A Musicultural History of the Chinese Zheng

1. A Musicultural History of the Chinese Zheng Chapter 13

2. Introduction • “The musicultural focus of this chapter is a particular instrument, the zheng, which we will discuss through the lens of Chinese history and the political movements and ideologies that have shaped it.” (p. 328) • Deng Haiqiong (Haiqiong Deng) • Winner, National Zheng Competition of China (1995) • Concerts internationally, including at Carnegie Hall, NYC • Doctoral studies in ethnomusicology (US) • Main focus: modern conservatory style of zheng • Other topics: Dynastic history, regional zheng styles, other instruments, Chinese opera, Japanese and Korean musics, Chinese and Chinese American popular music

3. The Nation-State of Modern China • China is the world’s most populous nation (1.3 billion) • Third largest country geographically • Beijing (21 million), capital; Shanghai (24 million) • More than 100 cities with 1 million or more people • Single-party socialist (communist) state since 1949 (Mao Zedong) • Borders five major world regions, many nations • Complex relationships with Hong Kong, Taiwan • Mandarin [PL 13-1], Han, “minorities” (Uighur, Tibetan, etc.)

4. From Antiquity to the Present • One of world’s most ancient civilizations (3500+ years) • Many modern inventions, technologies, systems of knowledge have roots in ancient China • Dynastic era • Qin (3rd century BCE) • Han (202 BCE-220 CE) • Tang (618-907) • Ming (1368-1644) • Qing (1644-1911) • Republican era (1912-1949) • Republic of China; Nationalist Party; Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) • Communist era (1949-present) • People’s Republic of China (see next slide for details) • Integral and often explicit connection between music and politics has existed throughout the millennia in China

5. People’s Republic of China, Main Historical Periods (1949-present) • The Emergence of Communist China era, 1949–1965 • Profound reformation of Chinese society and culture under the leadership of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) • The Cultural Revolution era, 1966–1976 • Unprecedented levels of intolerance for deviation from state ideology • Movement toward extreme restrictions on cultural and artistic expression, both for Han and minority populations • The Period of Openness, late 1970s-present • Began to take shape in the turbulent years of the late 1970s following Mao Zedong’s death in 1976 • Fully crystallized around 1980 under the rule of Deng Xiaoping • Major economic reforms: free enterprise • Increased involvement of China in global economic and cultural markets • Loosening of constraints: civil, cultural, social, artistic, and religious (though at a cost)

6. The Zheng • The zheng is a board zither chordophone (Figure 13.1, p. 334) • Related to: • Japanese koto [PL 13-2] • Korean kayagum [PL 13-3] • Mongolian yatga [PL 13-4] • Vietnamese dantranh [PL 13-5] • Earliest extant forms of the instrument date from about 2,500 years ago • Also known as the guzheng, meaning “ancient zheng” • 21-string instrument (four octaves) the most common type today • Movable bridges • Metal-wound nylon or steel strings • May be tuned to different five-note per octave (pentatonic) scales • 16-string version (three octaves) often used for more traditional pieces

7. Musical Guided Tour: “The Zheng” • Access at the OLC: www.mhhe.com/bakan3e • Text transcript on pp. 335-36 • This tour begins with Deng Haiqiong (Haiqiong) performing an excerpt of the famous zheng piece “Fighting the Typhoon” • The remainder of the tour introduces, via zheng performance illustrations by Haiqiong, the following: • The basic scales used on the instrument • Various playing techniques • Standard types of melodic ornaments • Different playing styles, including regional styles

8. Insights and Perspectives: The Koto and Japanese Music in Ancient and Modern Times, pt. 1 • “Dispute” theories aside, historical record suggests koto arrived in Japan from China as part of the gagakuorchestra [PL 13-6] during the Nara Period (8th century) • Gagaku = “elegant music” • Togaku: descends from China (Tang dynasty) • Komagaku: descends from Korea • Bugaku: dance pieces (red costumes – Chinese origin; green – Korean origin) • Kangen: purely instrumental pieces (no dance) • Koto (and other chordophones including biwa[PL 13-8]) used only in kangen, not bugaku • Shomouth organ another distinctive gagaku instrument

