Chinese music is down in the dumps because its so commercialised. If you are not a promoted artiste by a big record company, you cannot even think of ever making it to the CD shops. Hence even great albums by Jane Zhang or the more esoteric choices such as Bondy Chiu will find it almost impossible to reach the shops. Independent labels, well, you can forget them. Just try and get Roger Wang's albums or Paul Ponnodurai's album, you will have a better chance of locating a Tibetan chant album or a stupid House music album from Ibiza (yea, they are so talented). The other gripe is that Chinese albums packaging is so over the top now... just go to the Chinese music section, its ridiculous, the CDs now come in whatever shapes and sizes they like... they cannot even fit into the display shelves properly. I laughed when I saw Rock Records displaying some of these stupid boxes on the floor.... these marketing fuckers are just going bonkers. I think I have actually seen one thats triangular. So, what to do, buy from the internet la. Catering only to big record companies and heavily promoted stars basically shapes and censors what we listen. It also makes it that much harder for genuine artistes and talents who are just starting out, to bring their music to a wider audience.
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