Observations from a Film - (Miriam Lang) (PDF ... - East Asian History

EastAsianHistoryNUMBER 5 . JUNE 1993 THE CONTINUATION OF Papers on Far Eastern HistoryInstitute of Advanced StudiesAustralian National University

EditorAssistant EditorEditorial BoardBusiness ManagerProductionDesignPrinted byGeremie BarmeHelen LoJohn ClarkIgor de RachewiltzMark Elvin (Convenor)Helen HardacreJohn FincherAndrew FraserColin JeffcottW.] .F. JennerLo Hui-minGavan McCormackDavid MarrTessa Morris-SuzukiMichael UnderdownMarion WeeksOanh Collins & Samson RiversMaureen MacKenzie, Em Squared Typographic DesignGoanna Print, Fyshwick, ACTThis is the fifth issue of East Asian History in the series previously entitledPapers on Far Eastern History. The journal is published twice a year.Contributions toSubscription EnquiriesAnnual SubscriptionThe Editor, East Asian HistoryDivision of Pacific & Asian History, Research School of Pacific & Asian StudiesAustralian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, AustraliaPhone +61 6 249 3140 Fax +61 6 249 5525Subscription Manager, East Asian History, at the above addressAustralia A$45 Overseas US$45 (for two issues)

iii CONTENTS1 The Deer and the Cauldron-Two Chapters from a Novel by Louis ChaTranslated by John Minford101 Selling Smiles in Canton: Prostitution in the Early RepublicVirgil Kit- yiu Ho133 The Formation of the Guomindang Youth Corps:an Analysis of its Original ObjectivesHuang Jianli149 Swan Songs: Traditional Musicians in Contemporary China-Observations from a FilmMiriam Lang

ivCover calligraphyYan Zhenqing Mll@n, Tang calligrapher and statesmanCover photographSing-song girls of Hangchou (from Grace Thompson Seton,Chinese Lanterns [New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1924])

SWAN SONGS: TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS INCONTEMPORARY CHINA-OBSERVATIONS FROM A FILM Miriam LangSince the mid-1980s, music professionals in China have been using the word'crisis' to refer to the situation faced by indigenous forms of music. Whileother traditional arts such as poetry, painting, calligraphy and martial artsremain popular with old and young alike, traditional instrumental music andlocal opera forms meet with dwindling audiences and widespread apathy.The irrelevance of traditional music to people's lives in the People's Republicof China is evidenced by the fact that music has been ignored in the manywider debates about Chinese culture and identity that have taken place bothin China and abroad over the past decade.In publications devoted to music, such as Zhongguo yinyue (ChineseMusic) and Renmin yinyue (People's Music), there is little direct responseto the 'crisis'. Material relating to traditional music often takes the form ofinspirational propaganda and deals almost exclusively with such issues ascompositional creativity, technique, and performance standards. The chiefpreoccupation still appears to be 'progress', as it has been in the music worldin China throughout this century; many articles are concerned with ways ofcreating new music that can be considered 'traditional'. 1 The idea of activelypreserving musical traditions for their own sake seldom appears.2 In all ofthese arguments, the social realities of the music world, which are bothcauses and serious effects of the problem, do not feature at alPThe lives and concerns of musicians in China, whose life's work societyat large is ceasing to value, are overlooked; there are no interviews, fewstatistics and almost no analysis. This paper attempts to outline theconsequences for Chinese musicians of the changes in Chinese music andmusical institutions in the past three decades.In this context, the film Swan Song auexiang1I!iV 4 can be considereda valuable document, for the insights it can provide are not readily availableI wish to thank Paul Clark for all his help(including the suggestion of the title), ZhouXiaoyuan for generously making his scoresavailable to be reproduced here, RoninFilms for supplying the illustrations, andElsa Lee and Tony Wheeler for theirthoughtlUl conunen.1 SeeJinXiang, "Zhenxing yu fansi" [Promoteand reflect!, Renmin yinyue, 1986, no.12,pp.5-7, or Feng Guangyu, "Chuantong shiyitiao he" [Tradition is a riverl, Renminyinyue, 1990, no.3, pp.20-2, for a typicalexample.2 A prominent and very pessimistic exceptionis Zhou Haihong's "Weiji zhong dejueze" [A decision in the midst of crisis],Renmin yinyue, 1989, no.!, pp.I6-20, whichoutlines the problems of traditional Chinesemusic in very dramatic terms and calls for anend to reforms and experimentation withtraditional music and immediate implementtationof measures to preserve it.3 While traditional theatre faces many of thesame problems, theatrical publications havenot hesitated to deal with practical issuesrelating to theatre administration, the livesand work of actors and so on; see for exampleChen Huimin, "Xiqu yanyuan zai huhuan"[Chinese opera performers are cryingoutl, Zbongguo xiju, 1989, no.7, pp.22-4.4 The film Swan Song is based on a shortstory by Kong Jiesheng U.149

150MIRIAM LANG5 These categories are by no means easy todefine; a recent convocation of the ChineseMusicians' Association, after lengthy debatesabout the exact meanings of 'folk', 'etlmic',and 'traditional' Chinese music and thedifferences between them, was unable toreach agreement (Ii Minxiong '$fUt, personalconversation, August 1993).Figure 1Zhang Zeming, director of SwanSong (courtesy of Ronin Films)from any other source. Made in 1987 in the Pearl River Film Studio under thedirection of Zhang Zeming , it addresses the recent history ofmusicians in China and also deals with some broader issues that affect themusical community. Although the story of the composer Ou Laoshu and hisson is fictional, the film's presentation of some of the important social andeconomic issues that affect musicians is entirely accurate. Reaching from theearly 1960s to the early 1980s, the film touches on many aspects of thesociology of music as well as the historical evolution of Chinese society since1949 and the role of musicians within it. Many of these issues, such as thesocial stratification among musicians and the authenticity of traditions, havebeen linle discussed in China. The action of the plot takes place inGuangdong province, but the situations depicted and the themes discussedin the film are pertinent to the experiences of musicians elsewhere in Chinaas well. Such issues as creativity and authorship, the social status ofmusicians, and the waning interest of the general public in Chinesetraditional music remain important and relevant to the country as a whole.As a fiction film, Swan Song does not present these issues explicitly; neitherdoes it make moral judgements or apportion blame. Without prior knowledgeof the communities represented in the film, the viewer would notperhaps be aware of the wider context which it represents so eloquently. Inthis study I intend to discuss Swan Song in relation to the experience ofChinese musicians over the past three decades, using the action of the filmas a starting and reference point.The term 'Chinese music' encompasses a large range of different formsof music. It includes opera music, music for many different types ofinstrumental emsemble (using Chinese or Western instruments orcombinations of both), instrumental solos, songs, story-telling genres, andmore. Chinese music is often further classified as 'folk music' (minjianyinyue rll]'ff.*J, 'ethnic music' minzu yinyue£,i;5if)f-J, or 'traditionalmusic' (chuantong yinyueif)f-). 5 My intention in the present paperis not to enter into ethnomusicological debate about Chinese musicaltradition or precise classification, but to consider the recent changes in theChinese musical environment in the wider context of national modernizationand reform. While no musical tradition is static, and the idea of a 'pure'tradition is obviously problematic, China's music has in recent decadesundergone a total institutional transformation, not just a gradual evolution.These institutional changes have not always been in the hands of theperformers themselves, but they have profoundly affected not only themusic itself but also its social construction and the lives of those who playit professionally.For the purpose of this paper, I use the term 'traditional' to refer to thoseconservatory-trained musicians who are profeSSional performers of Chineseinstruments. They do not represent 'Chinese music' as a whole, but are theofficially deSignated custodians of one particular branch of it. Generalizationsare not intended to include amateur instrumentalists or performers.

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA151The paper is divided into three main sections. After a few preliminarybackground remarks, the essay proper begins with an analysis of the musicalissues presented in Swan Song, which is followed by a section of musicalexamples; it then proceeds to a wider discussion of the lives of conservatorytrainedChinese musicians in the 1980s.BackgroundTo provide a background, the social position of practitioners of music inpre-revolutionary China should be briefly touched upon. In China's imperialpast, music had a dual status, being associated both with the intellectual eliteand with low morals and scurrilousness. On one hand, music fulfilled animportant ritual and ceremonial function for each succeeding dynasty as wellas being a part of the recreational culture of the literati. On the other, thosepeople who performed music professionally were of very low social class,being members either of private troupes attached as servants to the court orto a particular household, or of travelling troupes whose status was evenlower. Music-making and prostitution were closely connected: performingfor entertainment (be it plays, music or dance) carried the same associationwith loose morals as it did in European society until relatively recently.The overthrow of dynastic rule in 1911 brought an end to the ritualisticfunction of music in China, but its entertainment and self-cultivationfunctions remained, as did suspicions of moral laxity among those whopractised it as a profession. Although the social status of profeSSionalmusicians remained generally low, there were a number of performers andcomposers who were well known and respected, such as the renownederbu=tl master Liu Tianhua J$, who came from an intellectual familyand was known for his erudition as well as his music. Some of these wellknownmusicians of the Republican period were selected to be teachersand composers in national conservatories when these were set up in theearly decades of the twentieth century, and these few musicians are nowrevered as the fathers of 'classical' Chinese instrumental music.6 Thepopularity of Western music (which was introduced to China by the earliestWestern missionaries but only began to gain favour with Significantnumbers of Chinese people this century? grew rapidly during the Republicanperiod, partly through the agency of Chinese musicians who hadstudied abroad.Since 1949, musical activity and the training of musicians have becomethe province of the state. The state has done its best to take over the talentsof musicians and integrate them into the bureaucratic structure of New China;at the same time, it has also been concerned with raising the status of folkperformers and their music as the representatives of the cultural traditions ofthe Chinese masses. By placing folk artists in their own forms of musicalorganization such as theatre troupes and educational institutions, the state6 The fame of these instrumental perfonnersand the establishment of conservatorieswith which some of them were connectedcoincided with the flOUrishing of the fourfamous dan !! (female-

152MIRIAM LANGS The first such institution was the ShanghaiConseIVatory, set up in 1927. Its chief focuswas (and still is) Western music. SeveralRussians joined the faculty in its early years,and the heavy Russian influence on ChineseconseIVatories and musical practice continuedwith the visit of AlexanderTcherepninto China in 1934. (See Kraus, Pianos andpolitics, p.5). It was not until 1964 that aconseIVatory specializing in traditionalChinese music, the Zhongguo Yinyue Xueyuan

