Mandopop

Mandopop is popular music sung in Mandarin Chinese, the dominant commercial pop idiom of Taiwan, mainland China and the wider Sinophone world. Rooted in the shidaiqu of 1930s Shanghai and rebuilt in postwar Taiwan, it centres on melodic balladry: pentatonic-inflected melody, orchestral and later electronic arrangement, and singing prioritising clarity and emotional directness. From *Teresa Teng*'s pan-Asian reach to the R&B and hip-hop hybrids of *Jay Chou* and the stadium scale of contemporary idols, Mandopop defines the mainstream of Chinese-language popular music worldwide.