Singing the Chinese Blues
Piecing it Together
I have always been very interested in China and the Chinese culture, but I did not really begin to study or understand it until I came to Truman. I was fortunate enough to be able to study with Julie Minn, the director of Chinese studies here at Truman. Her knowledge and love of Chinese culture was truly inspiring. With her help, I have been able to greatly expand my knowledge of China and its culture. In the summer of 2010, I traveled to China with Mrs. Minn and the China study abroad program. After several weeks of traveling and tourism all around China, I was able to spend 2 months studying in Shanghai. While there, I took classes at Shanghai University as well as erhu lessons from a branch of the Shanghai Music Conservatory. During my time in China, I learned an incredible amount of information about Chinese music and culture. All the people that I talked to about my desire to learn more about China could not have been nicer to me. Everyone was more than eager to answer my questions and tell me all about their lives. They were also very eager to hear everything I had to say about America and the way China is viewed in the West. As I met and befriended more and more people, I began to notice a reoccurring theme. Everyone I talked to would always ask for some kind of clarification on the translation or meaning of English words or concepts. At first, I reasoned that this desire for clarification was due to the newly established education system in China. Many of the people I talked to were middle class workers over the age of 40 who did not have the opportunity to study English when they were in school. However, my conversations with professors from Shanghai University and the music conservatory (who were all highly educated and spoke excellent English) produced similar questions. Beginning to feel very perplexed, I started to realized that their questions were not addressing simple translation issues between English and Chinese. However, I could not pinpoint what was causing all of the confusion. The following fall, I returned to Truman and decided to do some research on this issue. After several weeks of research, I was no closer to understanding why this confusion existed than when I first encountered it in China. Frustrated, I decided to let it go and focus on other Chinese research that I was interested in. Later in the semester, Mrs. Minn informed me that Dr. Yang, a professor of Literature from Shanghai University, was going to be conducting research at Truman. His research topic was focused on the pastoral and national music of the United States in the 20th century. Being a dual music and Chinese major, Mrs. Minn and I agreed that this would be an excellent opportunity for both me and Dr. Yang. Shortly after arriving in Kirksville, Dr. Yang began meeting with me on a weekly basis. After a few weeks of getting to know each other, we started discussing his research. After a couple of meetings, Dr. Yang started to ask me the same kinds of clarifying questions I encountered in China. During one of our discussions, Dr.Yang asked a question that finally shed some light on this mysterious confusion. As I mentioned before, Dr. Yang's research revolved around the pastoral and national music of the United States in the 20th century. However, the majority of his questions were about country music. He was asking about everyone from Hank Williams to John Denver. Perplexed, I asked him what country music had to do with his research on America's national music. Giving me a very confused look, he said, "Is this [country music] not the national music of America?" This was the light-bulb-over-the-head moment when I realized what was causing all this confusion. In the English language, country and nation are two distinct words with meanings unique to each other. While both can be used to reference a body of people under one government in a distinct location, their meaning depends on the context in which they are used. In Chinese, there is only one term to refer to a body of people under one government; guo. No matter what English context you use the words "country" or "nation," it will be translated to guo in Chinese. This meant that when translated from English to Chinese, country music and national music were indistinguishable (both translated as guo yin yue). This, understandably, came as a big surprise to Dr.Yang. Fortunately however, his research was in its early stages and he was able to easily refocus his research.
While I was more than happy to help Dr. Yang, I was amazed that these kinds of linguistic oversights still existed in our modern age of information. I also want to mention that this was not a personal error made by Dr. Yang. He showed me several academic sources (written in Chinese) that did not differentiate country music from national music, referring to both as guo yin yue. To be fair however, the American flag and other patriotic images frequently associated with country music (not to mention the music videos) would be confusing to anyone from another country (I find it confusing myself). Still, this made me wonder what other similar kinds of errors exist today due to this translation issue. As I though about it more, I began to wonder how long have these errors been around and did they impact events in history. Furthermore, if these errors did in fact exist in the past, surely there exists evidence of their impact.
The goal of my summer research was to answer these questions. Last year, I conducted extensive research on the history and evolution of Chinese music. Being very familiar with this part of Chinese history, I decided Chinese music would be the best place to focus my investigative efforts. Due to the great length of China's musical history, I narrowed by research even more to Chinese music of the 20th century. What I ended up discovering was incredibly fascinating. Although I could not find definitive proof, there is strong evidence that suggests one of these translation errors occurred during the creation of Shidaiqu. Furthermore, I believe the evidence found suggests that this error not only occurred, but completely changed the meaning of Shidaiqu. I realize that this is a very bold statement to make without undeniable proof, which is why I created this website and organized it the way I did. Although the topics I discuss in my background information sections span thousands of years and cover many different parts of the world, each one aims to provide a piece of evidence supporting my hypothesis.
While I was more than happy to help Dr. Yang, I was amazed that these kinds of linguistic oversights still existed in our modern age of information. I also want to mention that this was not a personal error made by Dr. Yang. He showed me several academic sources (written in Chinese) that did not differentiate country music from national music, referring to both as guo yin yue. To be fair however, the American flag and other patriotic images frequently associated with country music (not to mention the music videos) would be confusing to anyone from another country (I find it confusing myself). Still, this made me wonder what other similar kinds of errors exist today due to this translation issue. As I though about it more, I began to wonder how long have these errors been around and did they impact events in history. Furthermore, if these errors did in fact exist in the past, surely there exists evidence of their impact.
The goal of my summer research was to answer these questions. Last year, I conducted extensive research on the history and evolution of Chinese music. Being very familiar with this part of Chinese history, I decided Chinese music would be the best place to focus my investigative efforts. Due to the great length of China's musical history, I narrowed by research even more to Chinese music of the 20th century. What I ended up discovering was incredibly fascinating. Although I could not find definitive proof, there is strong evidence that suggests one of these translation errors occurred during the creation of Shidaiqu. Furthermore, I believe the evidence found suggests that this error not only occurred, but completely changed the meaning of Shidaiqu. I realize that this is a very bold statement to make without undeniable proof, which is why I created this website and organized it the way I did. Although the topics I discuss in my background information sections span thousands of years and cover many different parts of the world, each one aims to provide a piece of evidence supporting my hypothesis.
Why Jazz?
Li Jinhui had a clear central theme throughout his career. He strove to educate and unite the common people of China through music in order to better the country. With this education and unification of the common people, Li felt that it would greatly improve China's relations with the rest of the world. Li firmly believed that the best way to achieve this goal was through the use of folk songs. Basing his compositions on the simple and familiar folk tunes of the many different regions in China allowed his educational message to better resonate within the listener. The fusion of old and new was much less jarring than a completely new and foreign sound. Li's approach was validated not only by his composition's popularity and success, but also his aiding role in the teaching and establishment of Mandarin as the official language of China. At the height of his career, Li decided that it was time to try and create a musical bridge from China to the rest of the world. Reflecting upon his successful use of folk music to unite the common people of China, Li felt that there was no better way to unite China with the rest of the world than through the use of foreign folk music. Throughout his early career, Li had befriended many American musicians who admired his work. This prompted his decision to use American musicians and folk tunes in his ambitious undertaking. The result of this fusion was the creation of Shidaiqu and, consequently, the birth or C-pop. However, the American music that arrived in China was not American folk music; it was Jazz. Considering Li's consistent, and almost exclusive, use of folk music in his career, it doesn't make sense that he would choose a contemporary musical style like Jazz over a more rural and traditional musical style such as Country or the Blues.