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA153be "lagging behind the times," so he was sent to a small county to refonnhimself; by the time the action of the film begins, he has already returned toGuangzhou.Part OneThe film opens with a performance of Cantonese music in an infonnalsetting. au Laoshu has come with his young son, Guanzai, to DuanzhouSquare, a place where young and old gather in their leisure time to drink tea,socialize with their neighbours, play chess and mahjong, and relax. MusiceVidently plays an important part in the leisure-time activities of thiscommunity. As the film begins, a girl of nine or so is singing a Cantoneseoperatic aria to the accompaniment of a Cantonese string ensemble, and alarge group has gathered to listen. When the child's solo is finished hermother is invited to sing also, but she declines on the grounds of being tooold. Then au Laoshu comes forward and offers to play a newly-composedtunel5 for the old blind musician who is directing the ensemble.As he begins to play, background noise ceases and everyone listensintently. Although the piece is wannly received by the crowd, the old blindman is not entirely convinced by it, feeling that it lacks the authenticCantonese folk style. He gives his opinion and advice: "You're an operacomposer. It lacks local flavour. "16 au Laoshu's reply implies thatconservatism will only cause a tradition to die out. "Nothing has changedfor centuries," he says; "a guomen,17 then sing a few lines. No wonderyoung people don't like it. We must turn to CantoneseIwere He Uutang foiT and Yan LaolieFl.{, both of whom flourished in the1920s. (Wu Zhao and Uu Dongshe, eds,Zhongguo yinyue shiliie [A brief history ofChinese music1 [Beijing: Renmin YinyueChubanshe, 19831, pp.379-S5). Zhou Haihongnotes that Cantonese music is the mostrecent Chinese musical form to be universallyconsidered 'traditional' Chinese music ("Weijizhong de jueze: p.20).IS 1bis composition, "The wild goose fliesin the cloudy sky," recurs through the film.like the rest of the score, it was composedby Zhou Xiaoyuan Jjj 1Ili&.1 6 English subtitles quoted here are by YuanQing and Chris Berry of the Beijing Subtitlingand Dubbing Studio.17 A guomen i:t n is an instrumental introductionor bridge passage in a Chineseopera aria and, by extension, other music.18 The popularity of public amateur musicmakingmay vary from region to region; inmy own experience it is not often seen.19 The term yiren can be used to includesingers, dancers, actors, acrobats, jugglersand so on, as well as instrumentalists.folk music." There the scene ends. Figure 2This opening scene shows in microcosm some ofthe recent important themes of Chinese musicalculture. In the early 1960s, traditional instrumentalmusic was a living tradition; truly popular music, itwas played in public places by amateur perfonnersfor the public at large. While this may perhaps still beso in the countryside, the infonnality of the musicmakingportrayed in this scene is rather rare in urbanChina nowadays, where amateur musical groups arefew and performing belongs, on the whole, in theconcert hall.18 The perfonners in the film are folkmusicians, amateurs or yiren l:,A. (folk artists), thatis, perfonners of traditional Chinese folk arts wholearned their craft by rote and imitation through manyyears of apprenticeship to a master.19 Many folkmusicians in the past were trained to a high degree ofprofiCiency in more than one instrument, a situationwhich is as rare in today's more specialized musicThe amateur peiformers at Duanzhou Square(courtesy of Ronin Films)

154MIRIAM LANGFigure 3au La oshu plays his new co mpositionin Duanz ho u Square (courtesy ofRonin Films)world in China as it is in the Western classical musical tradition.2o Swan Songaccurately reflects the fact that most such folk performers were men; someof them, as in the film, were also blind.The audience for the performance at the film's beginning is almostentirely male and mostly middle-aged or elderly. The age-grou p of audiencesfor Chinese music and theatre nowadays is on the whole even narrower thanthat depicted here; in the late 1980s and early 1990s, few people under sixtywould generally be seen at performances of traditional instrumental musicor opera.In contrast to the members of the amateur perforrning group, Ou Laoshu'sstatus is that of the 'composer', the expert in theory and form rather than (oras well as) simply performance. Although he has evident connections withfolk musical culture, he uses the folk idiom for the purpose of innovationrather than reproducing the music unchanged, as is shown by the fact thatthe composition which he plays for the performers in the square is perceivedby the old folk artist as quite different from the old style. In addition to hishigher level of education and theoretical knowledge, by his attachment toa government-sponsored opera company Ou also represents the new, statesponsored'intellectual'-style musician. The performers, although they arethe genuine practitioners of the folk tradition, are his social inferiors.Like any 'intellectual' musician who wishes to compose convincinglywithin a folk tradition, Ou Laoshu both borrows from the authentic popularfolk tradition to which he does not quite belong and relies on it forvalidation. We see him in this scene bringing his compositions to the real'folk', that is, to the ordinary non-professional musicians for whom musicmakingis a valued leisure-time activity and who represent the popularmusic tradition, for their approval. Despite the differences in both theirsocial status and their approach to the Cantonese musical tradition, therelationship between Ou Laoshu and the folk performers appears to be oneof mutual respect.

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA155A practical illustration of the way in which the composer uses folk sourcesis given in an exchange between Ou Laoshu and a doufu-seller whose salescry he wishes to transcribe for use in his music. The food-seller remarks thatOu Laoshu's music is reminiscent of He Liutang's;21 such familiarity on thepart of the uneducated doufu-vendorwith the Cantonese instrumental musictradition represented by the music of He Liutang suggests strong linksbetween the higher tradition and genuine folk culture. In the precedingscene we saw Ou Laoshu submitting his work to musicians of the folktradition for their approval; here, he is actually collecting a folk 'song' toincorporate into his compositions. between the higher tradition and genuinefolk culture. In the preceding scene we saw Ou Laoshu submitting his workto musicians of the folk tradition for their approval; here, he is actuallycollecting a folk 'song' to incorporate into his compositions.This same process of intellectuals drawing on folk traditions andincorporating folk elements into their work is still taking place today. ModemChinese composers of serious Western-style 'twentieth-century music' areturning to Chinese traditional music for ideas and inspiration, for something'new'-new, that is, in the context of the Western musical tradition-that canmake their music distinctive, be it melodic ideas or instrumental techniques.22It is chiefly on account of this function as source material forWestern-style music that traditional music attracts attention from the worldof Western classical music in China today. Articles in music periodicalsdealing with traditional Chinese music are often concerned with how it canbe adapted into Western-style compositions or how new 'traditional' musicshould be written. A preoccupation with creativity is evident in the Chinesemusical world; the chief function of the past in traditional music still appearsto be to selVe the present as a basis for new compositions, and there appearsto be as yet very little interest in preselVing the past for its own sake.23The woman who declines to sing also deselVes a passing mention. Thenotion that performing is a pastime for the young and attractive is notuncommon in present-day Chinese musical circles; this will be discussed ingreater detail below.21 As noted in n.6 above, He Ilutang (1872-1934) was a real historical figure, both a pipamaster and a composer of Cantonese music(Zhongguo yinyue shilae, p.383).22 Discussion of this phenomenon can befound in Jiang Jing, "The influence of traditionalmusic on professional instrumentalcomposition," and Peter Chang, "Tan Dun'sstring quartet Feng-Ya-Song: some ideologicalissues," both in Journal of the Society forAsian Music, vo1.22, no.2, Spring/Summer1991.23 By way of exception, almost the whole ofthe article by Zhou Haihong dted above isan impassioned plea for an end to experimentationand reform in Chinese music andthe adoption of a more preservationist approach.Zhou states that these reforms haveadversely affected the style and content ofChinese music without creating forms thatenjoy public support.Figure 4Ou Laoshu trying to collect the doufusellerssales cry (courtesy of RoninFilms)Part TUX)The next scene of Swan Song takes place in a teahouse, where OuLaoshu is dining and reminiscing with his friends. They talk of the anti­Japanese war and exchange stories of famous opera singers. The name ofOu Laoshu's wife comes up in their conversation; she is now a well-knowntraditional opera singer, and the two are divorced. His friends reproach himwith his responsibility for the breaking up of his family. In this scene we areshown further glimpses of Ou Laoshu's character and background. Irresponsible,viceful and bad at handling money, he once associated with the starsof the operatic scene; this connection has ended with his broken marriage.

156MIRIAM LANG24 See Zhang Zeming, "Di yi bu de changshi-Juexiangyishu zongjie" [The firstanempt: an artistic appraisal of Swan Song),Dianying yisbu cankao ziliao, no.6 (22April 1986), p.4 (a restricted circulation publication).In the next scene, an official in Ou Laoshu's opera troupe informs himthat the publisher to whom he sent his music has rejected it. He adds his owncriticism of Ou's music: "You can't compose that mournful, nondescriptmusic any more ... your ideology is stuck in the old society." (Thisconnection between a composer's ideology and the quality of the music heor she produces will be discussed in more detail below.) He goes on to tellOu Laoshu that it is not enough just to rewrite his music, but that he mustchange his world view as well. He criticizes Ou Laoshu for his nostalgia forthe dissolute lifestyle of the 'old society', reminding him of the anti-Rightistmovement of 1957, the lessons of which he has failed to learn. The officialthen instructs the composer to set to music a revolutionary poem to be sungin the countryside.The two scenes outlined above serve to tell the viewer more about bothOu Laoshu's character and the social category to which he belongs. The filmnever idealizes him or plays for sympathy; he is shown to be constantlynostalgic for the musical and social world of pre-1949 times, foolish,impractical, rather pretentious, and an inconsistent father who neglects hisson to drink with his old friends in the tea-house, spending all of his moneyon them so that there is none left with which to buy food for the boy. Thisportrayal was, in the film-maker Zhang Zeming's own words, a deliberatedeparture from the usual over-heroic depictions of musicians in Chinesefiction.24In his dealings with his work unit, Ou Laoshu likewise appears out of stepwith contemporary political realities. The opera company does not value thekind of music he composes, but directs him to produce such music as thepolitical situation dictates; this scene accurately illustrates the controlexercised by the state over musical culture in the Maoist era. Having placedOu Laoshu outside the folk tradition in the preceding scene, the film nowdemonstrates that he does not fit comfortably into his role in the new formsof musical organization either.Part Three25 , a hammered dulcimer.2 6 He Dasha's name is not given an entry ineither Zbongguo yinyue cidian [Dictionaryof Chinese music] (Beijing: Renmin YinyueChubanshe, 1984) or Zbongguo yinyuesbilUe. He is briefly mentioned by ZhouHaihong, however, in connection with YanLaolie and other figures in Cantonese instrumentalmusic ("Weiji zhong de jueze: p.20)and by association with He Iiutang (Zbongguoyinyue cidian, p.149).The impact of politics on musical culture is alluded to again in subsequentscenes where we see Guanzai, Ou Laoshu's son, practising the yangqin.25He asks A Xiang, the old blind folk musician, to teach him "The Monk Seeksa Wife," only to be told that this piece is currently considered "obscene" andis therefore forbidden. After this exchange, Guanzai's father returns andprepares to teach him one of He Liutang's compositions. Guanzai wouldrather study the music of He Dasha fiiJ jdl, saying that he is the greatest ofthe Cantonese composers.26 Ou Laoshu tells tall stories of the closerelationship between himself and He Liutang ("We were blood brothers")and brags of having paid He's debts for him; his son, however, knows this

