The Construction of National Identity through the Creation of the National Singing Method in China LIU Yuan PhD University of Technology Sydney 2019 1 Production Note: Signature removed prior to publication. Acknowledgement I am grateful to those who have given me help for both of my research and my written paper. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Jingqing Yang, who always guided me to work on the right track and made my dream come true. Secondly, I would like to thank my co-supervisor, Associate Professor Chongyi Feng, who gave me valuable advice for my research. Furthermore, a big thank-you to Bei Huang and Xuefen Chen for providing precious research data for me. I am also indebted to my parents and many friends of mine: Annie Lee, Jian Chen, Tao Liu, Alex Zhao, Yunyu Zhou… They support me mentally and emotionally and encourage me to complete my work. My best wishes and regards for all of them! 3 Abstract The research aims at examining the creation of National Singing Method in modern China. It particularly focuses on the interaction between Western-trained professional musicians’ embrace of bel canto techniques, and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) art ideology and its vision of new China and new Chineseness. Drawing on documentary sources, the thesis analyzes the political, social, cultural, technical and educational forces and elements that have jointly created the New National Singing Method as a prominent form of performance art. It is argued that the development of Chinese national vocal music has been driven jointly by the converged pursuit for the modernization of China and the creation of a new Chinese identity between the CCP and musicians and vocal artists. In the process, the CCP ideologues, upholding the idea that arts must serve politics, have encouraged marriage between Western music and Chinese music, or, to be exact, the indigenization of Western music genres and techniques in order to create something new and special that manifests the spirit of innovation and creation of the CCP and represents the identity of the new China. 4 Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 Minzu Changfa: Debate and Definition ................................................................................... 12 Integrating bel canto Techniques ............................................................................................. 19 Music, nationalism and politics ................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2 School Songs and the Rise of Modern Singing in China .......................... 34 A brief history of music education in pre-modern China ............................................... 35 The birth and development of School Songs ....................................................................... 39 Major Figures of School Songs ................................................................................................... 44 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3 Bel Canto and Its Competition with Traditional Singing Method ...... 61 A Brief History of bel canto .......................................................................................................... 61 Introduction of bel canto to China ............................................................................................ 63 Music schools and reform of music education in the 1920s and 1930s .................. 65 Leading Musicians of Western Music Techniques ............................................................ 70 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 4 National Salvation Movement and Western Music .................................. 86 China League of Left-Wing Musicians ..................................................................................... 87 Left-Wing Musicians ....................................................................................................................... 89 Case Studies ....................................................................................................................................... 96 5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 104 Chapter 5 Literary and Artistic Activities in Yan’an Period ................................... 106 Yan’an Literature and Art Forum .......................................................................................... 106 Innovation of Music Creation under the Guidelines of Cultural Policy ................. 108 The Rudiment of National Opera – Yangko Opera ......................................................... 110 The Model of Nationalization of Western Music – The White Haired Girl ............ 115 Innovation of National Vocal Music under the Guidelines of Cultural Policy ..... 123 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 128 Chapter 6 Debate about Native and Western Singing Methods ............................ 130 Debate between the Native and Western Singing Methods ....................................... 131 New Chinese Singing Method .................................................................................................. 140 Systematization and Professionalization of National Vocal Music ......................... 143 The Influence of Soviet Vocal Music Education ............................................................... 151 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 154 Chapter 7 Vocal Music Development during the Cultural Revolution .......... 155 Cultural policy during the Cultural Revolution ............................................................... 156 Early period of the Cultural Revolution ......................................................................... 157 Middle and late periods of the Cultural Revolution .................................................. 169 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 192 Chapter 8 National Vocal Music in the Reform and Opening up Period ............ 194 Cultural policy adjustment after 1978 in China .............................................................. 195 6 Chinese vocal music school and its representatives ..................................................... 201 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 210 Chapter 9 Jin Tielin and His Chinese Singing Method Training: A Case Study 213 Chinese vocal music .................................................................................................................... 216 Jin’s Account of His Career and Pedagogy ......................................................................... 218 What is the key point to train a singing student? ...................................................... 218 Jin Tielin on the Development of National Vocal Music .......................................... 220 Case Studies .................................................................................................................................... 226 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 248 Chapter 10 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 251 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 254 7 Chapter 1 Introduction Anyone who is interested in and has a fair knowledge of China’s music circle would easily notice a group of high-profile singers. They usually enjoy huge reputation, hold major public positions, teach in universities, serve in the army with high ranks, and/or shoulder significant political responsibilities. Their songs are mainly paeans of the party-state, or its army, or its people, and promoted by the Chinese party-state as representing the Chinese identity that the state endeavours to construct. These singers are state singers for reasons listed above, but they also enjoy great commercial success. A paramount figure among these singers is undoubtedly Peng Liyuan, China’s incumbent First Lady. Before marrying Xi Jinping in 1987, Peng already earned her national reputation as a leading state singer while Xi was only an administrator of a local government in southeast China. In 1985, she won the gold prize in the national singing method division of the first National Nie Er and Xinghai Vocal Music Competition. Next year, she came first in the CCTV Young Singers’ Grand Prize Contest Professional Division.1 Over the course of her career, she won numerous awards