The Flowers (Chinese band)  The Flowers, (), were a Chinese rock band formed in Beijing in 1998. The band consisted of Dà Zhāng Wěi (lead vocals, guitar) (大张伟), Shí Xǐngyŭ (guitar) (石醒宇), Guō Yáng (bass guitar) (郭阳), and Wáng Wénbó (drums, percussion) (王文博). The Flowers recorded and released six studio albums before splitting up in 2009. Zhang Wei, Guo Yang, and Wang Wenbo met while attending high school. During their early career, they played music in the style of pop punk that was reminiscent of American pop punk bands such as Green Day and Blink-182 who were the group's influences. The band first began playing in local bars and smoky clubs around Beijing. Unable to hide their hunger for commercial success, the band became somewhat aloof from the scene and often derided in some quarters for their attitudes. The trio first signed to a small Beijing-based Chinese independent label, New Bees Music in 1998. A year later, the band released their debut studio album, "On the Other Side of Happiness". The album turned out to be a surprise hit as the accessible nature of songs like "Stillness", "Disillusion" and "School's Out" from the album made the band perfect for the music market they had wished to conquer. The band became somewhat credited for helping to give disaffected Chinese youths a resonant voice, as many of them were deeply affected by their songs and felt that the band's lyrics reflected their own life experiences. As a result, punk music in general became more widely known in China. In light of the band's commercial impact, some over enthusiastic commentators even went as far declaring the Flowers as the true bringers of punk to the Chinese. They pointed out that fans had previously found even the acoustic grunge of Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged in New York" difficult to comprehend. The Flowers became involved in a two-year-long lawsuit with their first company, New Bees Music. The dispute almost brought the band to a premature end, but was eventually settled out of court. They signed to EMI in 2001 and brought in a fourth member, guitarist Shi Xingyu. "Strawberry Statement", the Flowers' second album was released in December 2001. By this time, the group had become tired of the simple but effective music which had made them popular.