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA157to be untrue. Ou reprimands Guanzai for playing with his qinzheng,27 tellinghim that it is extremely valuable, having been made by a master in 1911, andthat he went through considerable hardship to obtain it. After an argumentabout Ou Laoshu's financial irresponsibility, Ou goes to borrow money forfood and Guanzai runs away. First the boy looks in on a girls' choir rehearsal,then he goes to the theatre to see an opera performance. His mother, OuLaoshu's former wife, is performing. After the show, he lingers to watchunobserved as his mother and half-sister leave the theatre and board the busto return home. They are well-dressed, glamorous, obviously prosperous,and affectionate. Saddened, he runs off.A Xiang's use of the word 'obscene' to describe a piece of yangqin musicreflects an issue that has been important in Chinese music since 1949, andin particular during the Cultural Revolution, namely, the identification ofmusical content with programmatic titles. Most Chinese music is programmatic;some titles evoke the beauties of nature and the composer's responseto them (such as Three Variations on Plum Blossom 28 or Spring Dawn onthe Snowy Mountain 29). Others (often taken from works of literature) referto China's historic and legendary past (such as Autumn Moon in the HanPalace 30 or Hegemon King Takes offhis Armour31). In a society where arthas so often been employed for overtly political ends, both types of title havebeen regarded by political leaders as at best questionable and at worstdownright dangerous. During the Cultural Revolution, for example, titlesreferring to nature or to inconvenient episodes from the 'feudal' past weresuppressed in favour of newly-created works such as Delivering Grain to theState and Fighting the Typhoon.32One interesting illustration of the importance of a correct programmeis the contrasting treatment which has been given to two very similarpipa solo works which are both supposed to represent the same battle.Hegemon King Takes Off His Armour was suppressed in the CulturalRevolution for supposedly expressing Confucianist sympathies towardsthe defeated aristocrat Xiang Yu, while Ambush on All Sides was vauntedfor depicting the victory of the peasant leader Liu Bang over Confucianismand feudalism.33 The assumption that if the programme is unacceptablethen the music must also by definition be bad also worked in reverse: awell-known traditional tune could become acceptable with the addition ofa new revolutionary programmatic title. The Water in the River 34 ("whichconveys the sorrows of the labOUring masses before liberation and the27 •• , a plucked zither.28 Meihua sannong *,1E':::1f, a frequentlyplayedpiece for solo guqin supposedlydating from the Jin dynasty (26)-420).29 Xueshan chun.xiao.Lit41!Jl a guzhengsolo from the 1950s or 60s by Fan Shang'e.H.30Hangong qiuyue ilO1ftkJ:l, a piece forsolo guzheng supposedly descriptive of thesadness of Wang Zhaojun, a Han palacewomansent to marry a Xiongnu ruler.31 Bawang xiejia CU:tlllfl, a pipa piecesupposedly descriptive of the decisive barriebetween Xiang Yu (the ruler of Chu) and UuBei (founder of the Han dynasty) for controlof China in the third century Be.32 Delivering grain to the state (Song gongliangj!:fIl); Fighting the typhoon (ZhantaifengPJJ by Wang Changyuan zmft. Wu Choukuang, "lbe erhu and pipa,"Chinese Literature, 1975, no.l, pp.lOO-5, at101; Anon., "New music for an ancientinstrument," p.14.33 Shimian maifu +ilitJfjt. Feng Wensi,"Uie lun Shimian maifu ' [A brief discussionof Ambush on all sides 1, Yinyue luncong,1978, pp.207-19.34 Jianghe shui iIfiiJ *, a melody from the1950s.35 Wu Chou-kuang, "Erhu and pipa," p.l01.36 Liuyang he i.t1JllafiiJ, a song from Hunanprovince.37 Wu Chou-kuang, "Erhu and pipa," p.l04.38 It might be conjectured that He Dasha'somission from musical texts was the result ofideological objections. I have no evidence tosupport such a hypothesis, but this kind ofexclusion on ideological grounds is notunusual in PRC reference works.people's hatred and revolt against the iniquitous old society"35) andLiuyang River 36 ("which with its exquisite melody expresses our revolutionarypeople's love and admiration for Chairman Mao"37) are good examplesof this.Another reason for the rejection of certain compositions during variousperiods in recent Chinese history was the idea that if the life-style of themusician is questionable, then his or her music will be questionable as well.38

158MIRIAM LANG39 This clique of Cantonese composers withwhom the fictional Ou Laoshu claims associationwas a real group. Early this century,He Uutang taught Cantonese music andCantonese opera at the Zhongsheng BenevolentSociety in Hong Kong; He Dasha, LiiWencheng (also a prominent performer andcomposer of Cantonese music and inventorof the gaobu ii, a characteristic Cantoneseinstrument) and Yin Zizhong '? 11[ wereamong his studenl and associates (Zhongguoyinyue cidian, p.149). I have been able tofind very little information about this group;although they appear filtered through thememory of Swan Songs Ou Laoshu as aband of self-indulgent aesthetes, the realitymay have been quite otherwise.40 The fact that traditional musical culturewas still generally relevant to children in theearly 1960s is suggested by scenes whereGuanzai and his friends are shown playinggames about operatic heroes, imitating thepercussion rhythms and acrobatic and combatmovements of tr.!ditional opera.41 This survey was carried out by myself inChengdu, Sichuan.Although in the film no such explicit connection is made in the case of auLaoshu (apart from, in passing, by the official in his work unit) there arecertainly sufficient grounds upon which to do so. References to hisweakness and lack of responsibility as a family man recur throughout thefilm. He expresses constant nostalgia for the musical culture and effetelifestyle of his dissolute younger days, demonstrated by his constantreferences to the circle of great composers to which he peripherallybelonged39 and his world of teahouse parties, opium-smoking and debts.The qinzheng serves as a symbol of that vanished world. au Laoshu's ownconduct reflects his preoccupation with the idea of 'eccentric genius' thathe speaks of in connection with He Dasha. His behaviour when he feelsinspired by his Muse is excessive to the point of the self-consciously bizarrein several instances. He pesters the doufu-seller for his sales cry; he peersin through a window to watch and listen to a young woman singing to ababy (excusing himself with the words "Don't misunderstand; I'm acomposer"); and he is so distracted by a tune that comes into his mind thathe forgets to buy food.au Laoshu's son Guanzai has apparently inherited his father's musicaltalent. He listens with obvious pleasure to his father's music, to the girls' choirand to the opera, and he already has firm ideas about the respe

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA159Part FourIn the following scene, the Cultural Revolution has begun, and we seeGuanzai listening behind a wall as his father is accused of sex- and opiumrelatedcrimes. Curiously, no mention is made of music among his misdeeds.In the context of what is known about the preoccupations of the CulturalRevolution, one might expect that Ou Laoshu would be reproved for hisattachment to 'decadent' music and for spending his time playing the instrumentsof the old feudal society in addition to his other crimes.The next scene finds Ou Laoshu in bed, nursing injuries which he presumablyreceived during his interrogation. He is worried about his musicalscores; afraid that the Red Guards will come and destroy them, he asksGuanzai to hide them away in the attic. The attic hiding place is obviouslyan extremely safe one, since we later learn that Ou Laoshu's qinzbeng andopium pipe survive the Cultural Revolution intact there alongside the scoresdespite almost certain Red Guard raids.Like so many other young people in the Cultural Revolution, Guanzaigoes off to 'establish revolutionary ties' (cbuanlian o$W with other youngrebels throughout the country. "What about your father?" asks his friend. "Lethim reform himself: is Guanzai's reply.None of the period of the Cultural Revolution proper (and the time duringwhich Guanzai is away) is shown in the film. Guanzai spends this time inhard work and poverty on a state farm on Hainan Island;42 several years haveobviously passed before his return, since he leaves as a child and comes backin his late teens or early twenties. The only reference made to the music worldduring the time of the Cultural Revolution is the fact that, when Guanzaireturns, playing of the qinzbeng is forbidden. The whole musical traditionwhich Ou Laoshu represents has been suppressed.Even though during the Cultural Revolution years solo instrumentalmusic was largely discouraged or forbidden, and musical activity waschannelled into performances of the revolutionary model operas and masschoral singing, an ability to play a musical instrument could still be a veryuseful skill indeed. In the countrySide, where many urban young peoplewere sent for re-education, the 'work points' that determined how much foodeach worker was given each month were aSSigned on the basis of his or herwork in the fields. However, work points could also be given for participationin performances of the revolutionary model operas, and thus peopleskilled in music could escape farm labour. The orchestration of these operascalled for a relatively large number and variety of instruments, both Chineseand Western, and "thousands of young Chinese who had studied ...instruments used their bourgeois skills to join existing song-and-dancetroupes, while the establishment of new ensembles created a heavy demandfor capable singers and instrumentalists."43 Kraus outlines the story of one42 like Guanzai, both Zhang Zeming (thefilm-maker) and Kong Jiesheng (the writerof the story on which the film is based) spentthe Cultural Revolution years in hard labouron Hainan Island. Zhang was sent to Hainanat the age of sixteen and remained there forten years.43 Kraus, Pianos and politiCS, p.153.