9. Koto and Japanese Music in Ancient and Modern Times, pt. 2 • Sankyoku ensemble [PL 13-8] consists of: • Koto • Shamisen [PL 13-9, 13-10 (kabuki)] • Shakuhachi [PL 13-11] • Sankyoku accompanying singing • Solo koto repertoire • Edo period (1615-1868) • Meiji Restoration (post-1868) • Miyagi Michio, “Tegoto” • SawaiTadao: “Tori no Yoni” (Like a Bird) [PL 13-12] • Koto in Japanese popular music (J-pop) • Rin’, “AA170” [PL 13-13] • Flight number, Los Angeles-Tokyo • Koto, shakuhachi, biwa within contemporary J-pop setting • Rin’, “Sakitama” music video

10. The Zheng in Imperial China: Qin Dynasty (3rd Century BCE) • Earliest written documentation from 237 BCE (Qin dynasty) • Document groups of musicians in rural areas of China who “beat clay drums and earthen jars, play zhengand slap their thighs to accompany songs” • Became a popular instrument during Qin era • Used in various ensembles • Singing accompaniment instrument • Key in the emergent “popular music culture” of ancient China (Lawergren) • Regional playing styles today trace lineages back to Qin era • Shaanxi, Henan, and Chaozhou • In Shaanxi, the phrase “Qin zheng style” is today used “as a way of claiming links to this historical legacy” (p. 337)

11. How the Zheng Got Its Name (perhaps) • One theory: Onomatopoeic (sound of strings when plucked) • Another theory: Zheng = “dispute” • “Legend has it that during . . . the Qin dynasty (3rd century BCE), two sisters in the imperial palace got into a heated argument over a 25-string se zither and broke the instrument in half. This yielded two instruments, one with 12 strings, the other with 13. Amused by the incident, the emperor named these new ‘half’ instruments ‘zheng’ in acknowledgement of the ‘dispute’ that had given rise to them. According to some versions of the story, the 13-string instrument was eventually given as a gift by the Qin emperor to the imperial house of Japan, giving rise to the 13-string Japanese koto (PL 13-2 and 13-12). The 12-string model, meanwhile, ended up in Korea, where it became the prototype of the 12-string Korean kayagum (PL 13-3).” (pp. 336-37)

12. Dynastic Era: Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) • Period when Confucianism became central to Chinese social and political order, though Confucius (551-479 BCE) lived several hundred years earlier (see I&P box, p. 338) • Confucius: music key to establishing and sustaining a good and moral social order, and to cultivating inner character • 7-string qin zither [PL 13-14] the ultimate Confucian instrument (for junzi); Confucius himself reportedly played the qin • Fight scene (Jet Li vs. Donnie Yen) from Hero(2004), featuring qin solo as musical accompaniment • Other instruments, like the zheng, had their place in the Confucian social order relative to certain classes and types of people as well • During the Han, the zheng “was played at weddings, banquets, and funerals, sometimes even on horseback,” and for events involving singing, dance, and acrobatics • Solo tradition of zheng playing may date back to this era, though mainly an ensemble instrument • Zheng had mixed reputation – “vulgar” for some, of high moral character for others

13. Tang Dynasty (618-907) • Another golden age for imperial China • Zheng reached its apogee during this period • Music ministry – 30,000 musicians and dancers from throughout empire employed • Zheng • Used in many different ensembles • Instruments elaborately decorated (silver-engraved frames, jade bridges) • earliest known examples of music notation for the instrument • Women began playing the instrument in large numbers • Emperor Xuanzong patronized women performers, women studying instrumental music • Silk Road • Major imperial expansion • Pipa (shown in photo) [PL 13-15, featuring pipa virtuoso Wu Man] and other foreign instruments brought to China • Pipa became closely associated with zheng – pipa/zheng duet [PL 13-16] • Silk Road Ensemble (with Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Wu Man, pipa)

14. Ming and Qing dynasty eras (1368-1644) • Following decline in preceding centuries, zheng achieved new popularity from 14th c. (Ming and Qing era) • Rising middle class in China • Middle/upper class girls and women encouraged to play zheng (self-cultivation) • Fashionable to have a zheng prominently displayed in the home (like having a piano was in 19thc. Europe, where girls/women likewise encouraged to play) • Chinese opera also flourished during this era, with the zheng an important instrument in regional opera ensembles, from Shandong and Henan in the north to Chaozhou and Hakka in the south. • Distinctive playing techniques, styles of melodic ornamentation reflected regional languages, dialects used in local opera traditions • These regional features would influence regional solo zheng styles later on

