| China in the twentieth century witnessed a series of revolutions that brought about political and economic changes. Traditional cultures also underwent various changes to survive the drastic impacts of these political revolutionary ideologies. This study takes the case of the Qingyin (locally referred to as the Sizhu), a silk and bamboo instrumental ensemble form that has survived these political impacts in China's recent history and is still thriving in the rural community of Nanhui, a district geographically neighbour to the cosmopolitan city Shanghai, with the aim to locate the reasons and ways of its transformation.; Under the influence of various political, economic, and cultural factors, the Qingyin has lived through different musical groups over time. From 1850 to 1949, within the framework of Confucianism, it took the form of non-professional ritual musical bands. From 1949 to 1976, under the socialistic slogan of "art serves political ideologies", the Qingyin survived within the organizations of local opera bands and propaganda units to spread Maoism. From 1977 to 2004, under the government policy that "culture goes hand-in-hand with economy", the Qingyin lived among "art factories" (non-governmental corporations combining art with commercial production) and semi-professional ritual-musical bands. This study discusses how this traditional form of musical ensemble underwent the three stages of ritual-musical culture, popular culture, and consumption culture, with their corresponding changes in music repertory, performance style, and social activities. The author sees those changes as ways to continue cultural traditions employed by musicians to adapt to the alienated cultural ecology, which the author describes as "mechanism of internal reaction" and gives its analysis and interpretation. |
