Almost a decade ago, two French art-lovers discovered a new world of music independent of each other.

Leo de Boisgisson, a trained Sinologist in Paris and Yunnan University, found herself in Beijing when the city's punk music was it its heyday. She bought pirated CDs, especially in the Wudaokou area, when she moved there in 1998 to study at Renmin University. Soon, together with a bunch of friends, she founded 86/33 Link, a nonprofit association, which refers to the country codes of China and France.

Around the same time, Pierre A. Blanc, a veteran music producer and label manager, produced Chinese "godfather" of rock 'n' roll Cui Jian's first concert in Paris in 2001.