WRITINGS
LIU Ching-chih
A Critical History of New Music in China
Edition: The Chinese University Press, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. Translated by Caroline Mason, 911 p.
Date: 2010
Region: CHINA
Origin: HONG KONG
Type of media: Book
Language: English
Editor: M.B.
Comment: English version, updated, of a 1998 book published in Taipei.
Abstract:
By the end of the nineteenth century, after a long period during which the weakness of China became ever more obvious, intellectuals began to go abroad for new ideas. What emerged was a musical genre that Liu Ching-chih terms "New Music." With no direct ties to traditional Chinese music, New Music reflects the compositional techniques and musical idioms of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early twentieth–century European styles. Liu traces the genesis and development of New Music throughout the twentieth century, deftly examining the cultural, social, and political forces that shaped New Music and its uses by politicians and the government.