160MIRIAM LANG44 Ibid., p.155.young violinist who, like Swan Song 's Guanzai, was sent to Hainan in 1968.4 5 Ibid., p.lOO.By playing in a propaganda team he was able to escape manual labour46 Ibid.altogether. Conditions were good for 'cultural workers'; according to Kraus,4 7 Ibid., p.128. "the musicians ate better food than was available to most Chinese, with extrameat to put strength into their performances. They also had the chance totravel; the ensemble served not only all of Hainan, but also gave performancesin mainland Guangdong and also made trips to Hunan and Guangxi. ,, 44Realizing the advantages that musical skills could bring, some urbanparents arranged for their children to begin music studies accordingly;several respondents to the 1989 survey noted that this was a common motivefor commencing study of a musical instrument during this time.It is well known that classical Western music was banned early in theCultural Revolution; nonetheless, "the Westernization of music gained newmomentum as instruments were updated and melodies harmonized-andchoral singing, of which China has no indigenous tradition, was encouragedas the principal form of musical expression.,,45 Kraus notes the irony in thefact that China "[adopted] Europe's musical technique while rejecting itsmusical repertory,, 46 and "propagated a music that was, in fact, highlyWestern in its technique, harmonic structure, instrumentation and emphasison choral singing." 4 7Pa rt FiveThe synthesized music theme and a shot of the empty lane outside OuLaoshu's house indicate the passing of time, to the late 1970s or early 1980s.Guanzai, now an adult, returns home embittered by his experiences in theCultural Revolution and full of reproaches for his father. Worn and dirty, hisface marked by scars, he arrives to find his father engaged in manual work,making boxes. Guanzai berates his father for his old profligate and lazyhabits: "If you hadn't gone to the teahouse so much before, we'd have all wewant now."In his years away from home, Guanzai has learned about businessdealing. One day he asks for his father's old qinzbeng. As the instrument isbrought out, Ou Laoshu is fearful of the repercussions if its music should beheard by the Revolutionary Committee-but Guanzai's interest in theinstrument has nothing to do with music. Instead, he wishes to sell it on theblack market. When Ou Laoshu finds out that Guanzai has sold the qinzbeng,he is aghast. "Do you know how much it's worth?" he cries, "I sold my foodto buy it."This scene is an apt illustration of the increasing irrelevance of traditionalmusical culture in the lives of the young. The priorities of Ou Laoshu and hisson are preCisely inverted: once Ou Laoshu sold his food to buy theqinzbeng, and now the pragmatic Guanzai sells the instrument to secure abetter material life.

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA161Guanzai's planned use of the money is an attempt to leave China for HongKong with a friend. Ou Laoshu sells another relic of his former decadent life,his opium pipe, to make his son a special farewell meal before he leaves. Ashe makes his culinary specialty ' taiye chicken' ::t X!l he cannot keep fromhis usual pretentious name-dropping: "This was Ma Shizeng's favoritefood. ,,48 He writes to a friend in Hong Kong to entrust the care of his son tohim. On the appointed morning of Guanzai's departure, however, Guanzai'sfriend leaves without him, taking all of their shared funds, and Guanzai isforced to return home.Soon afterward, Ou Laoshu is told by officials of the ProvincialRevolutionary Committee that one of his old friends, now a companymanager in Hong Kong, has come to Guangzhou for a trade fair and wouldlike to make contact with him. The officials approve of this idea and directhim to go, in order to demonstrate the success of the Cultural Revolution inallOWing an old decadent musician to be rehabilitated and 'becomeindependent'. Ou Laoshu takes all of his old scores (which, along with theqinzbeng and the opium pipe, have survived the Cultural Revolution) andgoes to meet his friend at a restaurant, accompanied by a sizeable group ofsupervisory officials.In his friend's hotel room after the meal he shows him his scores and asksfor his opinion. The Hong Kong friend is approving, and offers to help OuLaoshu to get the music recorded in Hong Kong. At first Ou declines, sayingthat he hopes to have it published and performed in China, but his friend isable to persuade him with the words, "But why are you so foolish? Look atthe situation. Such good music, what a shame. Leave them for me to readproperly. I'll return them." Ou Laoshu is full of gratitude.His happiness is short-lived, however. Listening to a Hong Kong stationon the short-wave radio given to him by his Hong Kong friend, he hears theannouncer introduce "some recently discovered pieces by He Dasha whichhave become extremely popular." He listens aghast as his own composition,Nigbt Moon ofPingsba ljZtplllA, is played and attributed to He Dasha. Asthe stolen music plays, Guanzai says to his father, "Let them be He Dasha'satleast they're heard." "Damn the bastard," cries Ou Laoshu, and smashesthe crockery off the table.Obviously the treacherous 'friend' was more eager to make money forhimself than to help Ou Laoshu. In passing the compositions off as HeDasha's, he greatly increased their chance of publication and with it thefinancial returns that coli"ld be expected from them. The fact that the musicwould not be profitable without a famous name attached demonstrates thedominance of the pre-1949 composers over the musical world, even decadesafter their deaths.In portraying the Hong Kong Chinese music world as no less inhospitableto the composer than the People's Republic, Swan Song underlines thehopelessness of Ou Laoshu's longing for recognition. Even though there is48 Ma Shizeng tt 0900-64) was a wellknownand innovative perfonner of Cantoneseopera (Zhongguo yinyue cidian, p.258).

162MIRIAM LANGno overt political control over musical activity in Hong Kong, the profitmotive is seen to triumph in the film over both art and old friendship--andthus the problems facing Chinese music are shown as not being restrictedsolely to China.Part Six4 9 In KongJiesheng's original story, Guanzaiis not in fact the son of Ou Laoshu, but ratherthe son of his opera-singer mother andanother man. Zhang Zeming claims that thissituation gives a bener indication of thelifestyle of folk artists than does his ownversion. In his quest to add depth to therelationship between Ou and Guanzai whichis central to the film, however, he chose topresent them as blood relatives. He addsthat his change to the plot will also deflectany 'disgust' which the audience might feelfor the mother in the original version (ZhangZeming, "Di yi bu de changshi," p.6).The synthesized music theme returns as time passes. Guanzai's residencyis finally transferred back to Guangzhou from Hainan, and he can thereforelook for a pennanent job. When someone suggests that he should return toplaying yangqin, he rejects the idea with the words "I don't want to be likemy father."Ou Laoshu becomes seriously ill and asks Guanzai to take a letter fromhim to his fonner wife (Guanzai's mother), and Guanzai visits her accordingly.The class difference between Guanzai and his mother is made clearby the luxurious apartment in which she receives him and by her ratherinsensitive invitation to him to join her opera company as a stagehand orelectrician. In his letter, Ou Laoshu has requested her to recommend hismusic for perfonnance and publication; using the last possible avenue leftopen to him, he tries to take advantage of his fonner wife's fame to publishhis music before he dies. She declines to do so, saying "It's gloomy and outof-date."She also tells Guanzai that her marriage to Ou Laoshu was basedentirely on obligation and involved no affection whatsoever. He was manyyears her senior and a smoker of opium, and she was glad to be able to freeherself of him after 1949. 49 Since then she has, in fact, been extremelysuccessful, whereas Ou Laoshu has languished in obscurity and comparativepoverty, preoccupied with nostalgia for the past.Having failed to enlist his fonner wife's assistance, Ou Laoshu finallyadmits defeat. He asks Guanzai to fetch his scores. On some he writes thename of He Dasha, and the rest he burns. He instructs his son to send theremaining scores to a publisher; "Say He Dasha wrote them and I kept them."In this scene, one of the film's climactic points, Ou Laoshu recognizes his ownunimportance and the irrelevance of his musical achievement, realizing thatonly if it is presented as a relic of the past and the work of a known composercan his music gain any legitimacy. Thus for a second time the very societyof composers around whom Ou Laoshu has created his world of nostalgicfantasy engulfs and negates his own achievements. For a second time alsothe film illustrates the ossification of the musical establishment around thefew select great figures from the 1930s to the extent that no composer sincethen has been of any consequence. Having finally given up his quest forrecognition, Ou Laoshu dies.

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA163Part SevenWith the money from the publication of the scores, Guanzai opens a shopto sell 'taiye chicken'. He rejects an offer from his father's old work unit ofa job as a carpenter with the prospect of progressing to a music-related jobin the future. This is quite consistent with the real-life situation; for youngambitious people, Chinese music has not been able to compete as a careeroption in the commercialized environment of China the 1980s. Guanzai'schoice of a career in the socially marginal world of private business perhapsreflects in part his disillusionment with the musical establishment of whichhis father was a peripheral and uncomfortable member, as well as his desireto make money. The adult Guanzai's attitude typifies that of dislocated urbanyouth in the 1980s-disillusioned, cynical and aggressive.Throughout the film, traditional music has gradually declined in importance,as it has in the PRC during the period in which the film is set. It isconsistent with this progression that Guanzai, despite his early talent, has nowish to take up the yangqin again. His own musical tastes reflect the musicalculture of young people in the 1980s, with his preference for pop music, bothWestern and Cantonese. Significantly, however, although during his adultlife he evinced no interest whatsoever in his father's music, he now plays OuLaoshu's compositions on his guitar. 5050 In Kong ]iesheng's story, Guanzai is seenplaying not the guitar but the yangqin in hischicken shop. Zhang Zeming included thisscene in the script; when he came to makethe film, however, he caught sight of ayoung man playing a guitar in the doorwayof a goose shop. Inspired by this image, healtered his script, feeling that to show Guanzaiplaying a guitar would more aptly demonstratewhat the young man has chosen toinherit from his father (the tune) and whathe has rejected (the traditional instrument).Zhang sees this situation as "genuine andhistOrically inevitable." Guanzai's choice ofthe guitar, the quintessential instrument ofmodem youth culture, "is in accordancewith his character and social status: andgives his commemoration of his father (byplaying his music) "a derisive flavour" (ZhangZeming, "Di yi bu de changshi: p.6).This final phase of the film reintroduces Yunzhi, the Figure 5daughter of Guanzai's opera-singer mother (and thus The young pianist reads Ou Laosbu 's scores on Guanzai sGuanzai's half-sister), now a con-servatory piano student wall, written in gongche IR notationwho is soon to graduate. She begins to frequent Guanzai's (courtesy of Ronin Films)shop. Their interactions are awkward, highlighting theclass difference between them; like her mother beforeher, the half-sister makes a patronizing offer of help,suggesting that she could ask their mother to buy him amotor-cycle. She tells him that she is looking for Cantonesesource material for her final graduating composition,but has so far been unable to find anything suitable.Although initially suspicious of her motives, Guanzaioffers to "unearth some old relics of 'He Dasha'" for herand takes her to the back room, the walls of which arepapered with Ou Laoshu's old manuscripts. He thenescorts her to Duanzhou Square, where the old amateurmusicians who are the real custodians of Ou Laoshu'smusic play for her. On her departure, she promises Guanzai that she willspread the truth about the music known as He Dasha's: ''I'll let everyoneknow that those He Dasha pieces are really your father's."The young pianist adapts Ou Laoshu's theme into a piano compositionfor use in her graduating performance. Like Ou Laoshu's Hong Kong 'friend',however, she is unable to resist the temptation to use his music for personal

