Jacky Cheung is among Hong Kong's top pop stars.

October 4, 1999
Web posted at: 4:33 p.m. EST (2033 GMT)

A CNN WorldBeat Report

HONG KONG (CNN) -- It may still be under new ownership, but Hong Kong under China's control is the same mix of business and bustle that is was when the British flag flew here. That's as true for the music business as it is for any other. In Hong Kong, huge pop-music sales belie the size of the tiny territory.

Leon Lai, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok are the big names in this biz. They built the foundations of Hong Kong's thriving pop scene via the easy-listening ballad. Accessible and bankable, it's their collective trademark.

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CNN WorldBeat's Serena Yang checks out the Hong Kong music scene Windows Media 28K 80K

But Cheung -- whose albums routinely sell millions of copies worldwide -- fears that his Hong Kong compatriots, so prevalent now in the Asian-Pacific music scene, lack direction and need fresh talent to challenge them.

In fact, there are signs that Hong Kong is beginning to lose ground to Japanese and Taiwan competition. Singers like Taiwan's A-Mei, a "Mando-pop" singer who performs in sequined miniskirts and 15-centimeter (7-inch) heels, are bringing more diversity and a more energetic sound, without straying from commercial tastes.

As CNN WorldBeat found, the Taiwan new wave may be dominating the cash registers soon.