DAI BING'S elders were upset when he quit his government Job last year. But they were aghast when he spent his entire savings on a synthesizer and trained his girlfriend lo play on the keyboard.

Now known as the 'D D Rhythms. Dai and his girlfriend have become part of Beijing's Western music circuit. Appreciative whistles greet their original songs that lalk of "jobs with no respect" and "making a living but wasting time", their youthful audience swaying energetically to the beat.

Such a scene would not have been possible immediately- after the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, where rock bands and singers had entertained the prodemocracy students for days before the tanks rolled in, killing hundreds.

But with Beijing's present reformist altitude. Chinese officialdom has become more tolerant and is slowly beginning to recognise that Chinese rockers and their "noisy" songs are here to stay.

Although largely ignored by the state-controlled media, famous Chinese rock stars like Cui Jian have carved a niche tn a fledgling music genre that has growing following in China today.

Cultural specialists here say Beijing is also hoping that the "new music" will soon acquire Chinese characteristics.

"Officially, rock music and rock singers are still viewed as innovative, rebellious and threatening," says Chinese cultural history specialist Geramie Barme. "But now rock music and the Chinese government Hve In the gray zone of cultural tolerance."

Rock performances often still go unpublicised, and their excessive promotion is frowned upon by authorities. But Chinese officials now allow rock concerts to be held quite openly, although they have a final say on the venue and audience number. some oanas disguise their concerts as benefit shows or private parties. There are also hotels authorised to hold musical performances in their restaurants.

Large-scale stadium performances arc still banned, and most of the shows are strictly out-of-bounds to foreigners.

By permitting rock performances. Barme says the officials hoj>e "this most feral arid commercial form of Western culture will be safely assimilated in the Chinese soy sauce vat".

Indeed, some say Chinese rock music is already distinguishable from that churned out by popular Hong Kong and Taiwan stars.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese singers like Andy Lou. Jacky

Chuang and Leon Li Ming are hot sellers in China. Their popularity, says a local cultural magazine editor, lies in ilwtr skill in presenting themselves as "drcamboats."

In contrast, the songs of local rock groups are about the realities and dilemmas faced by Chinese youth. Says the editor: "Pop songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan focus on love and feelings while mainland composers care more about social problems and human virtues."

Songs of Chinese rockers . like Cui Jian, for instance, have titles like The Last Complaint' and 'Tolerance', and have hard-hitting lyrics laced with double entendres and political overtones.

Cui's song Nothing to My Name' became the signature tune of the Tiananmen Square student demonstrations ’four years ago. Cui was able to secure formal official permission to hold a concert again only last year.

Beijing's approximately Iwo dozen rock bands are not allowed to play their music on the radio or on television and most local recording companies' stfll refuse to touch their songs. The bands and singers arc also required to register themselves officially.

Without the proper papers, they are not allowed to perform.

"We are in a sense underground," says a rock impresario who helps the bands get permission to give public concerts.

Authorities.prefer the safer pop stars. In an unprecedented move, the government even organised a recent benefit pop concert for flood victims last month. The venue

was the Great Hall of the People, usually the site of meetings of the Communist Party.

Attended by senior party members, the show featured local pop singers and their counterparts from Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was even televised for the Chinese public.

The only way Chinese rockers such as Cui and the popular group Tang Dynasty can get on television is through the music channel MTV Asia, beamed regionwide by Hong Kong-based STAR TV network.

The mainland rockers have even gained considerable following abroad. The debut album of Tang Dynasty, for example, has already sold some 70,000 copies fn Taiwan.,

But at home, the longhaired and often black leather-clad musicians still live an uneasy existence in a culture dictated by the unpredictable winds of Chinese politics.

Sang Cui lo a screaming audience during a rare stage appearance In Beijing recently: "It's hard for me to live, it's hard for me to go on honestly."