2. THE TROPE OF ‘BELATEDNESS’

In comparison with Europe, Japan and the Americas (including the United States, Canada, and South America), electronic music developed later in China, lagging behind the West by about 40 years. Scholars have located the mid-1980s as the turning point in this development. In this period, Chinese audiences had their first contact with electronic music, and Chinese composers began to experiment with the production of electronic music. Consensus is lacking among scholars when it comes to identifying the specific event that raised the curtain of Chinese electronic music. Lv Zhenbin (吕振斌), for example, has pointed to the visit of the French composer Jean-Michel Jarre to China as a defining moment (Lv Reference Lv2006: 82).Footnote ¹ Jarre has been traditionally viewed as the first Western musician to make an official visit to China after the Cultural Revolution. Before this visit, according to Lv, Jarre’s album Oxygen, released in France in 1976, had already stimulated curiosity in electronic music among Chinese audiences. Between 21 and 29 October 1981, Jarre gave extensive concerts and lectures in Beijing and Shanghai. As Wang Jing (王婧) has recently observed, before Jarre’s concerts, Chou Wen-Chung (周文中) and Alexander Goehr had already visited the Central Conservatory of Music (Wang Reference Wang2021: 98). Reports of how Chou and Goehr disseminated knowledge of new music and electronic music are largely absent in early accounts of Chinese electronic music; instead, it was Jarre’s visit that drew attention from reporters and critics. According to Wang, this critical reception reflects Jarre’s powerful impact on Chinese audiences (ibid.: 101). These early occasions helped to fuel aspirations for establishing electronic-music curricula in Chinese conservatories.

Differing from Lv, other scholars, including Qian Renping (钱仁平), Huang Zhipeng (黄志鹏), Wang Cizhao (王次炤), Xu Xibao (徐玺宝) and Wang Jing, have instead argued that the first concert held by the Central Conservatory of Music on 24 September 1984 signalled the beginning of Chinese electroacoustic music (Qian Reference Qian2007: 57; Huang Reference Huang2008b: 125; Wang Reference Wang1984: 81; Xu Reference Xu2007a: 113; Wang Reference Wang2021: 101).Footnote ² This view has a compelling force in retrospect, as the concert featured works by Chen Yuanlin (陈远林), Chen Yi (陈怡), Tan Dun (谭盾), Zhou Long (周龙) and other composers who have since achieved international recognition, although in 1984 they were only graduate students in the composition program at the Central Conservatory of Music (Wang Reference Wang1984: 81).Footnote ³ With the support of Chou Wen-Chung, the composers Zhou Long, Tan Dun and others pursued advanced studies at Columbia University in the United States. Germany and France at that time were also attractive to young composers such as Zhang Xiaofu (张小夫).

Zhang left China for France in 1988 and obtained his diploma there in 1993. He then established the CEMC-Center at the Central Conservatory of Music in 1994. As a pioneering composer of electronic music, Zhang has attributed the belated emergence of the field to political and social factors: at the same time that musique concrète was emerging in post-war Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s, China continued to be engaged in war; as tape music was becoming increasingly well known in Europe, China was undergoing the Cultural Revolution; as computer music advanced in complexity and sophistication in the West, China was experiencing profound social reforms (the ‘Reform’ and ‘Opening’) (Zhang Reference Zhang2012: 29). Zhang also observes that Chinese electronic music lagged behind that of neighbouring countries and regions such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan (ibid.; see also Zhang Reference Zhang2018).

The idea of ‘belatedness’ shaping Zhang’s account has become a central trope or leitmotif in early historiographical narratives of Chinese electronic music. These narratives at times involve a type of defence mechanism based on a misreading or misinterpretation of Western aesthetics – for instance, that the latter is entirely reducible to formalism. At the same time, such narratives must contend with the fact that Chinese composers have rapidly absorbed Western technologies and techniques but have transformed them into new idioms. In this article, I examine the formation of historiographical perspectives, a canon of works and aesthetic priorities in critical reception of electronic music among Chinese composers and scholars. This scholarship has not been analysed in detail, and yet with the increasingly international prominence of Chinese electronic composers, it is necessary to understand the cultural – and ideological – frameworks supporting this production. The central claim in this scholarship is that Chinese traditional music or arts have become an essential repository of sources for Chinese electroacoustic composers. The value of these sources lies in the potential they offer for composers to create a distinctive style and to establish a distinctive position among international composers, in this way seeming to allow them to catch up with and even surpass the West. A unique, hybrid language drawn from Chinese traditional music and Western technology offers the possibility of ‘redeeming’ its belated appearance and the comparatively underdeveloped status of its technologies.

