Why Chinese people play Western classical music: Transcultural roots of music philosophy

Abstract

This paper addresses the complex relationship between Confucian values and music education in East Asia, particularly its history in China. How does one account for the present ‘cultural fever’ of Western classical music that has infected more than 100 million Chinese practitioners? It is proposed that Western classical music finds transcultural affinities in Confucian traditional values of artful self-cultivation and virtue, while simultaneously acting as a signifier of modernity and individual creativity. The paradigm shift that applies to Confucius’s status change from a despised pre-feudal conservative to a state-sanctioned indigenous philosopher who resists market economy sociocultural destabilization in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is discussed. Corresponding changes in the Chinese Communist Party’s attitudes towards Western classical music are covered, starting with condemnations of politically-suspect foreign cultural practices to current advocacy of an arts discipline that is integral in educating disciplined, high-performing citizens of the modern Chinese nation state. Correlations between ancient Eastern and Western philosophies of music and their consequences for contemporary music education are explored.