He may not be the biggest or safest choice, but promoters believe he will rock the house.

As the first Chinese rocker backed by a mainstream promoter to tour the United States, Chang Cheng-Yue (pronounced Zhang Zheng You-eh) is anything but typical. He kicks off his 10-city U.S. tour Thursday at Slim's in San Francisco.

Nicknamed A-Yue (pronounced ah-you-eh), this rocker from Taiwan was kicked out of two high schools as a student and is notorious for antics like pulling off his pants in public, giving people the finger and swearing at a Taiwanese official on national television.

Traditionally, the biggest hit songs from his country have been like a Chinese conversation, poetic but non-confrontational.

But, A-Yue does it his way.

``I sing to you like how I talk to you,'' says A-Yue, expressing his frank demeanor in Mandarin while chain-smoking and wearing khaki cargo pants and a bright orange hockey jersey emblazoned with his name. ``You don't take your pants off to fart. You don't take an extra step to make your point.''

Called Taiwan's Eminem, though he doesn't rap very much, A-Yue's music is similar to Limp Bizkit or blink-182. A-Yue has become an icon for many of Taiwan's teens and young adults. Considered a member of a minority group in Taiwan, as an aborigine belonging to the Amei tribe, he has made his way to the mainstream, pushing Chinese music to better reflect the personality of the younger generation.

``He's a household name among Taiwan's youths,'' says Chang May Choon, a music journalist from the New Paper in Singapore, in an e-mail.

For young Chinese-Americans, especially those who are recent immigrants, A-Yue's rebel image resonates. For them, he provides a chance to escape the sometimes stifling cultural pressures that have followed them across the ocean.

``Some of the songs he sings are more of a reflection of me than English songs,'' says Weiting Liu, a Taiwanese-born 24-year-old Stanford graduate student who sports a goatee. ``His main selling point in Taiwan, and why a lot of young people like him, is that he dares to sing things the other singers don't.''

Goodbye, Kitty

And A-Yue's tour is testament to that thought -- it's called ``Kill Kitty,'' a reference to Hello Kitty, the Japanese cartoon kitten that has become an American icon.

On the tour poster, Hello Kitty is about to be executed, bullets raining down on the blindfolded kitten smoking its last cigarette.

``What I love about the name of this tour, `Kill Kitty,' is it's symbolically killing the cutesy side of Asian pop culture,'' says Patricia Kao, vice president of planning at the House of Blues, who has been instrumental in getting A-Yue to tour in the United States.

Working on the business side, Kao, a second-generation Chinese-American, doesn't often get to deal directly with artists, but she saw A-Yue as an opportunity to help battle stereotypes.

``It's scary and it's risky'' to bring a non-English-language act to a new audience, says Kao, ``but I think it's about time.

``It's really proving that Asian music is legitimate, and is made up of not just the stereotypical cheesy pop ballads and boy bands'' that are popular in Asia, says Kao, who co-wrote the book ``Vault Guide to Conquering Corporate America for Women and Minorities.''

She adds: ``There is certainly an appetite for Asian music.''

Two years ago A-Yue and his manager, George Trivino, approached the House of Blues to ``show people we can rock,'' says Trivino, who is Chinese-Italian. They wanted a venue with status, but after explaining that A-Yue sings only in Mandarin, Trivino recalls them saying something like, ``You must be out of your mind -- this is the House of Blues here, not a street-corner pub.''

Besides the word ``bye'' and the name of his band, ``Free9,'' there are only five English words on ``Useless Guy,'' A-Yue's latest album: ``I want to get high.''

On top of that, a month before the concert started, Trivino was still figuring out how to market his star, whose name would be difficult for Americans to pronounce. Should it be (a) Chang (b) C.Y. or (c) A-Yue?

All the work paid off last December, when the rocker got a shot to play one night at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. It sold out three weeks before the show, and wowed the management there enough to sign A-Yue on for a national tour.

``At the end of the day, everybody realizes that this is a part of history in the making,'' says the House of Blues' Kao. ``The big question is `Can we pull it off?' ''

The 30-year-old A-Yue has been rocking professionally for 12 years. He was a spokesman for Coca-Cola in Taiwan, and he has written and produced seven albums that have sold a combined 3 million copies.

``He plays such different styles of music with no fear, changing from pop to rock to hip-hop effortlessly,'' says Kevin Morrow, House of Blues' senior vice president of tours and talent. ``He reminded me of the way it used to be in the music business in the '60s and '70s.''

His music is a mix of romantic and rebellious. Lyrics -- when translated -- include everything from ``If you don't want my picture, then give it back so I can give it to my mom,'' to ``Dad, I want money.''

Making inroads in U.S.

Success still seems a long ways off.

Even though A-Yue is a regular in Taiwanese media because of this upcoming tour, ``no one's fooled into thinking this is his break into the U.S. market,'' says Max Woodworth, a reporter for the Taipei Times, in an e-mail.

But ``any time a Taiwanese performer can attain a modicum of notoriety in the U.S., or anywhere outside the Chinese-speaking world,'' he said, ``it's cause for tremendous pride here.''

It's safe to say that A-Yue has a fan base in the Bay Area. While visiting San Francisco's Union Square recently, Trivino and A-Yue had to run from fans who recognized the star. They would stop at one corner to check out girls, get mobbed to sign autographs, and run away, only to start the process again.

``It's rare for us to see . . . Taiwanese singers in the U.S.,'' says Liu, the Stanford Taiwanese Student Association president. Liu is planning to pool members of the group to go to the concert.

A-Yue is philosophical about his upcoming opportunity. ``I feel like music is the world's language. House of Blues is a good venue, and everyone will notice. Plus, I believe one's sight should not be limited to Taiwan or in Asia, but it must be expanded.''

Kill Kitty Tour featuring Chang Cheng-Yue (A-Yue) and his band Free9, with opener MC Hot Dog

Where: Slim's, 333 11th St., San Francisco

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Tickets: $25; www.tickets.com; (415) 478-2277