15. Insights and Perspectives: Chinese Opera and Peking Opera in Dynastic and Post-Dynastic China • Traditional Chinese opera • All styles: heightened speech, song, dance, mime, acting, and acrobatics • Use of stage props minimal • Action tended highly stylized (as opposed to realistic) • Four standard character types: male (sheng), female (dan), painted-face male (jing), and clown (chou) • Female characters often played by boys or adult female impersonators • Peking Opera (best known type of traditional Chinese opera) [PL 13-17] • 26 ways to laugh, 20 types of beard, and 39 ways of manipulating beard • Important vehicle of social and political change in China, early 20th c. • Revolutionary Chinese Opera [PL 13-18] (and ballet scene from same opera, The White Haired Girl) • Communist era (especially Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976); propaganda agenda • Contemporary themes, plots, and costumes; realistic staging, ordinary Mandarin speech • Four character types eliminated and stylzed, symbolic gestures removed • Traditional Peking Opera melodies alternated with revolutionary songs espousing the virtues of Chinese communism • Music modified through the addition of Western instruments and imported elements such as Western harmony • Pop (and the iPhone) meets Peking Opera: Leehom Wang, “Flower Field Mistake”

16. Regional Styles: Traditional Solo Zheng Music • Regional styles crystallized late Qing dynasty era (mid/late 19th c.) • Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Chaozhou, Hakka, Zhejiang • Each style has a distinctive yun (regional character) • Deng Haiqiong studied “Autumn Moon over the Han Palace” with Shandong master zheng player Gao Zicheng (who taught her more about the culture than the piece per se) • “Autumn Moon,” like other traditional solo zheng pieces, is in babanform (see below) • Yijing of sadness (but complex – “gentle, moderate, controlled”) • Intricate ornamentation of melody • Baban form (see Fig. 13.2, p. 344) • Each cycle of the form has a length of 68 ban (1 ban = ban + yan) • There are eight phrases per cycle • All phrases are 8 ban in length, except Phrase 5 (12 ban) • Usually baban pieces are played on a 16-string zheng with steel strings (rather than on 21-string instrument with nylon-wound strings)

17. GLE: “Autumn Moon over the Han Palace,” performed by Deng Haiqiong [PL 13-19] The piece is in the standard 68-ban baban form and uses the tuning of one of the three standard zheng modes: D E G A B (D). This summary accounts for the first complete baban cycle of the performance. The second cycle runs from 2:25 to the end. • 0:00–0:20: Phrase 1 (length of phrase = 8 ban); examples of melodic ornaments heard: • 0:00: gua-zou (glissando) • 0:02: up-glide (shanghua-yin) • 0:03: down-up round-glide (hui hua-yin) • 0:05: down-glide (xiahua-yin) • 0:12: vibrato “shake” (rou) • 0:21–0:38: Phrase 2 (length of phrase = 8 ban) • 0:39–0:55: Phrase 3 (length of phrase = 8 ban) • 0:56–1:12: Phrase 4 (length of phrase = 8 ban) • 1:13–1:36: Phrase 5 (length of phrase = 12 ban) • 1:37–1:53: Phrase 6 (length of phrase = 8 ban) • 1:54–2:08: Phrase 7 (length of phrase = 8 ban) • 2:09–2:24: Phrase 8 (length of phrase = 8 ban)

18. Emergence and Development of the Conservatory Solo Zheng Style in Mainland China • Roots of modern conservatory style (xueyuanpai) of zheng playing in post-dynastic, pre-communist Republican era of Chinese history, 1912-1949 • During this period: • Political instability, massive political and social reform • Music became a major part of reform efforts • One school of reformist thought: Replace Chinese music with Western music as “national” music • Other school of thought: “Develop” traditional Chinese music and instruments in accordance with modern (including Western), nationalistic ideals • Leading figure in this second reformist approach was composer Lou Shuhua, “Return of the Fishing Boats” (1936) [PL 13-20] • First solo zheng piece to break away from baban form • Western music-influenced programmaticism • Zheng playing style and technique piano- and harp-influenced

19. Music in Communist China, 1949-1965 • “With the rise to power of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, efforts to reform Chinese music continued, but now with a thick overlay of explicit political content tied to the doctrines of Chinese socialism.” (p. 347) • Mao prescribed that music and arts in the “New China” should serve the goals of the socialist state by elevating and valorizing the peasantry and proletarian masses • promoting revolutionary ideals • glorifying the revolution, communism, and Mao himself • Communist songs • “There is No New China without the Communist Party” [PL 13-21] • “On the Golden Hill in Beijing” [PL 13-22] Rays of light from the golden hill in Beijing illuminate the four directions. Nurtured by the thought of Mao Zedong, we grow up. The emancipated peasants have good morale, and new Xijang [Tibet] is building socialism. Songs of praise are offered to Chairman Mao, songs of praise are offered to the Chinese Communist Party.