The primary agents conducting early scholarship on Chinese electronic music have in fact been Chinese composers/scholars, and this activity has occurred mainly during the past two decades. Before 2018, the only significant Anglophone studies on the topic were Bob Gluck’s reports on ‘Electronic Music in China’ (Gluck Reference Gluck2009). During this period, virtually all historical study, evaluation, criticism and analysis was conducted by Chinese scholars, that is, from the viewpoint of insiders. These accounts are nearly homogeneous in outlook; one rarely encounters disputes or debates among authors. Furthermore, because dialogue among scholars is rare in this early work, conflicting or even mistaken information has not been corrected.Footnote ⁴

Despite the impression of ‘unity’, this early scholarship may be distinguished according to two categories: the first places greater weight on historical development, whereas the second tends to explore aesthetic issues through musical analysis.

Most work in the first category adopts a linear narrative. It details the origin, development and later flourishing of Chinese electroacoustic music. The demarcations within this narrative history, however, vary from one account to another. Huang Zhipeng has divided the history of Chinese electroacoustic music into three stages: an ‘Early Experimental Stage’ (1984–87), the ‘Establishment of a Professional Curriculum’ (1988–2001) and ‘Multiple Developments’ (2001–present) (Huang Reference Huang2008b: 123–7). Zhang has also located three phases, yet his criteria and divisions are different: an ‘Exploration Stage’ (1984–93), ‘Development Stage’ (1994–2003) and a ‘Creation Stage’ (2004–12) (Zhang Reference Zhang2012: 30). The criteria that determine these distinctions include landmark compositions, the founding of institutions, international conferences or festivals, and other musical events associated with these institutions. Differences in personal background also lead to different aesthetic judgements: Zhang, for instance, has stressed the important role that the Central Conservatory of Music has played, reflecting his own connections to the Conservatory. Wang Jing has observed that Zhang did not include non-academic activities in his historical accounts, although she also points out that Chinese electronic composers have engaged with popular and commercial cultures (Wang Reference Wang2021: 105–6).

These studies attempt to describe how academic Chinese composers have been active in forming their own communities. These actions include the establishment of national electronic music centres, associations and organisations, and the participation of Chinese composers in international associations. Chinese composers founded the Center for Electronic Music of China (CEMC, 中国电子音乐学会) in 1994 and the Electroacoustic Music Association of China (EMAC, 中国音乐家协会电子音乐学会) in 2002 and 2003 (Xu Reference Xu2007a: 117).Footnote ⁵ It is clear that in the past decade and a half, Chinese composers have been ambitious in securing institutional and disciplinary support for electroacoustic music that will enhance the visibility of their work on an international level.

These historical accounts also converge in another aspect: they agree on the important role conservatories have played in this history. For example, there is no dispute concerning the significance of the musical festival Musicacoustica-Beijing, an international event that had a strong support base in the Central Conservatory of Music. This musical festival has organised efforts from different institutions nationally and internationally. The first Musicacoustica-Beijing was held in 2004, building upon a precursor of this event on a much smaller scale that began in 1994 (Zhang Reference Zhang2012: 32). The festival has since expanded its scope by inviting electroacoustic composers from internationally known institutions and studios. The Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA) and the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (Ina GRM), for example, have participated in Musicacoustica-Beijing. The activities of the festival have been expanded through masterclasses, concerts, composition competitions, and a scholarly paper competition (held every other year) (ibid.: 38–40). Other festivals have been held in Beijing as well as in Shanghai and Wu-Han during the past three decades. Together, these festivals have created greater visibility and opportunities for exchanging ideas among composers. They have provided Chinese composers with an opportunity to absorb technological knowledge and artistic ideas from European, American and Asian composers. All these efforts have led to three comprehensive research collections. The first is the database of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Asia Network (EMSAN) and the EMSAN symposia, which began at the Central Conservatory of Music in 2008.Footnote ⁶ The second is the website China Electroacoustic Resource Survey (CHEARS, 中国电子声学资源调查), established in 2016.Footnote ⁷ It covers not only various activities, compositions, lectures and resources (terminology and bibliography) developed in China but also around the world. The third is the China Electronic Music Development Events (中国电子音乐发展大事纪), beginning in early 2016 (Landy Reference Landy and Emmerson2018: 78).

