If we take a look at the songs

In the vast provinces, where CDs were never a main media for music, most songs are disseminated through either Internet cafes or KTVs, and what people listen to there is often quite different from what people like in Beijing and Shanghai.

If we take a look at the songs that are popular in provincial areas, there is a higher percentage of the so-called "ethnic trend". Songs like Taking a Train to Lhasa by Xu Qianya or Moonlight over the Lotus Pond by Phoenix Legend are all based on the traditional Chinese pentatonic scale, while many also feature Chinese instruments, making it easy for these songs to resonate among people who are not yet that cosmopolitan.

In terms of rhythm the "ethnic trend" songs usually have strong beats to dance to. They sometimes remind one of Hollywood East, a series of tape cassettes of remixed Western disco music that used to be popular in China in the 1980s, but "ethnic trend" songs are certainly more localized.

Those provincial hits likely better represent the situation of Chinese pop music, just like provincial areas better represent the country — compared to the few developed coastal metropolises.