164 MIRIAM LANGFigure 6The young pianist, Yunzb i, transcribes Ou Laosbu smusic fro m a Duanzbou Square perfo rmance(courtesy of Ronin Films)51 See Kraus for an account of the processby which Western music acquired thisfavoured position in China.52 Kraus points out that the images of personalsuffering and struggle associated withthe Romantic movement have had strongappeal for intellectuals in China this century(Kraus, Pianos and politicS, p.71); in thelight of the suffering that they themselveswent through in the Cultural Revolution,their own identification with these ideasmay be another reason for the popularity ofromantic music in China. He suggests alsothat the fame of Xian Xinghai Iltml'}, aChinese composer of the early twentiethcentury, may have more to do with "theromance and suffering of his early deaththan his music, [which is] largely unperformed"(Kraus, Pianos and politicS, p.66).53 The privileged position of Western musicin Chinese society can be seen today inradio programming on China's national networks."European classical music has oftenhad more official support than Chinese.Even though Mao denounced foreign 'imperialist'culture in his writings ... by 1989Western classical music comprised 15-2

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA165As noted above, the self-conscious use of 'Chinese flavour' in compositionsis still a feature of young composers in China now, who borrow melodicshapes and timbres from traditional music and characteristic techniques fromChinese instruments. 54The closing scene of Swan Song also illustrates the importance of being'qualified' in order to be able to act convincingly in the Chinese musicworld. Music from an unknown composer like Ou Laoshu is ignored, butthe same music is acclaimed if it is thought to come from He Dasha (as OuLaoshu obviously realizes when he finally submits his work for publicationunder He's name, knowing that under his own it will never be accepted).Likewise, when Ou Laoshu's themes have been reworked and modernizedby a young musician who is the daughter of a prominent opera star, aconservatory-trained Western musician and so promising a talent that hergraduating concert is televised, the music world responds with accolades.The importance of reputation and connections is a constant feature ofChinese life. In the 1989 survey, one respondent cited the lack of anestablished reputation and a well-known name as a hindrance to achievingambitions; wishing to write a historical and theoretical textbook on Chinesetraditional instrumental music, this person knew that there was no hope ofbeing able to do such a thing, since a young, unknown writer was notqualified to be listened to.Another issue highlighted in the closing scenes of Swan Song is the classdifference between Guanzai, the representative of the private businessworld, and his half-sister, the conservatory intellectual. Class differences havenot been a major topic in post -Mao films, but here they are made very clearindeed. The young pianist has all of the prestige of tertiary education as wellas an obviously privileged upbringing, whereas Guanzai is in a SOCiallymarginal occupation and, contrary to the popular image of private businesspeople, works extremely hard but has achieved only modest financialsuccess. 55Ou Laoshu could himself be said to be a peripheral member of the eliteclass. He does not have tertiary education but he displays some of thetrappings of an intellectual; he notates his compositions in elaboratelywritten scores rather than relying on oral transmission, uses a ratherclassicalized form of Chinese in his personal correspondence, and owns anexpensive and high-status 'gentleman's' musical instrument. 56 By virtue ofthis and his government-sponsored job, he can claim marginal membershipof the intellectual class-but he comes nonetheless from a dubious socialbackground, and his personal life is distinctly questionable. Ou Laoshu doesnot really belong comfortably in any social category. His past life and hisnostalgia for it prevent him from fitting into New China as represented by hiswork unit. Class differences set him apart from the local amateur musiciansand his former wife. He cannot be numbered along with his old cronies, thedead musical geniuses, because he is not a recognized talent. Ou cannot/programs" (Charles Harrun, "Music and radioin the People's Republic of China: Journalof the Society for Asian Music 22.2 (Spring!Summer 1991): 1-42, at 15. Kraus points outthat the range of Western music favoured bythe Chinese is quite narrowly defined;"Mozart. Beethoven and Schubert. alsoBraluns and such eastern Europeans asTchaikovsky and Chopin ... the Chineseaccept as Western classical music the symphonicwarhorses of the nineteenth centuryand ... the romantic literature for piano." Henotes that baroque and renaissance music.twentieth-century composers such as Stravinskyor Bartok, Western opera, chambermusic and religious music are not popular inChina (Kraus, Pianos and politics, p.8).54 See article on Tan Dun cited above (n.20).55 A 1988 survey of private business peoplein Chengdu. Sichuan. reveals that "Thesocial position of private business peoplestill ranks lowest in city life. and this isespeciaUy felt by young people wanting tomake a career for themselves ... the artractiveincome from business aUeviates this.but ... many of the young feel they arebeing looked down upon, they are nottrusted by aU and ... their choice of marriagepartners is limited: Ole Bruun, Thereappearance of the fa mily as an economicunit: a sample suroey of individual householdsin workshop production and crafts,Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. CopenhagenDiscussion Papers. no. 1 (Copenhagen:Center for East and Southeast Asian Studies.Dec. 1988), p.1l9. The author goes on toobserve that for young people in Chinathere is a clear and self-conscious choicebetween prestige (with a governmentassignedjob) and independence and possiblywealth (in private business). Swan Songdiffers from many other modem Chinesefilms in that it clearly portrays the statusdistinctions between inteUectuals and privatebusiness people.56 Zhongguo yinyue shiliie suggests that,like Ou Laoshu, the real historical Cantonesecomposers came from humble origins butpossessed high levels of technical skill andeducation (p.383).

166 MIRIAM LANGFigure 7Yunzhi plays her prize-winning composition based onOu Laoshu s melodic ma terial (courtesy of Ronin Films)57 Je-

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA167In its avoidance of value judgements about China's musical culture, thefilm presents no easy solutions. It neither pleads for traditional instrumentalmusic to be saved from oblivion nor endorses the dominance of Westernmusic. Interestingly, the incidental music chosen to convey the passing oftime in the film is synthesized and neither distinctly Chinese nor Westernsounding.Since electronic music is not discussed at all in the film, this is ableto provide a suitably neutral background.2. MUSICAL MATERIALThe central melody, composed by the fictional Ou Laoshu and entitled "TheWild Goose Flies in the Cloudy Sky," is first heard played on the gaohu byOu Laoshu himself early in the film. In the traditional manner, ornamentationis not notated in the score; the gaohu player adds his or her own passingnotes and grace notes in the performance. The sharpened fourth degree ofthe scale typical of Cantonese music is likewise not notated; the score readsF-natural (bars 21-22) but what is heard is much closer to F-sharp.Examples from the score by Zhou Xiaoyuanare reproduced below with his permission.Example 1 -Ott Laosbu s melody35II

168MIRIAM LANGExample 2 -bars 6-76I'"'- ..., ,. - .... .---' +- - _ .. ....,> 1 . ..--.... h.J. -r;'=- ===-- -I J...I..'J f'-_ =-rIf'If:==--1 J iiI.:- -"'J",.. . -The melody is next heard in a harmonized arrangement for a Chinesestring ensemble (erbu, gaobu, guzbeng, and so on) with xiao (a soft-tonedvertical bamboo flute) and woodblock played by Qu's friends, the DuanzhouSquare musicians. The young pianist, Yunzhi, who is searching for Cantonesemusic sources for her own compositions, makes notes as she listens; thenwe hear her first imaginings of a reworking of Qu's theme, with the melodyintact as the basis of a kind of romantic ballade or fantasy for solo piano.The climax of the film presents the pianist'S finished composition forpiano and orchestra, Wild Goose Spirit, based on Qu Laoshu's melodicmaterial. It is lavishly scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets,two bassoons, four homs, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, sidedrum, cymbals, xylophone, harp and strings. In contrast to Qu Laoshu's'-->oJ- . ..--- ... 1 -... -- - ---" ---- -.. ;t -- --- --> .. -- -ta.. -t.0)4-J--: .- , ,' . .od - - - --• ,iJ.. ...---..... ,t=...- -:' ---"'f I--!1:-- ---:::... ..,...-, Y"--. r- ... ..Y" -' J...."-" "- -' > - " ,.--.,intense but unostentatious original mu­sic, much of this composition is loud,percussive and impassioned. The finalcomposition begins in the rather unusual5/4 time-signature in the key ofE major; in the course of the compositionthe metre changes back to 4/4 andthe music modulates to the unrelatedtonality of B-flat major and then backagain.The 'Chinese' flavour of this compositionis provided not only by briefquotations from Qu Laoshu's themebut also by imitations of guzbeng techniquesin both the piano and harpparts. The harp imitates the 'pressedstring'(anxian n:) technique inwhich, after the string has been plucked,the left hand pushes it down, thus raisingthe pitch; a similar effect is achievedon the harp by pressing on the soundboard. Glissandi in both piano andharp parts are also reminiscent of thesound of the guzbeng.When an eight-bar quotation of theopening phrases of "The Wild GooseFlies in the Cloudy Sky" is played by asolo flute, her 'plagiarizing' of Qu Laoshu'smelody is immediately obvious.A little less obviously, fragments ofQu's melody form the whole melodicbasis of Wild Goose Spirit. The rhythmof the first four notes of Qu's compositionis altered and two more notes are

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA169added to make a six-note motif that appearsmany times in the composition coupled witha new answering phrase. First stated in thepiano part (Example 2), it appears many timesand in various guises throughout the composition(Examples 3, 4, 5, and 6).Example 3 -bars 20-21Example 4-bars 36-3 7Example 5 -bars 444

170 MIRIAM LANGExample 6 -cadenzaExample 7 -bar 10The second fragment of "The Wild Goose Flies in the Cloudy Sky" on whichWild Goose Spirit is based is the cadential figure in bars 13-14 and bars 22-23 of Ou Laoshu's melody. like the other fragment it appears first in the solopiano part (Example 7). Then it is heard in the lower strings coupled witha series of chromatic piano arpeggios, placing it finnly in a Western'twentieth-century serious music' context (Example 8)..,• .- ..•1.,It reappears in the cello part in bars 29--30 (Example 9) and identically in bars34-35... ,... ,.-..Example 9-ba 2306 l f br taD@I. Q F" -- =-""r,;

