Dakou ("Saw Gash") CDs are shipped to China to be dumped in landfill sites. As you might expect, they don't always make it to the tip.
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When the government controls what western goods and ideas can be imported, subversive or even interesting music often stops at the border. But tapes which have been cut to prevent playing can be spliced back together; CDs with nicks out of their edge will still play most of the tracks. So dakou becomes a potent source of otherwise forbidden music. The suits of the music industry most likely see this as straight piracy, but others claim it is something more subtle.

Dakou has been credited with kickstarting the Beijing punk scene, but many punks have moved on to make genre bending music that reflects the mishmash of influences dakou brought.

"Millionaire" Peng Lei talks about the influence of dakou. The early influence on his band, New Pants, of the Ramones is far from subtle, even in their curious brand of synth-pop.

Sha Zhou, a young Quingdao rapper, explains how he went from listening to dakou copies of the Back Street Boys to real rap.