NAME : ANGELA GOH ZENG ZHEN

MATRIC NO : (RIA180003)

World Music Culture – Week 14 E- Learning

The Music of East Asia – China

1. Describe/summarize the analogy of bridge preservation to music preservation between Korea, Japan
and China, stated by the author (p.188-189).

The author used the analogy of bridge preservation to describe some difference of how east Asians
preserve their music. The metaphor: A wonderful, ancient bridge (which also refers to traditional music)
occupies a key position in a city. Because it is no longer used in modern days, the government calls for
engineers (one Chinese, one Korean, and one Japanese) to study the situation. The Chinese engineer
announces that they will “preserved” the bridge by modernization, which means the old bridge will
remain but it will be modernized. On the other hand, the Korean and Japanese engineers conclude that the
bridge should be preserved as it is. Thus, from the view of traditional music, China’s traditional music
struggles to survive while the ‘improved’ and ‘modernized’ music are commonly used to represent
Chinese music to the outside world. In Korea and Japan, both public and private institutions preserve all
surviving forms of traditional music and theater as living anachronisms in an otherwise modern world.
Hence, “tradition” in Korea and Japan are hardly defined.

2. Describe Chinese traditional artists’ struggle during and after the Cultural Revolution (p.212).

During the Cultural Revolution 40 years ago, Chinese traditional artists had to struggle against
government controls to be heard. The leader of China’s Communist Party, Chairman Mao Zedong has
used the power of music as a weapon to fight his enemies and control his subjects. Thus, all forms of
artistic productions are limited to his non-stop propaganda. Music that are written during that time varied
from Chairman Mao’s words to music, to praising him, calling for revolutionary action or extolling the
communist work ethic. Therefore, the artists during that time could not freely express their works. After
the Cultural Revolution, the artists struggle against the new hype of popular music, both local and
imported music from the outside world.