Beijing Pays Homage to Detroit Techno

Photo by Christina Hu/Reuters

Detroit isn’t the only city to host an electronic music festival in late May. In Beijing upwards of 3,000 people danced below, creaking the floorboards and stomping the grass, moving to the sound that bounced trapped between the walls, reveling in a venue would have made the Detroit pioneers of techno proud. A line of smiling Chinese students did the conga through the crowd.

It seemed too good to be true, and in the end it was. But for the 10 or so hours before the local Chaoyang police department closed it down due to safety concerns, a host of international acts and local talent rocked Intro 2009, an event billed as China’s first outdoor electronic music festival.

GlobalPost’s David Green covered this event.