3. THE RHETORIC OF THE ‘CHINESE MODEL’

Conservatories have traditionally been at the forefront of supporting the field. As Lv has observed, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Wuhan Conservatory of Music together with the Central Conservatory of Music formed a leading triangle in the early period of development and guided the community of electronic music into new creative paths (Lv Reference Lv2006: 82). At the core of the unique path articulated by Zhang is the ‘Chinese Model’, which refers to the rapid flourishing of Chinese electronic music within a short period of time (Zhang Reference Zhang2012: 40).

The notion of a ‘Chinese Model’ has another meaning, one that involves a distinctive Chinese musical language. This leads to the second category of scholarship I would like to examine, which takes as its object of study the so-called ‘Chinese vocabulary’ as manifested by the compositional techniques and aesthetic properties of individual works.

The desire to promote electronic music by giving it a Chinese ‘spirit’ was a driving force for the first generation of composers. These composers believed that they could catch up to Western developments by establishing their own national language. Lv, for instance, envisioned that this distance could be closed by developing a new instrument based on Chinese musical characteristics: ‘Chinese electronic music could shorten the distance from other advanced countries by creating an electronic synthesizer with unique Chinese tone colors or characteristics’ (Lv Reference Lv2006: 83). Cultural traits offered a potential solution for Chinese composers in their quest to compete with their Western counterparts. The emphasis placed on ‘Chinese characteristics’ among composers in this first generation remains influential. It is exemplified by the theme of the 2014 Musicacoustica-Beijing festival: ‘Sound, China (声音, 中国)’. The questions, then, for scholars and composers alike, are:

• How can Chinese characteristics remedy technological weaknesses, given that the latter could be evaluated objectively?

• Are there other issues related to sociological and institutional conditions that factor into these challenges?

• Which kinds of electronic sounds may best represent a Chinese national style or character?

We might be able to answer these questions by considering the process of canon formation in this scholarly literature.

Certain works are repeatedly cited and even analysed in great detail because they seem to foreground the ‘Chinese spirit’ while skilfully adopting electronic sounds. Although the subjects or ‘topics’ of these works vary, they are mostly drawn from traditional sources such as regional cultures (Wang Xuan (王铉), Anhui Flower Drum (花鼓．安徽．CN), 2006), Tibetan Buddhism (Zhang Xiaofu, Nuo-Ri-Lang (诺日朗), 1995), traditional drama (Zhang Xiaofu, Facial Makeup (脸谱), 2007–10), TaoismXu Shuya (许书亚), Tai-I (太一), 1991), traditional instruments (Liu Jian (刘健), The Echo of Winds (风的回声), or folklore. Other sources include folk songs, throat singing, philosophical doctrines such as Confucianism, poetry and calligraphy. Early studies of Zhang’s Nuo-Ri-Lang, for instance, emphasised issues of artistic innovation, cross-cultural exchange and the transformation of sounds (Wang Reference Wang2010; Wu Reference Wu2010; Pian Reference Pian2013). More recent research on Zhang’s Nuo-Ri-Lang includes my analysis of the work’s narrative and symphonic aspects (Liu Reference Liu2019) and Marc Battier’s study of tone colour through a perspective synthesising Western and traditional Chinese concepts (Battier Reference Battier, Puckette and Hagan2020).

