Expect the unexpected

In 2010, a trio of Beijing-based indie-folk singer-songwriters formed the Mayouyeah label. They all had day jobs but got together at the weekend to perform their original songs at small bars and live-house venues around the capital. Relatively unknown back then, they gradually built up a fan base through their trademark contemporary style featuring gentle guitar-driven melodies and poetic lyrics known as minyao - or "folk ballads".

Then something unexpected happened. Four years after they launched the label, the founding artists - Ma Di, Song Dongye and You 13, whose real name is Tang Yao - held a concert at the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium.

More than 5,000 people sang along with them that day and the songs, such as Ma's Nan Shan Nan (South of the South Mountain), and Song's Anheqiao Bei (Anheqiao Bridge North), won rave reviews and earned them millions of online followers.