Westernisation, Ideology and National Identity in 20Th-Century Chinese Music
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Westernisation, Ideology and National Identity in 20th-Century Chinese Music Yiwen Ouyang PhD Thesis Royal Holloway, University of London DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Yiwen Ouyang, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 19 May 2012 I To my newly born baby II ABSTRACT The twentieth century saw the spread of Western art music across the world as Western ideology and values acquired increasing dominance in the global order. How did this process occur in China, what complexities does it display and what are its distinctive features? This thesis aims to provide a detailed and coherent understanding of the Westernisation of Chinese music in the 20th century, focusing on the ever-changing relationship between music and social ideology and the rise and evolution of national identity as expressed in music. This thesis views these issues through three crucial stages: the early period of the 20th century which witnessed the transition of Chinese society from an empire to a republic and included China’s early modernisation; the era from the 1930s to 1940s comprising the Japanese intrusion and the rising of the Communist power; and the decades of economic and social reform from 1978 onwards. The thesis intertwines the concrete analysis of particular pieces of music with social context and demonstrates previously overlooked relationships between these stages. It also seeks to illustrate in the context of the appropriation of Western art music how certain concepts acquired new meanings in their translation from the European to the Chinese context, for example modernity, Marxism, colonialism, nationalism, tradition, liberalism, and so on. Key words: 20th-century Chinese music, Westernisation, politics, national identity III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research work was completed with the support and assistance of a multiplicity of people, to whom I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude. My primary thank must be delivered to my two tutors, Dr. Anna Morcom and Professor Nicholas Cook (who has been instructing me externally since my second year of PhD, after he moved to Cambridge University). This thesis is indebted to their invaluable supervision, which never ceased during these several years – even when I was thousands of miles away from them. They have helped to expand my range of readings, adding to the breadth and richness of the thesis; they have accompanied me in every stage of my thinking and exploration; and they have devoted much patience and enthusiasm in the gradual enhancement of the work’s quality and originality. I feel both humbled and grateful for the help that I received from many musicians and music scholars in China, with whom I carried out my field work and interviews, and from whom I obtained most precious first-hand information for narrations and analyses. They include Yang Qing from Capital Normal University, Wang Jianxin from Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Lu Kegang from Guangxi Arts Institute, and many others whose names I cannot mention here. I benefited enormously from discussion with all participants of the 15th Meeting of CHIME (European Foundation For Chinese Music Research) held in Switzerland, November 2010, where I delivered a paper based on the third chapter of my thesis. I owe special thanks to Professor Frank Kouwenhouven, Professor Fredric Lieberman and Professor Ban Junrong, from whom I continually received insightful opinions from later correspondence with them. I would also like to express sincere gratitude to my friend, Dr. Peter Nesteruk, who not only provided me with the precious help of polishing the IV language of the thesis, but also enriched the contents through his criticism of the whole thesis from his professional perspective. Finally, I cannot adequately express my love and thanks for the unfailing love and support from my family, most eminently my husband, mother, grandfather and newly born baby, during these several years of tough work. You are a permanent blessing on my life and the lamps that have guided me on my way, leading me to every new goal. V TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ VI LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ........................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... IX CD TRACK LIST ................................................................................................................... X INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 THE BACKDROP: HISTORY, POLITICS AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH ................ 6 1.1 The Location of Chinese Modern Music in History and Politics ............................... 7 1.2 Review of Previous Research on Chinese Modern Music ...................................... 33 1.3 About This Thesis: Methodology, Choice of Materials and Structure ................... 45 CHAPTER 2 SCHOOL SONGS AND THE SPREAD OF WESTERN ART MUSIC IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY CHINA ..................................................................................................... 49 2.1 The Japanese Model............................................................................................... 54 2.2 Western Art Music versus Chinese Music in Early 20th Century Chinese Music Criticism .................................................................................................................. 60 2.3 The Spread of Western Art Music in China: Theory Teaching and School Songs ... 65 2.4 Conclusions: Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of the “School Songs Movement” ............................................................................................................ 81 CHAPTER 3 MUSIC COMPOSITION, PERFORMANCE AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, 1930S - 1940S ...................................................................................................................... 88 3.1 A Period of Transition: From Enlightenment to Revolution and the War of National Defense ................................................................................................................... 88 3.2 A Role Model – Xian Xinghai: His Life, Creativity and Reception ........................... 97 3.3 Situating Yan’an: A Close Reading of Mao Zedong’s Political Writings and His Blueprint for a Proletarian State Culture in the 1940s ......................................... 124 3.4 Music Advocacy and Practices in Yan’an: the Retrieval and Reconstruction of Traditions .............................................................................................................. 133 3.5 Legacy and Aftermath .......................................................................................... 151 CHAPTER 4 SYMPHONIC CREATIONS: MUSIC AFTER 1980 ........................................ 162 4.1 Western Art Music and the New Era .................................................................... 162 4.2 “The Second Tide of Modernisation”: the New Social and Political Context for Chinese Music Creations ...................................................................................... 164 4.3 A Bird’s-Eye View of Chinese Symphonic Creations after 1980 ........................... 180 4.4 A Case Study: Yang Qing’s Wilderness for Dizi and Orchestra ............................. 190 4.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 207 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE THESIS ............................................................ 210 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 216 VI LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Example 2.1 “The Gym” by Shen Xingong, 1902 ------------------------------------- 67 Example 2.2 “Game” by Yonejiro Suzuki ----------------------------------------------- 68 Example 2.3 “Yellow River” by Shen Xingong, 1905 -------------------------------- 69 Example 2.4 “Daisy Bell”, words and melody by Harry Dacre, 1892 ------------ 73 Example 2.5 Lyric of “Willow on the Grand Canal’s Bank”, by Li Shutong ----- 74 Example 2.6 “Spring Outing” by Li Shutong ------------------------------------------ 76 Example 3.1 “The Song of the Yellow River Boatmen” (4-part chorus and piano) by Xian Xinghai, bars 1-7 ------------------------------------------------- 111 Example 3.2 “The Song of the Yellow River Boatmen”: the I-V dialogue between the tenor solo and the chorus ------------------------------------------ 112 Example 3.3 The qi-cheng-zhuang-he structure in the middle section of “The Song of Yellow River Boatmen” ---------------------------------------- 114 Example 3.4 A typical “crying tune” that appears in a north-western folksong, cited from Zhang Zhibin (2005) ---------------------------------------- 117 Example 3.5 “Lament to the Yellow River” by Xian Xinghai, bars 1-20 -------- 117 Example 3.6 Yellow River Piano Concerto, the 4th Movement, bars 24-29, which incorporates a phrase from “L’Internationale”