Two Generations of Contemporary Chinese Folk Ballad Minyao 1994-2017: Emergence, Mobility, and Marginal Middle Class A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MUSIC July 2020 By Yanxiazi Gao Thesis Committee: Byong Won Lee, Chairperson Frederick Lau (advisor) Ricardo D. Trimillos Cathryn Clayton Keywords: Minyao, Folk Ballad, Marginal Middle Class and Mobility, Sonic Township, Chinese Poetry, Nostalgia © Copyright 2020 By Yanxiazi Gao i for my parents ii Acknowledgements This thesis began with the idea to write about minyao music’s association with classical Chinese poetry. Over the course of my research, I have realized that this genre of music not only relates to the past, but also comes from ordinary people who live in the present. Their life experiences, social statuses, and class aspirations are inevitably intertwined with social changes in post-socialist China. There were many problems I struggled with during the research and writing process, but many people supported me along the way. First and foremost, I am truly grateful to my advisor Dr. Frederick Lau. His intellectual insights into Chinese music and his guidance and advice have inspired me to keep moving throughout the entire graduate study. Professor Ricardo Trimillos gave frequent attention to my academic performance. His critiques of conference papers, thesis drafts, and dry runs enabled this thesis to take shape. Professor Barbara Smith offered her generosity and support to my entire duration of study at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. I was fortunate to have her participation in my online defense as she was about to celebrate her 100th birthday. The ethnomusicologist spirit has been passed down from dear Barbara to Professor Trimillos, to Dr. Lau, and to us. I am indebted to Professor Byong Won Lee and Professor Cathryn Clayton for their comments and continuous support. Dr. Lee’s inquiries about Chinese minyao and comparisons to Korean minyo helped me to broaden views on this musical genre. Professor Clayton read all of my drafts closely and offered me an anthropological angle to look at minyao music within a Chinese sociocultural context. The incisive comments and inspiring theories she suggested provides a cross-disciplinary balance to this research. I would also like to thank Professor Jane iii Moulin. Her comments on my conference papers contributed to this thesis. Professor Eric Harwit at the Asian Studies Program inspired me to keep a sociological eye on the research. I owe my thanks to Yoomee Baek, Andrew Filson, and Rafael Borges Amaral for their enthusiastic support, and for their help with proofreading my transcriptions in the musical analysis chapter. I cannot adequately express my thanks to Chris Molina and Kirk Sullivan. They spent time with me to edit the initial drafts of this thesis. Additionally, Ben Fairfield generously helped me to proofread this thesis. There was much support from my colleagues throughout the writing process including Chiao-Wen Chiang, Hae In Lee, Sean Shibata, Yuan Hsin Tung, Aaron Singer, Yuanyu Kuan, Susan Jacob, Ryan Blauvelt, Austin Crowder, Travis Shaver, Megan DeKievit, Sangah Lee, Padraic Costello, Beryl Yang, and Yang Xi. This thesis also benefitted from several scholars who were invited to a series of Words on Music, organized by the Association of Ethnomusicology (EMA) at UH Mānoa, including Professor Robert Garfias (2016), Professor Beverley Diamond (2017), Professor Ellen Koskoff (2018), Dr. James Revell Carr (2019), and Professor Bonnie Wade (2020). Their inquiries and suggestions provided scholarly insights to this thesis. I am also grateful to the great supporters of my research and academic life in Honolulu including Kenny Endo, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, Darin Miyashiro, and Eric Chang. There are many nostalgic memories of rehearsals and Pau Hana Concerts with the Gagaku ensemble and the late Masatoshi Shamoto sensei, and with his daughter, Mika Shamoto Hill, and all of the ensemble members. Research for this thesis was made possible by the Asia-Pacific Fellowship in Ethnomusicology by the Music Department, the Master’s Student Research Award by the iv College of Arts and Humanities, and the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) and Student Activity and Program Fee Board (SAPFB) at UH Mānoa. It would have been impossible to complete this thesis without support from the Music Graduate Chair Professor Kate McQuiston. She was a wonderful supporter to graduate students. She encouraged me to participate in the 3MT competition held by UH Mānoa, and her kind help was greatly appreciated. I would also like to give warm thanks to the facilities coordinator Byron Moon, and the secretaries Cindy Nakashima, Tracie Bregman, and Kathleen Kamiya for working hard for all music students. My deepest gratitude goes to my parents and YY; without them my study at UH Mānoa would not have begun. My sincerest thanks for all of the support and sympathy during my graduate years from my friends Heather Diamond, Kyoungwon Oh, Yang Jing, Sun Hui, Wang Qi, and others in the U.S. and China. Finally, this thesis is dedicated to all the minyao contributors. It is not easy to correlate popular music with Chinese culture. Thanks for all your efforts. v Abstract This thesis explores two generations of contemporary Chinese minyao music (xiaoyuan minyao, 1994-1996 and xin minyao, 2005-2017). Originally, the term minyao was used in imperial China to refer to a type of folk entertainment, which focused on rhyming verbal expressions. But in a post-socialist context, minyao is now known as a genre of commercial popular music featuring western folk music and poetic Chinese lyrics. Over two generations, musical themes of minyao shifted from a focus on nostalgia and gentle romance to poetic self- expression and brutal criticisms of social issues. Accordingly, the tastes of minyao audiences shifted as well. By examining those shifts and China’s urbanization and population mobility, I argue that the second (current) generation of minyao audience draws from the marginal middle class, who see contemporary Chinese minyao as a symbol of good taste. I further argue that the second generation of minyao artists and audiences build their “sonic township” (O'Toole 2014; Kim 2016; Wang 2018) by singing and listening to minyao together in “live house” music clubs. The live house, as a sonic performing space, musically articulates the audience’s home origins and regional identities. The music of this “sonic township” is characterized by 1) the notion of wen as a civilized, refined, literary and feminine sophistication; and 2) a “feminine” style of singing (Moskowitz 2010; Baranovitch 2013). These two traditional qualities help define the aesthetics of minyao and its reception among audiences in current China. This thesis also attempts to combine aspects of gender and social class to discuss the regional identity and cultural attachments of contemporary minyao as a genre of popular music. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x Notes on the Text ........................................................................................................................... xi Chapter I Introduction: Outlining Contemporary Chinese Minyao ......................................... 1 1. My First Time Listening to Minyao ............................................................................. 1 2. Two Generations of Contemporary Chinese Minyao .................................................. 5 3. Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 9 A. Contemporary Chinese minyao ................................................................... 9 B. Contemporary Chinese popular music ...................................................... 12 C. Sociocultural perspectives ........................................................................ 15 4. Connecting Myself to Contemporary Chinese Minyao .............................................. 17 5. Methods, Theoretical Frames, and Informants .......................................................... 18 6. Significance ............................................................................................................... 22 Chapter II The First Generation of Contemporary Chinese Minyao ....................................... 24 1. Minyao in Imperial China .......................................................................................... 24 2. 1994: The Birth of the First Generation of Minayo ................................................... 28 3. Back to 1980’s: Literature and Rock ........................................................................ 33 4. Wen vs. Wu Discourse: A Case Study in Nanjing .................................................... 39 5. Minyao Dormancy: Music Market and Politics .........................................................