What is most remarkable about the cultural framework of Chinese electronic music, as I have been sketching it here, is that the formation of the canon and the emphasis on national characteristics are both associated with the trope of belatedness. Composers have acted on the belief that the appropriation and adoption of sources from traditional Chinese culture constitute the most effective means of establishing their originality and legitimacy next to Westerners. Differentiation from the West is crucial. It is not only important to find a vantage point to compete with the West but also to adopt a critical attitude towards its dominant aesthetics as embodied in the production of electroacoustic music. For instance, Wang Cizhao has argued that the founding concert of 1984 already showed that Chinese composers ‘have moved away from Western formalism [西方形式主义] by expressing profound musical ideas through electronic sounds’ (Wang Reference Wang1984: 81. Wang unfortunately did not define the concepts of ‘Western formalism’ and ‘profound musical ideas’ in greater detail; he did, however, suggest that these Chinese composers successfully shortened their distance from the West, and even surpassed the West, through ‘colorful Chinese characteristics’ (ibid.). This key argument puts forward two dichotomies: one separating China and the West, and the other separating an idea-orientated style and formalism. Because of the lack of detailed analysis and discussion, Wang’s reliance on this dichotomy renders his argument somewhat reductive; more critically, this dichotomy prompts one to consider the ideological motivation behind the argument. How could a single concert accomplish all this at once? Why does Wang avoid an evaluation of the technology used by early composers? His argument functions in part as a defence mechanism, preserving a space for Chinese composers to establish their superiority. It ignores, for instance, the poetic ideas manifested in many Western electronic compositions.

Wang colours his observations and critical judgements of the concert with a viewpoint that strongly promotes the status of Chinese cultural identity. This attitude also informs other studies. Xu Xibao has argued that ‘Chinese electroacoustic music, by displaying the spirit of “syncretism” [融], has figured out its own direction without following the Western tradition after exploration, creation, and reflection in the past several years’ (Xu Reference Xu2007a: 118). I will discuss the concept of ‘syncretism’ further later. Xu’s claim suggests that Chinese electronic music has progressed in a dialectical (Hegelian) sense, as composers learned and absorbed techniques from the West and then abandoned this tradition in order to move beyond it. This dialectical perspective is further adopted in Huang Zhipeng’s argument: Chinese electronic composers ‘cannot follow the West; instead, they have to create their own path with unique features’ (Huang Reference Huang2008b: 125). For Huang, then, the path to success for Chinese composers involved abandoning Western models. Although they do not include substantial musical analysis in their accounts, Xu and Huang agree on the means of achieving this end – namely, the use of ‘Chinese’ elements as a distinguishing feature. Like Wang, neither Xu nor Huang offer extensive support for their arguments, with the result that their accounts resemble slogans and manifestos more than workable compositional programmes. At the same time, Chinese composers have admitted that technological skill has been a weakness in their work because of the lack of widespread professional training (Zhang Reference Zhang2012: 36).

The nationalist attitude guiding the formation of a Chinese model of electronic music is thus a common theme in critical writings. This phenomenon may remind us of Carl Dahlhaus’s astute argument, made in his analysis of nineteenth-century nationalism, that the ‘concept of nationality [is] related not so much to substance as to function’ (Dahlhaus Reference Dahlhaus1980: 91). Drawing upon Dahlhaus’s observation here, we can argue that the traditional sources adopted in Chinese electroacoustic music are related not so much to stylistic development as to function and strategy.

4. MODELS OF ‘SYNCRETISM’

Along with the emphasis on the adoption of a traditional ‘Chinese’ vocabulary of music, the most central, acknowledged aesthetic direction for electroacoustic composers is the concept of ‘syncretism’ [融] identified by Xu, which refers to a combination of Chinese and Western practices. For Xu, syncretism combines two opposing elements:

For Xu, Zhang’s Facial Makeup (脸谱, 2007–10) embodies this syncretism, as it achieves an effective balance among heterogeneous, opposing elements:

Xu’s concept of cultural syncretism is open to the charge of being overly reductive in its series of absolute dichotomies: traditional Chinese instruments versus Western percussion instruments; traditional Chinese culture versus modern electronic music; traditional compositional technique versus modern electronic ideas, and music versus noise. His account suggests that Chinese traditional music is musical and spiritual, whereas Western electronic music is marked by noise and formalism. This account is, nevertheless, a representative example of the state of aesthetic discourse in much early Chinese scholarship.