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA171Transfonned by the reworking (both rhythmic and melodic) of thethemes, the chromatic tonalities and the orchestration, Ou's melody is notinunediately recognizable until the solo flute brings it unmistakably to theaudience's attention. Significantly, in the flute score of the first eight bars ofOu Laoshu's melody as it is used in Yunzhi's composition, the ornamentationis fully written out-unlike the score for Ou Laoshu's original theme, wherethe ornamentation is added at will by the perfonner.Guanzai turns off the televised perfonnance of the composition beforethe end, and so the film audience does not hear the final appropriations ofOu Laoshu's melody. A cadenza based on the figure in Example 2 leads toa conclusion blazing with brass and percussion, trills and glissandi, referringbriefly in conclusion to the first three notes of the opening theme (Example10 - over page).3. THE PRESENT SITUATIONThe film's portrayal of the loss of interest in China's traditional musicaccurately reflects the situation of the 1980s. In 1989, 952 urban residentsresponded to a survey about their musical preferences organized by aconservatory student named Yang Xiaoxun MfJ. The institutions selectedfor participation were two middle schools, four universities, two largedepartment stores, five factOries, seven sub-departments of the CentralOrganizational Department, one medical research institution, one socialscience research institution, two hospitals, two departments of the NationalPhysical Training Committee, four profeSSional music and dance companies,and two conservatories of music. Ages ranged from fourteen to sixty ,withan average of twenty-six. 6 2Respondents were asked to indicate their first, second and third choicesfrom a list of eight types of music, with very clear results: music from the West(especially pop and dance music) were by far the most popular choices.Chinese traditional opera was in sixth place, and Chinese instrumental musicin seventh.This lack of public interest in traditional music is clearly observable inaudience attendance at various kinds of concerts. At the Sichuan conservatory,there was a striking difference in attendance at concerts featuringWestern classical music and Chinese instrumental music in the yearsbetween 1985 and 1989. A piano concerto perfonnance or a violin recitalwould fill the hall in 1985; such concerts, although they usually includedat least one work by a Chinese composer, were chiefly devoted to theWestern romantic repertoire, and were enthusiastically received.Performances of traditional Chinese instrumental music, on the otherhand, were very poorly attended although, ironically, the standard ofperformance was usually conSiderably higherthan in concerts of Westernmusic. By 1989, however, even the regular concerts of Western classical62 Yang Xiaoxun, "Zhongguo liuxing yinyuechuanbo yuce de lilun yu shixian· [The theotyand practice of forecasting the disseminationof Chinese popular music], Zhongguo yinyuexue,1990, no.4, pp.96-1l2; also quoted inCharles Hamm, "Music and radio in the People'sRepublic of China,· Journal of the Society forAsian Music, vo1.22, no.22 (Spring/Summer19')1): 31. The more educated strata of societyare obViously over-represented (44% of thesample were university students or graduates);one might have expected that, like theirpeers in the West, these representatives ofthe Chinese middle class would support anindigenous, classical, 'authentic' style of music,but plainly they do not. likewise, the sampleincludes a grossly disproportionate numberof people under thirty-five years of age(89%), the age-group most likely to favourpop music; it is difficult to predict whether ornot this young audience will become anymore interested in Chinese 'traditional' musicas they become older. In addition to generalmusical preferences, Yang's survey coveredissues such as whether or not respondentscould read mUSiC, whether or not they couldplay a musical instrument, what factors influencedtheir choice of casseue tapes (performer,price, composer and lyridst, etc.), and whatkinds of popular music they liked best.Owing to Yang's unsatisfactoty sampling methodsand unreliable computation of data, hisfindings cannot be taken as representative ofthe Chinese population as a whole; even so,the trends he auempts to chart in his surveymatch the situation as I have observed it.

172MIRIAM LANGExample 10 -bars 62-66At-p >..... {: ;,., ,,--nJc'-a+JtJ....hv- I.' ; ; f .1 ,it- F : -- "I i i ,q.h(: II -IIl -... . * fI" tt> ,,II rtiJ..:.- ..:. -.:.=,0-I -r I• •hi I'.,-'JIlH>;,.1E'!:'--tr;oL- >.>ff -..

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA173music had been discontinued in favour of the ever more crowd-pleasingpop music.Although Western pop music has some following in China and is brieflyrepresented in Swan Song by a snatch of "Careless Whispers" by GeorgeMichael of the English pop duo "Wham," who toured China in the mid-1980s,pop music of Chinese origin, either from China itself or from other parts ofthe Chinese-speaking world, has a much larger audience.63 Most of China'shome-grown pop music is modelled on the pop music of Hong Kong andTaiwan.64 This music fits neatly into Charles Hamm's category of 'Pacific pop'(so-called because of its popularity in Japan, North Korea, the Philippines,Singapore and Indonesia as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong and now China),being characterized by "moderate tempi, texts concerned with romantic love,string-dominated backgrounds ... a singing style reminiscent of OliviaNewton-John and Barry Manilow, and the frequent use of rhythmic patternsderived from disco music of the 1970s.,,(i5Another form of pop music which became extremely popular in Chinain the late 1980s was supposedly adapted from the folksong style of thenorth-west. Known as 'the north-west wind' (xibei feng ljt)XIJ, thisphenomenon generated considerable comment in music publications aswell as sales of enormous numbers of cassettes. The songs are loosely basedon Chinese-sounding melodies, orchestrated with at least one traditionalChinese instrument as well as the usual instruments of a Western-style popgroup, and matched with lyrics in praise of China's landscape or Chinesepeasant life. This type of music does not appear in Swan Song, as it was firstcatapulted into the national consciousness by the film Red Sorgbum (Honggao!iang tti\\Win 1988, a year after Swan Song appeared. Since that timeit has constituted a significant part of popular culture and indeed of nationalidentity in China. This desire for 'pop music with Chinese characteristics' isanalogous to the wish of Western-style classical composers in China toincorporate Chinese elements into their own music, just as the pianist in thefilm bases her Western-style romantic piano composition on Cantonesemusical sources. From the late 1980s, indigenous rock music (yaogunyinyue Miffff Jf-) has also emerged on the mainland and, although it verymuch follows the styles of American stadium rock and pop-metal, practitionerssuch as CuiJian •• have often asserted the distinctive Chineseness of theirmusic.Along with changes in musical preferences, there has also been a changein people's listening experiences as live performances have gradually givenway to recorded music-perhaps a natural result of improved livingstandards and of the increasing availability and affordability of radios andtape recorders, and, more recently, compact discs, karaoke machines andlaser discs. This change is charted in the film, which begins with music beingperformed in an informal indigenous setting in the community and ends witha televised performance in a Western-style concert hall. In Yang Xiaoxun'ssurvey, respondents were asked to indicate where they heard their preferredmusic. Almost 60% of respondents replied "tape or phonograph," 15.7%63 Yang Xiaoxun's sUIVey shows a relativelysmall margin of popularity for Hong Kongand Taiwan (Gang-Tai i!fi) PoP music; Isuspect that these statistics may have changeddramatically with the increased exposure ofHong Kong and Taiwan singers on themainland in the time since the sUIVey wasconducted. Respondents were asked to indicateall of the kinds of music which theyliked from the following list: Hong Kong!Taiwan POP songs, mainland POP songs,Taiwan student songs, 'foreign' POP songs,'foreign' POP instrumental, mainland songsfrom the 19305, and folk songs or traditionalopera. 685 respondents said they liked POPmusic from Hong Kong and Taiwan; 667liked mainland POP music; 599 liked Taiwanstudent songs; 592 liked foreign POP music;516 liked foreign POP instrumental; 411liked the Chinese songs of the 19305 and 366liked folk songs and traditional opera. Matchingthese preferences with respondents'occupations, Yang found that Gang-Tai musicwas most popular among secondary anduniversity students; mainland pop musicwas most popular among private businesspeopleand 'workers', and foreign popmusic was most popular with people whoworked in the arts (Yang Xiaoxun, Dissemination,p.ll 0). There is ample evidenceof the enormous popularity of pop starsfrom Hong Kong and Taiwan among youngpeople in China in the early 19905; onerecent article discusses the popularity ofvarious Hong Kong singers and the intenseemotional involvement of their young fanswho feel that, unlike their mainland counterparts,Hong Kong and Taiwanese singersexpress genuine, sincere feeling as theysing, striking a chord with their own emotions (the mainland counter-example beingLin Yilian #flt!, singer of the 1986--87patriotic hit song "Shiwu de yueliang" + .litJe.J}HE [The light of the full moon], who theysay lacks feeling in her performance). Theauthor also notes his or her surprise at hearingyoung people in various parts of Chinasinging along with their heroes in Cantonese(Wang ]ue, "Chongbai Gang-Tai mingxingde fashaoyou" [Adoring fans of Hong Kongand Taiwan stars], Dongxiang 90 (Feb.1993): 24-5.64 This music is sometimes termed 'Cantopop' for its origins in Hong Kong; the termis not entirely accurate as the influence ofTaiwan pop music has been equally strong.65 Hamm, "Music and radio," p.17. Pacificpop's inroads into China began in the lOVER

174MIRIAM LANG!late 1970s with pirated cassettes of theTaiwanese singer Teresa Teng (Deng Lijunf1f1t by the early 1980s China wasproducing its own versions.66 Yang Xiaoxun, Dissemination, p.l04.67 Jin Xiang, "Zhenxing yu fansi," p.6.68 Ibid.69 Chen Yongzhi, "Zhongguo dalu yinyuejiede kunjing" [The difficult situation of musicin mainland China], Mingbao, 1983, no.12,p.46.70 See Zhou Haihong for further discussionof this point.71 The same kind of homogenizing processhas taken place with the cultural products ofChina's minorities. Zhou Haihong notes thatminority music has become sinicized andthen, along with Han Chinese music, westernized;thus it has lost its individual identity."A nation's traditional culture is valuablein world terms according to its degree ofdifference from others. The more different itis, the more valuable it is; but now we aremixing up Chinese and Western ... the degreeof difference between Chinese andWestern music is becoming smaller, and ourspecial characteristics are decreasing. Thiskind of art cannot have an independentposition in world culture. When Chineseperformers go abroad to perform, they alterthe pure lrJdition and create music that willbe well received abroad-so Miao, Mongolianand Dai music is all much the same. Ourminority music has become sinicized, andthen westernized in tum; it has lost itsspecial charJ

