Xuzhou

Xuzhou serves up Chinese pop with a polished sheen. It's the kind of station you'd hear in a Shanghai shopping mall or a Beijing taxi. The tracks are relentlessly upbeat - think synthetic beats and catchy choruses. Production values are high, but the predictability can get tiresome. You won't find deep cuts or experimental B-sides here. That's not the point. Xuzhou live is about the now: the biggest C-Pop hits, repeated until they're ingrained. For a foreign listener, it's a fascinating window into China's mainstream music taste. The DJs chatter in Mandarin, but the music transcends language.…