But enough about the music…what about that freakin’ video? Castles rising up out of the earth? Pitched Mortal Kombat viewed through a scrying pool? The costumes and set-pieces? And that kick-ass “rocks flying up into the air effect” that you normally only see when an anime character gets really, really mad? Damn!

I mean, I don’t know if China is a wonderful place for artists or not, but it sure looks like a pretty nice place for music videos.

It’s not unusual to see that the Chinese government produced Sa Dingding’s album. This is probably more normal for them than it is for us. Even Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets surrenders half his NBA salary, and perhaps even part of his sponsorship revenue as well, to the Chinese government (their rule, not his).

In fact, if one is Chinese, it’s tricky business to run your own company without the Chinese government meddling. I mean, it is The People’s Republic, after all – so anything you create is everyone else’s, too. Not always, but it has been that way for years, even though many things are changing now to reflect a more capitalist culture(with Communist Party overtones).

I suppose I could go on and on, but let’s not talk politics – China is a wonderful place for artists.