A more sophisticated model of cultural syncretism has been offered by Peter Chang in his analysis of music by Chou Wen-Chung. Chang has adopted the concept of syncretism in the work of the American anthropologist Melville Herskovits (1895–1963) (Chang Reference Chang2001). Herskovits’s concept of syncretism is particularly helpful for the analysis of Chinese electroacoustic music; it clarifies why Xu’s positing of cultural integration and oppositions cannot be the only valid paradigm.

This anthropological point of view, according to Chang, suggests that an analysis of syncretism should seek out similarities among heterogeneous elements, focusing not on strict oppositions but on fluidity and movement. In the process of syncretism, Chang argues, there is a ‘tendency to identify those elements in the new culture with similar elements in the old one, enabling the persons experiencing the contact to move from one to the other, and back again, with psychological ease’ (ibid.: 93). Syncretism is accordingly a process of a selection among different cultures with the (rather ambitious) aim of rising ‘to a conscious goal of self-enlightenment’ (ibid.: 95). Chang has argued that Chou’s compositional development exemplifies this kind of fluidity: after his close study of works by Edgard Varèse and Anton Webern, Chou ‘abandoned his earlier idea of seeking quick solutions by combining, juxtaposing, and mixing incongruent cross-cultural materials … [H]e consciously related everything he had learned in the West, especially the ideas of Varèse and Webern, to the Chinese artistic principles’ (ibid.: 112). This account of cross-cultural syncretism suggests that apparently incongruous materials must possess shared characteristics for one to move back and forth between them and unite them.

This type of artistic or cultural syncretism involves integration instead of the mere combination of diverse and conflicting ideas, that is, synthesis rather than juxtaposition and collage. Some writings on Chinese electroacoustic music have been grounded in this model. Indeed, writers have increasingly encouraged younger composers to explore ‘profound’ engagements with tradition instead of the shallow appropriation of traditional (or ‘local’) elements. We can locate an example of this position in Li Pengyun’s (李鹏云) analysis of Liu Jian’s work The Echo of Wind (风的回声, 2001). Li’s interpretation stands as an exception to earlier scholarly trends. Instead of emphasising the combination of contrasting elements, he has pointed to a shared quality between the traditional Chinese instruments (Chinese flutes, dizi, 竹笛) and electronic sounds (Li Reference Li2007: 55). He argues that through the use of 16 Chinese flutes and the manipulation of diverse breathing techniques, Liu ‘secretively [隐性地] integrated the treatment of electronic sound into the traditional acoustic instruments’ (ibid.). What makes The Echo of Wind compelling for Li is the apparently seamless nature of this syncretism. Inspired by Chang’s model of syncretism, my analysis of Zhang’s Nuo-Ri-Lang investigated the qualities shared between the composer’s handling of motivic development and a symphonic ideal that formed in nineteenth-century German musical culture (Liu Reference Liu2019: 76).

A dominant trend in scholarship of the past decade has involved the mapping out of possible syntheses of the East and West. Wu Linli (吴林励), also analysing Zhang’s Nuo-Ri-Lang, argues that ‘syncretism’ may be the only viable path for Chinese electronic music in a global context. Her argument in part adopts Xu’s paradigm of dichotomies:

In her analysis, she attempts to demonstrate how Nuo-Ri-Lang has attained the status of syncretism posited by Herskovits. She argues that Zhang’s adoption of the ‘Western’ technique of looping evokes the concept of the transmigration of the soul, a central concept in Tibetan Buddhism. The looping of Tibetan chanting functions as a sign or ‘topic’ that symbolises and deepens the expression of the concept of circular life in Tibetan culture. Wu uses the term ‘high unification’ (高度统一) to characterise this kind of compositional and aesthetic approach (ibid.: 134). Similar to Wu, Li Qiuxiao has remarked that national spirit is not expressed through a mere adoption of national songs or instruments but has to be expressed through the assistance of Western philosophical ideas, an argument advanced in her analysis of Zhang’s Le Chant intérieur: poème fantastique (吟, 1988–2004) (Li Reference Li2013: 103–4). This perspective, as well as Li Pengyun’s notion of a ‘secretive integration’ and Wu’s concept of a ‘high synthesis’, reflect the type of syncretism theorized by Herskovits.

