The emerging (national) popular music culture in China

ABSTRACT

Before the emergence of the modern sense of popular music in China, the uses of music in that country have been instrumental in serving political purposes for the state. The modern form of popular music began to enter China through Hong Kong and Taiwan – the two very political locales in which we could observe China’s political economy through the reception of their music in mainland China. How the Chinese authorities coped with the production, distribution and consumption of this ‘foreign’ popular music, is reflective of the swing of the pendulum between relaxation and control, and hence the changing ideologies of the state. Based on the cultural and institutional analysis on a few classical Chinese popular singers since the mid‐1980s, this paper illustrates such a transformation. The paper argues that the Chinese authorities have evolved from a dictatorial authority, which chose to control popular music by means of direct bans and censorship, to an active agent, through various strategies, managing and producing a kind of popular music that can be conducive to, and be resonant with, the national ideologies.     

The lyrics of laborious life: popular music and the reassertion of migrant manhood in Northeastern Thailand

Abstract

The focal subject under investigation in this paper is the gendered identities of overseas male migrant workers as presented in the contemporary popular song lyrics from Northeastern Thailand. My reading of such lyrics is informed by my ethnographic fieldwork of Thai migrant workers in Singapore. I intend to uncover some complex, cultural junctures of transnational labor migration, in which men, mobility, and music have come across and formed a social force to reshape cultural imagination of migrant manhood. I argue that popular music celebrates male heroism of overseas migrant workers. Instead of challenging existing structures of hegemonic masculinity in the region, popular song texts poetically reaffirm and reassert the traditional dominant gender ideology and cultural practice. Overseas workmen are usually depicted as hard‐working, self‐sacrificial heroes in their attempts to rescue their families as well as romantic, caring lovers and morally responsible fathers.     

Chained to the grassroots: the music industries and DCMS

The paper analyses the implicit assumptions made by three key DCMS reports about how successful music products are made. I show how the reports divide the music sector into small and large producers, handing responsibility for innovation to small producers and expecting that large producers will exploit these innovations efficiently. I argue that this approach risks ignoring the realities of music production and contradicts the findings contained in the reports themselves. I conclude that a romantic idea of successful products developing from small producers may not only misrepresent and misunderstand small producers in the music industries but constrain them.     

Still popular: Museums and their visitors 1994–2004

The starting point for this article is the author's 1994 study of the museums and galleries' market, By Popular Demand. The article sets out to look at some of the key findings and track any developments in the 10 years since its publication. The article examines both quantitative and qualitative evidence from national (rather than local or regional) data. The subject matter covered includes the old questions of how many visits are made to UK museums and galleries each year, who visits and why do they visit. This is a period only partly impacted upon by the policy initiatives of New Labour, notably free admission to the national museums and galleries and the Renaissance in the Regions programme. The author demonstrates that, at best, the total number of visits grew only a little and those who visit became more middle class and more middle aged rather more than the population did itself in these years. Museums and galleries might maintain their audiences but they were not expanding them or broadening their social appeal. This alone was sufficient justification for New Labour's policies, the early stages of which seem to have been successful.     

Transnational imagination in action cinema: Hong Kong and the making of a global popular culture

Taking action cinema as an example, this paper outlines a historical approach to the transnational study of globally popular cultural forms. Action cinema has long had a complex economy in which Hollywood not only trades stars, styles and narratives with the hybrid culture of Hong Kong cinema itself, but draws on a vast ‘direct to tape’ industry significantly based in East Asia. The paper outlines a Hong Kong‐based approach to two earlier phases in the history of action: the ‘international co‐production’ as an industrially innovative form (1973–85), and the golden age of the ‘direct to tape’ industry enabled by the rapid spread of video technology (1985–93). Focusing on the latter, it suggests that the global uptake by filmmakers of a ‘contact’ narrative and an ethic of emulation taken from Hong Kong cinema allowed direct‐to‐video action to address issues of social class in emotionally complex ways.     

