Divided by time, the development of Chinese pop music in the past 40 years can be divided into five waves: 1978-1985, 1986-1990, 1991-1999, 2000-2010 and 2011-2018.

The period from 1978 to 1985 was the early stage of my country’s reform and opening up. It was also the period of revival and pioneering of popular music called “non-mainstream” and “sub-mainstream”. It was a period of revolutionary songs, red A period when ballads transformed into popular ballads and pop songs.

During this period, musicians with a sense of historical responsibility, represented by Shi Guangnan, wrote "Toast Song", "On the Field of Hope", "Playing the Tambourine and Singing" and other songs full of the characteristics of the times. Lyrical songs; Wang Min used movies as a carrier to write a series of beautiful and touching Chinese rural sad songs such as "Border Spring Water is Clear and Pure", "Sister Looking for Brother in Tears", "Velvet Flower" and "The Corner Forgotten by Love"; Wang Liping wrote Using television as a carrier, he wrote popular country songs unique to China such as "Island on the Sun", "Hometown of the Sea" and "Shepherd's Song"; while Gu Jianfen used the performance stage as the core to write "Morning on Campus", "That's Me", "That's Me" and "Sheep Song". "Young Friends Come to Meet" and other campus songs.

Under the strong impact of new musicians represented by them, old musicians such as Lu Yuan, Sheng Mao, Tang He, Tie Yuan, Wei Qun, Jin Fenghao also wrote "The Song of Peony" and "In That Place Where Peach Blossoms Bloom", "Fifteenth Moon", "Our Life Is Full of Sunshine" and other mainstream songs of the era.

In 1979, "Guangzhou Pacific Audio and Video Company" was established and introduced a 24-track stereo recording production line. In 1982, the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio recording studio introduced a stereo recording system, becoming the technological driving force for my country's music production.