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

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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
Page 1 and 2: EastAsianHistoryNUMBER 5 . JUNE 199
Page 3: iii CONTENTS1 The Deer and the Caul
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