{"id":870159,"date":"2025-12-05T12:32:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=870159"},"modified":"2025-12-05T12:32:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:32:00","slug":"in-pictures-the-changing-face-of-chinas-underground-club-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=870159","title":{"rendered":"In pictures: The changing face of China\u2019s underground club scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Night<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Gallery \/ 20 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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China\u2019s club scene has been shifting for years. The energy once held together by dance floors, tight-knit crews and cross-city connections is now splintering under the pressure of mounting closures. It\u2019s this changing ecosystem that photographer Sokol<\/a> has been tracing, moving from club to club to document the communities still showing up for, and on, the dance floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sokol\u2019s first immersion into the scene came during a visit to Chengdu\u2019s .TAG club in 2021, in the depths of the pandemic. \u201cThe whole world was wrapped in uncertainty, not knowing when it would end. But here on the 21st floor, life was pulsating,\u201d he recalls, taking in the venue\u2019s famed panoramic view over the surrounding residential blocks. \u201cThat night, I felt as if nothing in the world had happened at all. Everyone was dancing, happy, welcoming the gentle rays of sunrise right on the dance floor. It was a moment I had to capture.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, Sokol began documenting club spaces across China, moving between Shanghai\u2019s sticky, neon-lit floors in clubs like Exit and Abyss, to smaller, makeshift industrial spaces like Urumqi\u2019s Rich Club and Lhasa\u2019s Ill Club. As he compiled his project, titled <\/span>A Night<\/span><\/em>, he noticed differences in the rhythm of the spaces across China. \u201cIn Shanghai, people come to socialise,\u201d he says. \u201cBut in smaller cities, people don\u2019t worry as much about how they look or what they wear; they go wild. That\u2019s what creates the special vibe in China that everyone has come to love.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Photography Sokol<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Those contrasts are visible throughout the project. In some clubs, the rooms are packed with sweating bodies, painted by overhead neon panels and hyper-saturated in Sokol\u2019s shots. In others, the dancefloors are smaller, housed in makeshift industrial spaces and clouded with pooling cigarette smoke. \u201cSome spaces speak for themselves \u2013 in those moments, I\u2019m just a documentarian, capturing what unfolds in a second, without interference. In others, I wait for the right moment \u2013 when the light feels true, when the energy peaks \u2013 and return again and again to build a complete and honest portrait of the place,\u201d he explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

When China reopened its borders in 2023, Sokol captured the nightlife landscape shifting once more. \u201cEverything has changed, and keeps changing every single day,\u201d he observes. \u201cWhile China was closed, there was this strong sense of solidarity; DJs toured between cities, and everyone supported each other. Now, with international lineups booked almost nightly, local DJs often play to smaller crowds, and that tight-knit support has faded. It\u2019s entered a new phase, a kind of survival mode.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Photography Sokol<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Amid the raucous clubbers captured in A Night<\/em>, a few familiar faces appear: Raf Simons<\/a> at an after-party, Rick Owens<\/a> and Mich\u00e8le Lamy<\/a> at Shanghai\u2019s ABYSS. Their presence speaks to the post-pandemic wave of brand-backed events that has swept across China\u2019s nightlife, bringing international DJs and high-production parties with them. \u201cI\u2019d say it has fundamentally reshaped the whole scene \u2013 especially in Shanghai. Why go to a regular club when there\u2019s practically a brand event happening every day, complete with its own after-party?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While some of these brand-backed events removed the charm he had once captured on the dancefloors, not all were lifeless. \u201cSome parties break through and actually nurture community. Like the huge NTS \u00d7 Diesel event in Beijing in 2023, featuring only local DJs. Or the Rick Owens parties in Hangzhou last year,\u201d he says. \u201cYou could literally find yourself dancing next to Raf Simons or Demna<\/a> on the dance floor. It\u2019s that kind of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Rick<\/span><\/span>
Photography Sokol<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Even as new events and brand-backed parties surged, many of China\u2019s beloved venues have disappeared, leaving holes in the nightlife ecosystem. In Shanghai alone, iconic spaces like Elevator, System, All Club, Dada, and 44KW have shuttered. .TAG in Chengdu closed after nearly 12 years<\/a>, while Hangzhou\u2019s Loopy Club ceased operations after nine. \u201cIt\u2019s been a wave of endings,\u201d Sokol says, \u201ceach place taking a piece of the night with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what makes documentation like this so important. \u201cFrom the very beginning, I understood this was unique material, something that would preserve our memories, the memories of my youth spent here,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere\u2019s a responsibility to witness, when things are transforming so quickly \u2013 before the real story gets lost or forgotten.\u201d While <\/span>A Night <\/span><\/em>feels complete for now, it\u2019s a project Sokol wishes to return to, with the aim that more clubs will begin to open rather than close, and that the communities he\u2019s documented will continue keeping the scene alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69234\/1\/photography-changing-face-china-underground-club-scene-sokol-nightlife<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Night Gallery \/ 20 images China\u2019s club scene has been shifting for years. The energy once held together by dance floors, tight-knit crews and cross-city connections is now splintering under the pressure of mounting closures. It\u2019s this changing ecosystem that photographer Sokol has been tracing, moving from club to club to document the communities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":870160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-870159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=870159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/870160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=870159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=870159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=870159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}