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA175travel to a region to study with a master of the local style, he or she is perhapsunlikely to appreciate fully the subtler characteristics of any one style or toachieve a high level of sensitivity for the nuances of stylistic variation. Oncethis last generation of folk artists has disappeared, many details and subletiesof the individual regional styles may be 10st.7° To what extent musicaltraditions are being passed on at informal and amateur levels in the countrysideI do not know; in the urban professional setting, however, regionalrefinements appear to be blurring in some cases.By the same token, students today by-and-Iarge appear to have littlesense of being rooted in a particular tradition, and correspondingly littlefeeling of continuity with the past. The traditional music studied inconservatories can in a sense be compared with putongbua; although it isnobody's native tradition and has a relatively recent pedigree, it is replacingregional differences with a generic national musical language. Likewise, itclaims to be the incarnation of ancient tradition but is in fact a product of themodem nation-state.71Another factor that can cut students of traditional music off from theircultural past is a general lack of theoretical knowledge about Chinese music.Although Conservatory students majoring in Chinese instrumental musictake compulsory courses in the history and theory of Chinese music and inChinese opera, much of their most basic training from the time they beginmusical studies has been based on Western theory and practices.72 The sightsingingand aural training methods used at all levels are of Western origin,using the tempered scale, with a heavy emphasis on solfege; music studentsalso study the harmony and counterpoint of Western music. Even thenotation systems currently used in China are imported; the five-line stave andcipher notation have replaced indigenous methods of notation such as thegongcbe pu IR if and the complex tablature of the guqin( which, accordingto Li Minxiong of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, only about a dozenpeople are still able to use).73Alongside theory, practical exercises for developing technique onWestern instruments have also been adopted by Chinese musicians-againwith limited success. For example, diatonic exercises sound neither convincinglyWestern nor authentically Chinese when played without sub-dominantor leading-note on instruments tuned to a pentatonic scale.For music students to conduct original first-hand research in Chinesemusical history is also problematic. Historical sources are written in the classicallanguage, and many conservatory students are ill-equipped to study them.Chen Yongzhi draws attention to this problem, as noted above, pointing outthat students in formal music schools before 1949 had strict training in classicalChinese and foreign languages (as well as in philosophy and aesthetics), andwere thus able to master all kinds of new concepts first-hand from originaltexts. He is convinced that levels of musical and general education amongmusicians have fallen dramatically since 1949, leading to a lack of real artisticcreativity.74 Chinese music professionals have themselves told me thatInoting that 'cultural homogeneity mayensue ... . What one witnesses in the classroomsin Beijing is far removed from theactions and meanings that occur in the field,and what appears on stage for massconsumption ... has been re-

176MIRIAM LANG75 Kraus claims that a clear system of socialstratification also exists among musicians inChinese conservatories according to whetherthey have studied Chinese or Western music,and that performers and composers ofWestern music tend to look down on practitionersof Chinese music. While this maywell be the case, the detailed example hecites is, however, clouded by other issues ofsocial class. (Kraus, Pianos and politiCS,pp.12s-6).76 In a nation preoccupied with competingand keeping up with the West, the possibilityof winning prizes in international Westernmusic competitions and thus gaininggloty for China may be one reason for thisimbalance.77 In at Ie-JSt some rural areas, practice wasforbidden during daylight hours. Even ifmusicians were not too tired to practise atnight, they could not always rely on havingenough light to read scores by. Auditioningtoo presented a problem; travelling to andfrom the city where the auditions were heldcould take several days, during which timeno work points could be earned and thereforeno food allocated (personal interview, 1989).78 Music apparently provides a similar avenuefor success among the Korean communitiesof north-east China. According toProfessor Byong-won Lee of the Music Department,University of Hawaii, many Korean parents encourage their children tostudy music as a means of leaving theircommunities. (Byong-Won Lee, Universityof Hawaii lecture, Fall semester, 1989).conservatories tend to stress technique above all else and that too little attentionis paid to other factors, which perhaps lends weight to Chen Yongzhi'shypothesis. In this way the conservatories could perhaps be said to be creatinga class of intellectual artisans: tertiary-trained individuals whose level oftechnical skill is extremely high but unmatched by their level of relevanttheoretical knowledge. Within the conservatory system, Chinese music carriesless status than the more 'scientific' classical music from the West?5 Conservatorieschannel more of their resources into Westem music programmes thanChinese, and the comparative quality of China's music schools is usuallyevaluated in terms of their Westem music programmes alone?6It is not only in the context of their musical training and theoreticalknowledge that specialists in Chinese music suffer by comparison withperformers of Westem music. There are also more practical opportunitiesavailable for social and financial advancement with Western music. There arebetter money-making opportunities in China with Western music (as will bediscussed further below), and Westem music can also enable people to goabroad for study purposes and ultimately, should they choose to do so, towork and live permanently outside China. Choices are more limited forperformers of Chinese music, whose only hope of going abroad is usuallyon short performance tours. All of these factors combined to make traditionalmusic a much less attractive career option in the 1980s than it was in theimmediate past, when it was often an effective means of social advancement.As mentioned above, musical skills could save urbanites from hard labourin the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Likewise, at the end of theCultural Revolution, those of the young urban people sent to the countrysidewho had some skill in music regarded it as their means of salvation; whenthe education system was restored after several years' lapse, hundredsauditioned for a handful of places in conservatories, often in the face ofconsiderable difficulties.77Even though Chinese music has declined as a cultural form in the 1980sand may no longer be a sought-after career path for ambitious people, it canstill be a factor in educational progress and social mobility. Since conservatoriesdo not require such high university entrance examination marks asuniversities do, music can be a way by which less academically giftedstudents can be admitted to tertiary education. The job assignment systemby which tertiary graduates are placed in work units can also be an attractiveincentive for a career in music in some cases. Music is one possible meansby which rural families can enable their children to move to the city, findmore congenial employment and live more comfortably. If they can beaccepted by a conservatory, they will be able to go to the city to study. Theycan also continue to live there if they are assigned to an urban work unit (suchas a conservatory, a song-and-dance troupe, or some other kind ofentertainment grou p) after graduation. By the late 1980s, it was not unknownfor the children of farmers on the outskirts of cities to take private musiclessons. Thus the social advancement function that music fulfilled at the endof the Cultural Revolution may still operate in some cases.78

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA177In the past few years, with greater availability of teachers and instruments,larger disposable incomes in urban areas, the focusing of all aspirations ontothe family's single child and the increasing competitiveness of Chinesesociety from kindergarten-level upwards, more and more children arestudying music, and they are beginning their studies younger and younger.This does not, however, necessarily reflect an interest in music as a lifetimecareer, as it would have in even the recent past. Music (both Chinese andWestern) in China is beginning to take on the same kind of social functionsthat are fulfilled by piano or ballet lessons in Western countries. Teachers ofmy acquaintance reported that their younger students were not necessarilydestined for careers in music; rather, their parents wished them to study itfor their own pleasure and personal enrichment. Amateur study of music canbe of practical value as well. Early musical proficiency can increase a child'schances of being accepted by a 'key' kindergarten, which will thus increasehis or her chances of attending a key primary school, and so on. (BothChinese and Western music can, of course, fulfil this function.) In line withthese changes in attitude towards the value of music, musicians interviewedin 1989 said that they hoped their children would study and appreciate musicbut did not wish them to practise it as a profession.From my own knowledge of professional teachers and performers oftraditional Chinese music and their students, it appears that Chinese musicprofessionals do not generally come from intellectual class backgrounds,19My observation is that members of the intellectual middle class have tendedand still do tend to encourage their children to study the more prestigiousWestern instruments, in particular piano and violin. In the 1980s and 1990sit has been the children of cooks, drivers, restaurant proprietors and salespeople(that is, the private entrepreneurs who are currently the wealthiestclass but who, as noted above, lack social prestige) who are learning to playChinese instruments.The appeal of traditional music as a career may now be chiefly for thosewithout a secure position in the middle class. There are still real advantagesto be gained from a conservatory education, the two main ones beingfinancial security and social status. Despite the recent changes in the structureof Chinese urban society, belonging to an official 'work unit' is still the onlyway of reliably ensuring access to an apartment at low rent, cheap utilities,coupons for rationed or expensive and sought-after items, medical subsidies,financial support in illness and old age, and a host of other benefits.As a graduate of a conservatory, a musician is assured not only of thefinancial support of the unit to which he or she is assigned, but also of a certainlevel of social prestige as part of the 'intellectual' class. In a society where'intellectual' is a discrete and identifiable social category which is generallyaccorded considerable respect, this is no mean consideration. The convenienceof belonging to an official unit, the dignifying function of a conservatorydiploma and the connections that can be formed during four years of full-timestudy are of inestimable value to the musician throughout his or her career.so79 A similar phenomenon is reportedlyobservable in Taiwan. According to UMinxiong, students of Western music inTaiwan tend to be from the upper middleclasses, while students of Chinese instrumentsare often from the lower middle classes(personal conversation, Sept. 1993).80It is now most unusual for a musician toachieve a career in the professional musicworld without a conservatory education. Asin the West, it is almost impossible foranyone in the regular school system or inregular employment to find sufficient practice-timeto reach professional standards.Even if this were possible, it would still bevery difficult to succeed without the opportunitiesand contacts that conservatoriesprovide.

178MIRIAM LANG8! The fact that by 1990 there were morethan 130 dance halls, tea-houses, bars andkaraoke venues in the city of Wuhan indicatesthe extent of the prospective marketfor musical entertainment in private establishments.According to Sha Lai, each suchestablishment had at that time (on average)between six and nine musicians and singers,whose joint daily income from their performancesranged from 70 to 220 yuan. Sha Lai,'Chutan yu duanxiang" [Preliminary explorationandevaluationl, Renmin yinyue, 1990,no.5, pp.52-5, at 52. Elsa Lee notes that in1991 many musicians from both the SichuanConservatory of Music and the SichuanOpera School were working in dance bands,earning up to 1,000 yuan per month (privatecorrespondence, Sept. 1993).Until the late 1980s at least, only such people as were assured of makinga large amount of money to compensate for the loss of the work unit'sbenefits were prepared to abandon the unit and set up in an independentbusiness venture. Many people who pursue private business interests stillmaintain their connection with their official unit at the same time. Given thepresent lack of public interest in traditional music, performers of it areunlikely to be confident of comfortable survival outside a work unit; althoughthey are able to earn extra money through teaching or (in a few cases)performing for foreign audiences in hotels and suchlike, few are willing toput themselves outside the work-unit system. In 1989, when inflation andother economic worries were at the forefront of people's minds and manypeople in all fields were explOring every possible avenue to supplement theirincomes, many musicians took on second or even third jobs; I was aware ofnone, however, who had any intention of officially severing the tie betweenthemselves and their work units.The rewards of alternative employment can be considerable-but in thisrespect, as in so many others, performers of Western music have theadvantage. Since at least 1988, a violinist or guitarist has been able to makeseveral times his or her official monthly salary by performing in therestaurants and lobbies of tourist hotels or by playing with dance bands.Between 1986 and 1989, many performers of Chinese music temporarilyshelved their own specialty instruments to learn to play Western instrumentsin order to take advantage of the dance-hall boom. As small bars and nightclubsbegan to challenge the dance-hall as the popular musical venue around1990, and bands began to give way to solo appearances,8! it was still Westernmusic which the public paid to hear, such as in the bar I visited in 1991 wherepatrons supped their orders to the accompaniment of Italian tenor arias,romantic piano numbers and saxophone solos. At the same time karaoke toobecame a competitor in the musical entertainment world.The low rate of pay which the government gives to recent graduates andwhich motivates so many musicians to look for supplementary employmentis not the only cause for dissatisfaction with the work-unit system. The extentof control which the unit exercises over musical activity can also be a sourceof frustration to government -employed musicians. This control is alluded toin Swan Song when officials in Ou Laoshu's unit direct him to compose totheir specifications. Likewise, musicians attached to a work unit may haveno control over what programmes they play or when and where theyperform. They may be required to play at extremely short notice if, forexample, guests arrive from foreign countries and are to be entertained withChinese music. The unit also decides which works they should play. If theunit leaders should deem a certain piece to be representative of the musicof a certain instrument, then that piece may have to be played in almost everyperfonnance, leaving the frustrated player no chance to perform otherworks. Displaying truly remarkable profeSSionalism, musicians in China areaccustomed to performing with minimal prior warning and therefore without

