Underground voices

Xu Zhenfei sings while playing the guitar for passengers in a subway train in Beijing. Zou Hong / China Daily

Beijing's subway stations and tunnels are giving amateur vocalists platforms from which to sound out. Chen Nan tunes in.

Xu Zhenfei arrives at the Dongzhimen subway station, one of downtown Beijing's node stops.

Unlike the other passengers, who exit the station to go to work, Xu's work starts in the subway.

The 28-year-old is a busker, who sings self-composed songs while strumming his guitar.

He usually leaves his home in Changping district in the city's outskirts at 7:30 am, transits at the Xizhimen subway station and arrives at the Dongzhimen stop after the office crowd at 9 am.

"The good thing about there being fewer passengers on the train is that those who are around will pay attention to my songs," he says, smiling.

Xu is one of many musicians, who spend their days in the capital's subway stations or tunnels, performing for streams of commuters. Some singers are professional musicians, but many are amateurs. They have different goals. Some perform for a living, while others do it as a hobby - and most are a mix of both.

Becoming a subway musician isn't for the bashful.

Xu introduces himself to the many stern-looking passengers, saying: "I am Xiao Fei. I am a singer and songwriter. Singing is my dream."

Xu then starts crooning, pausing to give brief explanations at the start of each song.

"I don't ask for too much. I only want to sing my own songs," he says, before singing in his coarse voice.

Some passengers toss money in his black guitar case. Many clap, and a few ask if he wrote the songs himself. Xu nods, proudly.

Xu usually performs three rounds of the same songs on the trip between the Xizhimen and Dongzhimen subway stations, which takes more than an hour. He doesn't use speakers and tries to sing as loudly as possible.

But he stops when he sees passengers, who are reading, pregnant or sleeping, to avoid disturbing them.

The native of Hengshui, Hebei province, grew up with his grandmother since age 4, when his father passed away and his mother remarried. Poverty forced him to drop out of school at age 12.

He left his hometown and cultivated a love for music.

Xu had only 50 yuan ($8) in his pocket when he first arrived in Beijing in 2000.

He worked as a waiter and often waited outside the Beijing Film Academy for temporary acting jobs. He later made friends with some singers performing in subway tunnels and started studying guitar with them.

In 2000, veteran singer-songwriter Xu Wei walked into the mainstream spotlight after 10 years of playing in tunnels and small bars - a development that greatly encouraged Xu Zhenfei and other independent singers.

Xu Zhenfei saved up after half a year of working as a plaza security guard, earning 550 yuan a month. He bought his first guitar - the cheapest in the shop - for 300 yuan and enrolled in proper lessons.