing to the ear.

About Angela Steele

Angela graduated from Stanford University in 2006 with a B.A. with Honors in Cultural & Social Anthropology. Her undergraduate thesis "Zai Beijing: A Cultural Study of Hip Hop" explored the history and social significance of Hip Hop in Beijing, China. From 2005-2006 she worked as a researcher at the Hiphop Archive at Stanford. She is a 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholar, currently researching ways in which the production of Hip Hop music in China informs the construction of modern identities and mediates desire.

About Lila Babb

Lila Babb graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies in 2007. Completing her major a semester early, she spent the Spring of 2007 working at Yunnan Daytop's Drug Rehabilitation and HIV/AIDS Care Center in Kunming, China. In the future she plans to go back to school for Public Health/Nursing with the goal of promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Chinese and Chinese-American communities. A fan of Hip Hop, Lila worked double-shifts at a bustling New York City restaurant in order to travel alongside Angela as her research partner in exploring and documenting the Chinese Hip Hop scene.