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA179preparation, a situation that most Western musicians would find extremelydifficult to deal with.In addition to the restrictions imposed upon pertormers by their workunits, there are other limitations which constrain their careers as well. Oneof these is the pressure to pertorm as much as possible before the age of fortyor so (the thirties are the peak time); once past this age, they may be graduallyreplaced by younger musicians. The rationale underlying this practice is theassumption that audiences like to see pertormers who are young andattractive, and that by the time a musician is forty people won't want to watchhim or her pertorm any more. This contrasts markedly with the Westernclassical music tradition, where many of the world's most popular andrespected pertormers are elderly men. While elderly musicians are greatlyrespected in China, most pertorming is done by young people. Pertormancesof Chinese music on television feature almost without exception young andusually glamorous pertormers. This seems inconsistent with the well-knowndeference to age that has traditionally been part of Chinese thinking, butappears in fact to be connected with notions of what is thought of as anappropriate activity for older people. Dressing up in formal Western-stylesuits or attractive brightly-coloured evening gowns and pertorming on stagehas been considered the prerogative of the young. The task of oldermusicians is to train the young to take their place. Musicians' pertormingcareers are therefore likely to be short, and if their work unit does not oftenrequire them to pertorm during their peak years, they face all the frustrationsof wasted talent and lack of appreciation. However, as Chinese attitudes toageing begin to change, as they have done in Western countries overthe pastfew decades, this situation may well change too.The movement to bring traditional music into the environment of theWestern-style concert hall has resulted in an increasing emphaSiS on'presentation', both aural and visual. To make it more spectacular, traditionalmusic has been arranged for every possible combination of instruments andfor ensembles of all sizes. There is an increasing reliance on devices commonto Western romantic music such as dramatic dynamic and tonal contrasts,rubato, and brilliant arpeggio passages. Dramatic mannerisms are alsowelcomed82 and elaborately glamorous costumes have become mandatory.These attempts to attract audiences by injecting glamour and drama intoChinese music may seem tantamount to an admission that the unadornedmusic is not in itself interesting; they may also perhaps be interpreted as aresponse to the realization that traditional music has not readily made thetransition from the kind of informal and interactive pertormances of SwanSong 's Duanzhou Square to the hushed cavern of the concert auditorium.Placing traditional instrumental music in concert halls, giving the pertormersWestern-style training and recreating the pertormance style of Westernvirtuosi reflects a concern with creating an art form that is appropriate to amodernizing nation.83 Zhou Haihong notes that the prevailing ethos in82 Some criticism of unsightly mannerismsamong competitors in the ART Cup InternationalChinese Instrument Competition in1989 suggests that at least some musicprofessionals would welcome a less ostentatiousperforming style. (Fan Shang'e, "ARTbei Zhongguo yueqi guoji bisai duanxiang"[Thought on the ART Cup international competitionfor Chinese instruments), Renminyinyue, 1989, noJO, p.ll; Qiao Jianzhong,"Fanlai zhen shengyu, qiuse zheng xiaosa"[The sound of ancient instruments everywhereand fresh autumn scenery], Renminyinyue, 1989, no.ro, pp.4-6, at 6.83 Kraus states that even though musicianshave rejected "complete westernization,"they have "continued to define modernity interms of features basic to Western music,such as the increased use of harmony"(Kraus, Pianos and politics, p.28). "Therehas ... been a steady Westernization ofChinese music ... . Musical leaders seek tominimize the impact of traditional musicpractices, arguing that modem music, likemodem science, must meet internationalstandards" (ibid., preface, p.x).Chinese music since the 1920s has been transformation, advance and change

180MIRIAM LANG84 Zhou Haihong, "Weiji zhong de jueze:p.20.85 Kraus, Pianos and politics, p.205.86 A good example of this is the guzbengpiece Yuzbou cbangwan "ji} II (Thefishing boats' evening song); always classifiedas an ancient piece, it was in factadapted from older fragments into its presentform in the 1930s (Zbongguo yinyue cidian,p.473).rather than simple preservation-but 'reform', he points out, has tended toequal 'Westernization'. He states categorically that all of the attempts toreform and improve Chinese music have been complete failures, unpopularwith audiences at home and lacking international credibility as well.84 Krausechoes this view with his account of an occasion where "European musicologistsshocked a delegation of Chinese musicians in 1979 by attacking themfor presenting as 'traditional' music that had in fact been highly Westernized. "85Among these failures must be counted the fictional Ou Laoshu, who earlyin the film Swan Song states his commitment to change and reform inCantonese music but whose attempts at modernization are judged "mournfuland out-of-date."As noted above, the post-1949 reforms have also placed musicians in anew social category, with a new system of training and a new context formusical performance, all based on Western models. These changes,however, have failed to achieve the desired result. By virtue of their tertiaryeducation, performers of Chinese traditional music are guaranteed a placein the middle class, but their manner of training, instead of leading to anelevation of and respect for traditional music, has brought it by comparisonwith Western music only second-class status. The musicians themselvesremain at the margin of tertiary training owing to the low entrance scoresrequired by conservatories and their emphasis on manual technical skills atthe expense of intellectual study. Chinese music has failed to become thepreferred music of the middle classes, and few in the middle classes chooseto study it. 'Improvements' to the music have been unable to interestaudiences, and the transplantation of traditional music to the concert hall hasmet with little success.The Chinese musical community, despite its intent to modernize, has thusbeen unable to establish Chinese instrumental music as a vital and effectivepart of modem Chinese culture. Despite the constant reform and 'improvement'it has undergone, Chinese music has been unable to keep up withchanging audience tastes.An unforeseen by-product of this constant process of musical reform hasbeen the creation of a kind of generic concept of Chinese music and adistorted view of its historical tradition. Most Chinese pieces have beenrevised and reworked many times by many different musicians over time, butare still regarded as ancient.86 likewise, many works labelled guqu tid!!(ancient tune) were in fact composed within the last forty years. Many arebased on tiny fragments of older melodies, but others are simply based onthe subject matter of an ancient story, the name of a play, a line from a poem,or the name of a real or legendary person from the past, and may not be oldat all. In the traditional music of China, there appears to be no analogousconcept to the Western idea of the progression of musical history througha succession of historical periods. In addition, it is common in China for aperformance of 'traditional music' to feature modem instruments playingmusic that is considered old.

TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA181In the current century of self-conscious modernization, this existingpattern of reworking older music has been compounded by the introductionof a new romantic aesthetic from the West, to the extent that the music nowperformed in concert halls as traditional music bears little stylistic resemblanceto that played by the elderly conservators of local traditions whoreceived their training in the late Imperial and early Republican eras. Youngperformers appear unanimous in their preference for the new romantic styleof playing.Zhou Haihong's claim that the aesthetic basis of Chinese music has beenundermined by Westernization and reform is an unusual point of view in themodem Chinese musical community (although common among Westernobservers).87 Chinese audiences accept yesterday's innovations as ancienttradition because the musical world presents them as such. Thus Chineseinstrumental music is deprived of the status it could have had as a remnantof the past; it is successful neither as a form of popular music nor as a pieceof history with a unique aesthetic quality.In contrast to the Chinese situation, the burgeoning interest in the Westin 'early music' is a prominent example of how a musical form can becomepopular on the basis of 'authenticity'. A similar phenomenon is most unlikelyto occur in China in the near future for a number of reasons. Firstly, a nationstill self-consciously preoccupied with progress and modernization is notpredisposed to preserve and promote aspects of its 'backward' traditions(assuming that there can be agreement on what the authentically 'traditional'elements of the modernized and Westernized Chinese repertoire actuallyare). As Kraus points out, "the question of preserving a sample of China'smusical past simply does not arise, just as it did not in the mind of Berliozin regard to French music. ,, 88 In addition, Kraus notes that "there are still manypeasants in China living in material conditions little different from those thatgave rise to the opera and the traditional musical instruments of the Qingdynasty. While this is true, ... [people] are unlikely to find musical nostalgiacompatible with their quest for modernity."89 Since there is no communityof devoted listeners to sustain it in a free market environment (as there hasbeen with Western 'early music'), the maintenance of 'authentic' music inChina would thus be impossible without extensive financial support fromgovernment agencies, which is not at present forthCOming.In the light of all of these factors, it is unsurprising that Swan Song, in itsportrayal of the waning popularity of traditional Chinese instrumental music,presents little hope for its revival. Of all the different social groups that appearin the film-the folk artists, the younger generation, the last of the old-stylegenius composers, the Chinese opera star, the conservatory intellectualtrained in Western music, the overseas Chinese impresario and the publishers--noneis shown as a potential saviour of traditional music. Zhang Zeminghimself states his belief that the generation represented by Guanzai and hishalf-sister, after the extraordinary and complex experiences they underwentduring the "ten years of chaos," cannot be expected to save the day: "to87 In my view this is one of the main reasonsfor the neglect of Chinese instrumentalmusic by Western musicologist, who placea premium on 'authentidty·.88 Kraus, Pianos and politiCS, p.119.89 Ibid.

182MIRIAM LANG90 Zhang Zeming, "Di yi bu changshi: p.3.Miria m LangChina CentreFaculty of Asian StudiesAustralian National UniversityCanberra ACf 0200expect them to carry on tradition in an ideal way or to rely on them to solvethe contradictions of the previous generation is obviously at odds with theactual situation."90 Ou Laoshu's desperate struggle for recognition producesmusic that is by no means unattractive--but there is no audience for it.Despite his best attempts, neither he nor his music is able to find a comfortableniche in society. Similarly, exponents of Chinese instrumental music inthe 1990s, after decades of institutional and cultural change, remain at theperiphery of the intellectual class and produce music which continues to beuna ppreciated.EAST ASIAN HISTORY 5 (1993)