Magic monks and spirit mediums in the politics of Thai popular religion

In this article, I read the politics of popular religion in Thailand through the case studies of magic monks and spirit mediums, which have been traditional key actors in the popular religious domain and have maintained their lasting popularity in the country in the 1990s and 2000s. Positioning my argument in the context of the much‐criticized commercialization of Buddhism, I accentuate that magic monkhood and spirit mediumship have exhibited themselves as culturally defined channels of, and strategies for, individuals' religious self‐empowerment. In the politics of negotiating and contesting for their religious identities and selfhood, the continued popularity of magic monk and spirit medium has exposed the conventional practices and ideologies of class and gender relations, which apparently favour men over women and, thus, countered attempts by ordinary disciples and followers to move out of their socially marginalized positions in both religious and socioeconomic worlds. In other words, the politics of Thai popular religion point to the affirmation or negotiation of existing religious and socioeconomic structures, but never the resistance against them. The consensus voice in this terrain of everyday life's religious practices emphasizes strong desire and a quest for material wealth and mundane success more than anything else.     

呼麥與胡笳:中古時代的喉音藝術——對繁欽《與魏文帝箋》的音樂學闡釋

柏拉圖(Platon,前427-前347)說:"節奏與和聲根植於靈魂深處."①當我初次聽到呼麥(Throat Singing)之聲和胡笳之音的時候,我感到自己的心靈受到了强烈的震撼.     

颜氏家族渊源探寻

颜氏家族的历史源头 据史籍记载和后人考证，颜氏先祖出自黄帝轩辕氏。黄帝生昌意，昌意生高阳，高阳生称（青），称生卷章，卷章生吴回（面），吴回生陆终。陆终生六子：长子昆吾，封国在卫；次子参胡，封国在韩；三子彭诅，封国在徐；四子会人，封国在郑；五子晏安，封国在邾；六子季连，封国在楚。     

Assimilation and individual differences in emotion: The dynamics of anger and approach motivation

Individuals who cross cultural boundaries face many challenges when trying to adapt to a receiving culture. Adaptation challenges such as learning to maneuver across societal domains may become increasingly complex if structural level factors such as discrimination are present. Researchers have conceptualized acculturation as a relatively autonomous decision indicating that four acculturation strategies exist: assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Moreover, researchers have also long debated the link between acculturation strategy, adaptation hassles and negative health outcomes. However, models seeking to explain how individual difference and structural level variables may influence each other and subsequently influence acculturation and adaptation are needed. The purpose of this study is to lay the foundation for the conceptualization of such a model. We propose that temperamental predispositions to negative emotionality, anger, and impulsivity may highlight discrimination which in turn may lead to increases in acculturative stress and negative markers of psychosocial well-being. We used SEM to test our hypothesized model. Results supported a modified model. Implications for the measurement of adaptation and design of interventions are discussed.     

讀《文史通義·易教·書教》

夫史之為用,亦大矣哉!上通干百年之事,下垂千百世之例.借事喻物,以明治國之大道;按制依度,以應鄉里之瑣事.至其使命,則為"究天人之際,窮古今之變.     

轵国·轵道·轵关

轵国轵国(今河南济源市轵城镇,有故城遗址),因出了我国古代四大刺客之一的聂政而闻名遐迩;又因轵国域内的漫漫轵道、巍巍轵关在军事上的重要地位,成为历代兵家必争之地。     

话说“急须”

周作人在《鲁迅的故家》中写鲁迅在东京的饮茶习惯时说:“鲁迅在写作时,习惯随时喝茶,又要开水。所以他的房间里,与别人不同,就是三伏天,也还要火炉:这是一个炭钵,外有方形木匣,炭中放着铁三脚架,以便安放开水壶。茶壶照例只是急须,与潮人喝工夫茶相仿,泡一壶茶只可二三人各为一杯罢了。因此屡次加水,不久淡了,便须更换新茶叶。”