Reconstructing The History Of Chinese Zheng Music Through The Concept Of Music Revival:from The "New Zheng Music" In 1980s To The Role Of Zheng In Contemporary Electronic Music

The development of contemporary Zheng music is part of the development of contemporary Chinese music.Whether it has absorbed western music,carried over the tradition,or included electronic music,its history involves the discovery of compositional vitality in balancing the East and West,tradition and innovation.Zheng music was significantly transformed in the 1980s:more and more professional composers gained the autonomy to create new Zheng music than had composers before the 1980 s.Since the 1980 s,composers have enjoyed greater contact with the West and greater freedom with reforms in China.The negotiation between tradition and innovation and the integration between the West and the East became particularly pronounced in this period.Given this historical situation,the relationship between tradition,innovation,the West,and the East can help inform a narrative history of modern Zheng music.In my thesis,I will highlight three important events in the history of Zheng music.In the 1980 s,Xu Xiao-Lin attempted a restoration of classical aesthetics through the invention of new Zheng techniques.Differing from Xu,Fu Ming-Jian has attempted to reconstruct the structure and historical performance practice of Tang Zheng.By doing so,he has “accidentally” composed new repertoire constituting “the songs of Zheng.” Wang He-Fei,a contemporary Chinese electronic music composer,has adopted electronic media as a means of demonstrating the traditional Zheng's temperament.In integrating Zheng music and electronic sounds,electronic composers have manipulated as well as extended its flexibility.My analysis of these figures is guided by theoretical work by Bruno Nettl,Richard Bauman,and Mark Slobin,and my own historical account supplements those of HanMei and Wang Ying-Rui.In short,this thesis will examine the dynamic relationship among traditional aesthetics,techniques,and structure and the new repertoire,techniques and media that have emerged since the 1980 s,clarifying the ways in which Zheng composers have adapted and transformed these traditional elements.