20. The Zheng in Chinese Conservatories • 1950: First zheng curriculum (Shenyang Conservatory) • 1951: Shanghai Conservatory created a major in zheng • After that, zheng programs established at conservatories throughout China (including Beijing) • Extensive collection, research, and “development” of folk, minority, and historical traditions in conservatories and beyond • Zheng promoted as “genuine folk instrument” • Many new pieces composed for solo zheng, the majority • Based on traditional folk music (at least ostensibly) • Stylistic elements Western-influenced (even more than “Return of the Fishing Boats”) • Influence of piano music especially pronounced (e.g., two-hand playing technique of “Celebrating the Harvest” [PL 13-23]) • Programmatic elements of music explicitly political • Pieces actually together with programs(i.e., descriptions of what the music was properly supposed to represent and evoke re: communist ideology, etc.)

21. “Spring on Snowy Mountain,” by Fan Shang’e • 1958: Government initiative to increase stature of Chinese music in the conservatories motivated several piano majors at Shanghai Conservatory to switch their major to zheng. • Most who switched were women (even still today, majority of leading zheng players are women) • One of those who switched was Fan Shang’e, composer of “Spring on Snowy Mountain” [PL 13-24] • In this piece, zheng tuned to a scale of D E G A B (D) • Pianistic influence yields a musical style that is more virtuosic and technically demanding than earlier zheng repertoire • This kind of piano-influenced virtuosity also found in other pieces from this period, like “Fighting the Typhoon” [PL 13-25] (video of classic, live performance by the composer, Wang Chang Yuan) • Piece is reportedly based on a Tibetan folk tune, but both the music and the socialist program accompanying it—which depicts “Tibetans happily singing and dancing in their beautiful, mountainous land in a spirit of welcome toward Chinese communist rule”—are entirely at odds with Tibetan realities of the time under a brutal Chinese occupation. • On Chinese occupation of Tibet, see I&P box on p. 350, which also includes Playlist references to Tibetan Buddhist chant [PL 13-26] and other multiphonic vocal traditions [PL 13-27, 13-28]

22. GLE, “Spring on Snowy Mountain” [PL 13-24] TREMOLO MELODY WITH ARPEGGIOS AND GLISSANDOS • 1:29–2:12 • Right hand plays the main “Tibetan” melody in sustained, tremolo notes (yaozhi). • Left-hand accompaniment features arpeggiated chords (payin). • Sweeping glissandos (gua-zou) embellish the melody at various points. HARPLIKE, DESCENDING ARPEGGIOS • 2:13–2:35 • Contrasting style introduced in this section. • Melody elaborated here by a continuous series of descending arpeggios. • Passage concludes with more sweeping glissandos. DANCE RHYTHMS AND CLIMACTIC ENDING • 2:36–end • Concluding section of piece, in which the melody and lively rhythm are intended to evoke images of “happy Tibetans” performing folk dances (2:36-3:42); tempo accelerates and music builds to a climactic close starting at 3:43.

23. The Cultural Revolution Era (1966-1976) • Generally depicted as a dark period in China’s modern history • Purported aim of government was to rid Chinese culture of anything “alien to the egalitarian spirit of [Chinese] socialism” (Fletcher 2001:344), which “translated into brutally oppressive policies aimed at many sectors of Chinese society”: • Freedom of intellectual and artistic expression was severely constrained • Work camps, torture, executions of individuals and groups accused of going against state ideology • Peking Opera (and other Chinese opera forms) severely constrained and politicized • Religious practice and freedom severely repressed • Oppression of so-called minority groups (Uighurs, Tibetans) in their occupied homelands intensified • In terms of zheng, little development, and what new compositions were created had titles and programs of a particularly intense political character • “Molten Iron Pouring in a Stream” (disturbing title!) • “Little Sister Hero of the Plains” (program depicts a Mongolian child protecting her commune’s sheep in the midst of a blizzard while singing songs in praise of the Cultural Revolution)

