An Analysis Of Cross - Border National Music

The Korean nationality in Yanbian region is a cross-border ethnic group in China, as its ethnic origin is the Koreans in Korean peninsula. In history, China and Korea have always had the deep and profound cultural exchanges, among which the frequent exchange of music cultures between the two countries is especially distinct. The court in Korean peninsula once accepted a large amount of music and instrumental music spread from China. After a long period of music culture exchanges between the two countries, Ajaeng, as an ancient string instrument, was introduced to the Korean peninsula around the Song dynasty (i.e. the period of Goryeo Dynasty of Korean peninsula). Currently, the ancient musical instrument Ajaeng has nearly been lost in China, but recently it came back to China along with the migration of some people living in Korean peninsula to the Yanbian region of China. Accompanying such cultural backflow, Ajaeng encountered a series of transformations and improvements in such process. To understand and grasp the origin and spread of Ajaeng as well as its transformations and improvements during the backflow more comprehensively and deeply, we must treat this phenomenon comprehensively from the ancient to the modern times.The thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, the origin of Ajaeng in China is introduced. The Ajaeng of the Koreans is originated from the Chinese traditional instrument "Yazheng"(轧筝),which was created from the traditional instrument of the Warring States Period "Zhu" (筑). And the name of "Yazheng"(轧筝)did not appear until the Tang Dynasty. During the population of "Yazheng"(轧筝)in the folk Chinese, it gradually developed into the musical instruments with relatively large differences from the original "Yazheng"(轧筝)in appearance, for example, Wenzhen Qin(文枕琴)and Cuo Qin(挫琴).However, the Ajaeng of Koreans basically reserved its original characteristics, so it becomes especially important to study the spread of Ajaeng in Korean peninsula. The second chapter makes a concrete analysis of the spread of Ajaeng in the region of Koreans from the ancient times to the modern times. Although Ajaeng was introduced from the Song Dynasty in Goryeo period, the musical culture exchanges between China and the Korean peninsula cannot be ignored. The thesis introduces the phenomenon of cultural exchange between Korean peninsula and China in the five periods, i.e. ancient times, the three Kingdoms period (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla), Silla unification, Goryeo period and Korean unification, as well as the spread of Ajaeng in Korean peninsula in Goryeo period and Korean unification. In modern times, along with the transition of Korean history, the propaganda of Ajaeng is divided in three popular regions: South Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the inhabitation place of Koreans in the three provinces in Northeast China, especially the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province. As the various conditions of cross-border ethnicities are relatively complex, the author only describes the popularization conditions of Ajaeng in South Korea and Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of China. Ajaleng was back-flown to China along with the migration of the Koreans and it has experienced many transformations and improvements after the backflow. In the third chapter, the transformation characteristics of Ajaeng in the backflow are analyzed in terms of the field of use, shape and structure, tuning methodology and playing method. In the field of use, previously it was only used in the imperial "Tang music", while later it was used in the "rural music" and spread to the folk to play tune names in folk music and accompany for the opera, and the Ajaeng sanjo was also created after the appearance of Sanjo, so it can thus be seen that the field of use is extended; the shape and structure of Ajaeng were also improved, Jeongak Ajaeng in the imperial court was gradually transformed into Sanjo Ajaeng after it was spread to the folk, then Sanjo Ajaeng got further improvement, and scientific improvement has been made to both of its body and bow; the tuning methodology becomes more diversified, the previous tuning methodology based on seven-note Yan music in "Tang music" was developed into that based on level tuning and interface tuning in "rural music" and then to the richer tuning methodology after the appearance of Sanjo creation with Ajaeng; as for the playing method, further innovations and improvements were achieved, the string pressing methods mainly including rubbing, vibrating, pressing and pushing by the left hand and the string pulling methods mainly including detache, legato, martele and sautille by the right hand appeared. In its backflow, Ajaeng experienced the development curve from initial development to declination and then to renascence. The fourth chapter mainly introduces the reasons for the development of Ajaeng in the ancient Korean peninsula, including the emphasis of feudal rulers, the protection of music organizations, development promotion by career music and rich contents in folk music, etc. Also the reasons for the declination of Ajaeng in Yanbian region in the modern times are analyzed, including the social factors, lack of inheritors, large difficulty in playing and insufficient emphasis, etc. At last, through the analysis of reasons for the declination of Ajaeng in the residence area of the Koreans in Yanbian region, some suggestions are offered to the future inheritance and protection of Ajaeng in Yanbian region.