Tan Weiwei is not widely known in China, particularly among Zheng’s generation. The 40-year-old singer is seen as neither young nor commercial enough. “She’s classically trained, sings at a high level. It’s not easy to sing along to. My generation prefers rappers and hip-hop. Kris Wu is a good example—he’s very popular.”

For Zheng, Tan Weiwei is interesting not only musically, but sociologically too. “She dares to point out the negative sides of how the Chinese view women. Usually the emphasis is on a positive ideal: that Chinese girls should always be happy, sweet, gentle and charming. That’s a traditional male image of women. It implies that for a girl, getting an education is not important. But getting married and having children is—you should take care of your husband and children.”

These values continue to prevail, especially in rural and inland areas. Zheng herself grew up in Guangzhou, a large, prosperous city near Hong Kong, and her parents, who both studied English, are relatively open minded. “My mother works and can otherwise do what she wants, but only because my father approves. Which is clearly not right. The man is the boss and the woman is seen as a second-class citizen—that’s a big problem. The Chinese government wants to convey a purely positive image; abuses such as violence against women are ignored. You won’t find anything about it on Chinese Twitter.”