24. The Rise of Deng Xiaoping and the Period of Openness • 1976-1979 – Turbulent years following Mao’s death (Gang of Four) • 1980s – Deng Xiaoping ushers in “Period of Openness” • “Deng’s regime was in effect a high-wire act of radical political experimentation.” (p. 352) • Attempt to maintain communist political order amidst hyper-capitalist, global, free market economy • Succeeded in many regards, failed in others • Failure most conspicuous in Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 • Protest movement symbolized by rock musician Cui Jian and his song “Nothing to My Name” [PL 13-29] • Re: Cui Jian, also refer to his recording of “Fake Monk,” featuring zheng [PL 13-30] and to the rock/funk music of zheng virtuoso BeiBei He [PL 13-31, 13-32]; these are all discussed in the I&P box on pp. 352-53

25. The arts, the zheng, and musicultural life in post-1970s China • Deng Xiaoping (1979): “Whatever they write or create can only be investigated and resolved by artists. There will be no [political] interference in these matters.” • For all of its problems and hypocrisies, the new policies ushered in a Chinese musical renaissance marked by: • Influx of international mass media entertainment • Revival of traditional Peking Opera and other styles of regional drama • Revival of formerly suppressed folk, ritual, religious, and minority music traditions, as well as formerly denigrated royal court music traditions • Extensive research on rural and minority music and dance • International tours and recordings by Chinese musicians (in both Chinese and Western musical idioms) • More accepting attitude toward new music from the West, and international exchange between Chinese and Western musical artists and institutions

26. Tan Dun • Most famous composer to emerge out of the “New Wave” movement, Period of Openness • Composed the musical score for Academy Award-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon • He received the Oscar for best film score • “Desert Capriccio” [PL 13-33] a track from that score • Cello soloist is Yo-Yo Ma • Other instruments in ensemble include • Pipa • Erhu (two-stringed fiddle) • Sheng (mouth organ, see photo, p. 355)

27. Problems of “Minority” Representation • Sabine Trebinjac: “The People’s Republic of China, a multi-ethnic state that takes pride in its wealth of diverse traditions, is also anxious to affirm the existence of a national musical tradition, which involves manufacturing heavily sinicizedversions of the products of other cultures,” in particular, cultures such as the Uighurs and Tibetans, who are much less likely to view themselves as Chinese people than as people living against their will under Chinese rule. Ethnic groups such as the Tibetans and Uighurs have suffered greatly at the hands of the Chinese authorities. (p. 355) • This situation must be kept in mind relative to pieces “based on” minority music traditions, such as that of our last GLE, “Music from the Muqam,” which draws from Uighur music for its source and inspiration, but not unproblematically.

28. “Music from the Muqam” [PL 13-34] • Based on Uighurmusical tradition • Word muqamrelated to Arabic maqam • Mode/scale (D F# G A C) • Five-beat meter (aksak = “limping” rhythms) • Melodic ornamentation • Elements of formal design • Chinese conservatory elements • Profusely virtuosic style (e.g., gua-zou glissandi), and thus Western influence • Equal-tempered “translation” of the traditional Uighur mode • Problems of musicultural appropriation (also Tibetans and other “minority” groups in China)

29. GLE Quick Summary, “Music from the Muqam” [PL 13-34] 4:24–6:29 • Steady, duple-meter rhythm; rhythm of dap (frame drum) characteristically “Uighur.” • Many standard zheng melodic ornaments used (e.g., gua-zou), but so too are a variety of other ornaments that are not conventional for the zheng and reflect traditional Uighur musical practices (e.g., the upward bend of the pitch A heard at 4:30 and elsewhere in the piece). • Chords often include four pitches, suggesting more modern Western influences than are evident in earlier zheng pieces. 6:30–end • Aksak (“limping”) rhythms replace the steady, duple-meter rhythms of the earlier portion of the piece. • Five-beat meter is established, but with unpredictable rhythmic accents. • Progressive, gradual acceleration and intensification leading to an exciting climax at 7:35. • Impressive rhythmic synchrony between the zheng and dap, and dazzling displays of zheng virtuosity by Deng Haiqiong. • Following climax at 7:35, piece concludes delicately.