DIAOHUA CHANG IN FOOD COURT SETTING IN KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA. CHIN EE VEN CULTURAL CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2015 DIAOHUA CHANG IN FOOD COURT SETTING IN KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA. CHIN EE VEN DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PERFORMING ARTS (MUSIC) CULTURAL CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2015 UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: Chin Ee Ven (I.C No.: 901010-14-6264) Matric No: RGI 120002 Name of Degree: Master of Performing Arts (Music) Title of Dissertation: Diaohua Chang in Food Court Setting in Klang Valley, Malaysia Field of Study: Ethnomusicology I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate’s Signature Date: Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature Date: Name: Designation: ii ABSTRACT Diaohua Chang is a place that provides nightly singing performance for the Chinese community in Malaysia. The overwhelming majority of male crowd can purchase flower garlands for the female singers as gratuity. This research focused on Diaohua Chang at the open-air food court where the singers perform mainly Chinese songs for the customers who are having their drinks or food. The gap of research was discovered after reviewing the literature of ethnomusicology, Chinese popular music, Chinese performing arts in Malaysia and other related researches. Diaohua Chang music performance which is part of the culture of Malaysian Chinese community was absent in the literature. In order to fill in the gap of research, this research looked into the characteristic, the performance style, the gender biased performers, and the customers’ organization of attention of Diaohua Chang. The main research method is ethnography based on phenomenology as its conceptual framework. Participant observation, interview sessions and virtual fieldwork were conducted to investigate the nature, the performances, and the cultural perspectives of Diaohua Chang. Four most popular Diaohua Chang at the food court of Klang Valley were selected for the fieldwork. Research findings revealed the trend of Chinese shidaiqu performance and the sexualization of the female performers in Diaohua Chang. iii ABSTRAK Diaohua Chang merupakan suatu tempat yang menawarkan persembahan nyanyian pada setiap malam kepada komuniti Cina di Malaysia. Pelanggan yang kebanyakannya lelaki boleh juga membeli kalungan bunga kepada penyanyi yang kebanyakannya perempuan sebagai ganjaran. Penyelidikan ini memberi tumpuan pada Diaohua Chang di medan selara terbuka yang penyanyinya mempersembahkan lagu Cina kepada pelanggan yang sedang menikmati minuman ataupun makanan. Jurang penyelidikan telah ditemui selapas mengkaji sastera tentang pop muzik Cina, seni persembahan Cina di Malaysia, dan sastera lain yang berkaitan. Persembahan muzik di Diaohua Chang yang merupakan sebahagian daripada budaya komuniti Cina Malaysia adalah tidak wujud dalam sastera. Demi mengisi jurang penyelidikan, disertasi ini mengkaji ciri-ciri, gaya persembahan, seksisme terhadap penyanyi, dan perhatian pelanggan di Diaohua Chang. Kaedah penyelidikan yang utama adalah etnografi berdasarkan fenomenologi sebagai kerangka kerja konseptual. Pemerhatian peserta, sesi temuduga dan kerja lapangan maya telah dijalankan demi mengkaji sifat, persembahan dan perspektif budaya Diaohua Chang. Empat Diaohua Chang yang paling popular teleh dipilihi untuk menjalankan kerja lapangan. Penemuan penyelidikan telah memdedahkan trend persembahan lagu Cina oldies dan seksualiti penyanyi perempuan di Diaohua Chang. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this master dissertation is assisted by many of them who shared their ideas and knowledge and also spared their time and efforts. Hereby, I would like to convey gratitude to those who helped me in any form for this Diaohua Chang research. Firstly, I shall express appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Loo Fung Ying, who gave suggestions, supports, opinions and guidance during the journey of perusing my master’s degree. Secondly, acknowledgement must be given to the informants of this Diaohua Chang research. They have been kindly and patiently answering my questions, sharing their experiences, giving me a lot of information on Diaohua Chang. Thirdly, I would like to express thanks to my friends, course mates, family members and cousins for giving opinions during the writing stage, accompanying during field visits, sharing views regarding this dissertation, proof reading during the final stage of writing and supporting this research constantly. In short, this dissertation could not be settled without the aids from Dr. Loo, Dr. Chiu, Pai, Kat, Jennifer, Siew May, Ding, and Clarence. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….iii Abstak……………………………………………………………………………………iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... v Table of Content…………………………………………………………………………vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................. ix List of Tables ............................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Diaohua Chang in Malaysia ................................................................................ 1 1.3 Justification of Research ..................................................................................... 7 1.4 Problem Statement …………………………………………………………..........8 1.5 Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………………..10 1.6 Research Objective……………………………………………………………….11 1.7 Research Question………………………………………………………………..13 1.8 Limitation of Study……………………………………………………………….14 1.9 Organization of Study…………………………………………………………….14 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 16 2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………...16 2.2 Ethnomusicology…..…………………………………………………….............16 2.3 Chinese Popular Music…………………………………………………………..19 2.4 Chinese Performing Arts in Malaysia……………………………………………21 2.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….....24 vi CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 26 3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………...26 3.2 Qualitative Research……………………………………………………………..26 3.3 Phenomenology………………………………………………………………….28 3.4 Pre-Fieldwork….………………………………………………………………...30 3.5 Fieldwork………………………………………………………………………...32 3.5.1 Participant Observation………………………………………………….36 3.5.2 Interview………………………………………………………………..39 3.5.2 Virtual Fieldwork………………………………………………………. 43 3.6 Post-Fieldwork…………………………………………………………………...44 3.7 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….45 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 46 4.1 Overview......................................................................................................... 46 4.2 The Rise of Diaohua Chang in Malaysia ......................................................... 46 4.3 Settings of Diaohua Chang in Food Courts……………………………………50 4.4 The Organization of Diaohua Chang………......................................................58 4.5 Diaohua Chang as a Sing-Song Music Performance…………………………..65 4.6 Songs of Diaohua Chang…………………………………………………….....84 4.7 Issues on Diaohua Chang………………………………………………………92 4.8 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..100 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………….102 5.1 Overview…………………………………………………………………….....102 5.2 Implication of Research………………………………………………………..102 vii 5.3 Suggestion for Future Research………………………………………………..107 5.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...108 References……………………………………………………………………………...109 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: The location of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur in the map of Malaysia………….34 Figure 3.2: Location of selected Diaohua Chang in the map of Selangor state and Kuala Lumpur…………………………………………………………………………35 Figure 3.3: Map of the selected Diaohua Chang in Kuala Lumpur………………………..35 Figure 3.4: Map of the selected Diaohua Chang at Seri Kembangan………………………36 Figure 4.1: Map showing Southern Thailand and Northern Peninsular Malaysia…….……48 Figure 4.2: Settings of One Stop Food Court and City Food Court………………………..52 Figure 4.3: Setting of Tai