BEIJING, May 21 -- China's first electronic music festival is set to shake Beijing this weekend, giving DJs and their disciples the official stamp of approval for what used to be seen as a decadent Western youth movement.

    INTRO 2009 (Ideas Need to Reach Out) stars more than 20 foreign and local VJs and DJs playing 15 hours of continuous music at D-Park in the 798 Art Zone, to an expected audience of 10,000 people.

    Although its status as the first electronic music festival is disputed, it should be a groundbreaking event, further graphic proof of the country's opening-up. While festivals have become one of the rites of summer, raves or dance parties have until now been forced underground because of their association with illegal activities and drugs.

    The situation came to a head in 2005 when a shindig on the Great Wall at Jinshanling, three hours from Beijing, was said to involve up to 1,500 revelers taking drugs, urinating and copulating on the World Heritage Site.

    Local authorities had allowed some similar events to be held on the Wall (and elsewhere) since 1988 but the ensuing media storm prompted legislation protecting the Wall from similar depredations, effectively closing the doors on more raves.

    Even so, big-name DJs and clubbing have become an integral part of the country's evolving entertainment scene. Following the Olympics last year and the government's more nurturing approach to youth culture, raves have been re-branded.

    INTRO will focus on electronic music as an art form, hoping to drag rave out from its underground shadows into the light of day.
Acupuncture Records managing director Miao Wong says electronic music is not intrinsically anti-social. On the contrary, it is simply a kind of music played by DJs and a lifestyle choice for its fans. "There is always a positive and negative," she says. "People can do bad things but we want to focus on the bright side and do it right."

    The Party supports this party. It is part of the Meet In Beijing Arts Festival, which is sponsored by the China Performing Arts Agency (CPAA), under the Ministry of Culture, Beijing municipal government and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

    First held in 2000, the festival will have 50 performing groups this year, comprising 600 artists from 20 countries, including Scottish ballet, Spanish flamenco and tango from Argentina.

    Wong says government involvement means that electronic music culture is "steered in the right direction".

    "The CPAA is like a window for the world," she declares. "Nothing like this has been put on before. Chinese culture is usually associated with the Peking Opera, kungfu and acrobatics, that sort of thing. It doesn't really show off modern Chinese urban culture and we are doing that."

    Yao Shuo, managing director of CPAA, agrees and says that since the Olympics there have been new challenges in terms of presenting events with an international and youthful edge. "Although we already have clubs with this kind of music and lifestyle it is a good opportunity to put on a different kind of outdoor activity that is lively and fashionable," he says.

    Asked whether he was aware of rave music's associations with illegal activities and drugs, Yao says: "I don't really know about the past and all those things. The point is electronic music is a form of art - it sounds fresh, fun and will be a healthy way for young people to enjoy themselves, within the regulations."

    The party also gets a thumbs-up from the Goethe Institut, which promotes German culture worldwide and whose sponsorship has given the event added diplomatic gloss. Moreover, the European country also supplies one of the headliners at INTRO in the form of Chris Liebing, a winner of Germany's "Best National DJ" award.

    Someone with a firm grasp of the history of electronic music in Asia is DJ @llen, also known as the "Godfather of Electronic Music in Taiwan", who currently plies his trade in Beijing. An organizer and DJ of Taipei's first rave in 1995, he says it was a do-it-yourself operation, using his own turntables and rented loudspeakers.

    "It's harder to do DIY parties here because of the police and government. It (the mainland) has skipped most of the DIY stuff and gone straight to the commercial this is a very professionally organized event - just look at the promotion and list of sponsors."