Voices from the East: Culture and expression in contemporary Chinese piano music

China is growing rapidly not only economically but also culturally. From the development of musical activities at the end of the Cultural Revolution---when everything Western was flatly rejected---to the enthusiastic if selective embracing of things Western, China has assimilated Western traditions at a remarkable rate while attracting the top echelon of Western musicians. Chinese pianists, with their passion and superb musical and technical training, now possess the general qualities as their Western counterparts. A diverse group of Chinese and Chinese-American composers, from Tan Dun to Bright Sheng to Chen Yi, have drawn sustenance from their motherland's roots while contributing new music fusing traditional Chinese folk styles with a myriad of Western styles.;My doctoral thesis will examine in detail the musical and cultural connections between China and America through the eyes of contemporary Chinese music. I will focus in particular on post-1980s piano compositions from mainland China, on music criticism and theory, and on Western and Chinese music history. Sources include both Shanghai and Beijing's international and national "Composition Competitions," which have stimulated tremendous growth in new piano music by Chinese composers. In my trips to mainland China I have investigated the many compositions presented at these competitions and choose several of them to study in detail.;The central aim of this dissertation will be to evaluate how these compositions reflect the paradoxes and contradictions of contemporary Chinese society, as well as the Western traditions on which they have drawn.