BANDING TOGETHER

Southern China's Jiulian Zhenren beats off competition from nine other music groups to win a major contest, Chen Nan reports.

After a five-hour bus journey and a four-hour flight, four young men made their first trip to Beijing from their hometown, Lianping county, Guangdong province. Instead of visiting tourist attractions, like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, they walked into a live house venue located in downtown Beijing, where they were going to perform the next evening.

The band, named Jiulian Zhenren (after a mountain in their hometown), comprising guitarist and singer-songwriter Ouyang Haopeng, trumpet player-singer Mai Haipeng, drummer Wu Feng and bassist Ye Wanli, was among the 10 finalists of the 2018 Original Band Contest, which was held at Tango Club in Beijing on Nov 10.