5. ‘APPROACHABILITY’ IN AVANT-GARDE PRACTICE

Another trend to note in recent scholarship is the argument that Chinese composers in fact possess a richer platform to create electronic music because of their access to traditional materials (ibid.: 104). Li Qiuxiao (李秋筱) has advanced the concept of the ‘Eastern School’ (东方学派), referring to the expectation or desire of Chinese composers to surpass Western practices (ibid.: 99). The imperative of ‘catching-up’ to the West has given way to the possibility of ‘surpassing’ it. The rationale supporting this expectation involves not only the use of traditional sources but also the accessibility of electronic music to the public. Wu Linli has argued, for instance, that Nuo-Ri-Lang is notable in successfully eliciting emotional responses and understanding from (Chinese) audiences (Wu Reference Wu2010: 136).

In one of the strongest claims made for the field, Zhang has argued that Chinese electroacoustic music is in fact superior to other world musics because of its ‘approachability’ (Huang Reference Huang2008a: 51). This argument implicitly takes up and responds to Xu Xibao’s series of dichotomies: Chinese composers emphasise musicality whereas Western composers prefer noise. In the aesthetic discourse and practice of Chinese electronic music, national characteristics continue as a necessary ingredient for composers to define themselves and to establish a means of communicating with audiences through the creation of musical signs that listeners will recognise and respond to emotionally and intellectually. In other words, through poetic titles and the sampling and manipulation of recognisable sound materials, the ‘Chinese model’ developed by composers such as Zhang and Xu Shuya (许舒亚) develops a ‘listening situation’ that is defined by Chinese cultural ideas, including Buddhist and Daoist concepts. This critical exploration of ‘meaning’ in the electronic medium involves a cultural ‘feeling’ or ‘aura’ [yunzhi shensi] that is facilitated through ‘framing’ techniques such as allusive titles and recognisable signs or ‘topics’.

The value of Chinese traditional music as assessed in recent scholarship still largely consists in its evocation of nationalist spirit and its strategic use in distinguishing Chinese electroacoustic music from music of other regions and traditions. However, the demands placed on compositional approaches and techniques to achieve musical syncretism have changed. Earlier critical views mainly focused on integrating contrasting elements, whereas more recent criticism has emphasised the aesthetic similarities shared by different cultures. Most importantly, recent scholarship, such as the work of Li Qiuxiao, has advanced aesthetic rationale for appropriating traditional music and arts. In addition to creating a distinctive model of Chinese electroacoustic music, the aesthetic objective of eliciting immediate responses from audiences has shaped critical views of this production.

Chinese electronic music is thus broadly understood in opposition to an aesthetics of abstraction or absolute music represented by Pierre Schaeffer’s concept of ‘reduced listening’ and his theory of ‘acousmatic’ music developed in his Traité des objets musicaux (Schaeffer [1966] Reference Schaeffer2017). As the semiologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez has observed, Schaeffer stressed that the listener must move away from considering the source or origin of the sound: ‘The acousmatic dictates that a sound be described less in terms of its origin than in terms of its heard morphological qualities (form, mass, profile, and so forth)’ (Nattiez Reference Nattiez1990: 92). In contrast to this abstract type of listening, the poetic titles and ‘topics’ or materials used in Chinese electroacoustic music invoke a range of meanings and shared experiences to ensure a listener’s immediate understanding. Locating Chinese composers in the context of post-Schaefferian electronic music, we can see how they participate in the tendency to ‘display an acute sensitivity to sound’s capacity to refer to something beyond itself’ (Demers Reference Demers2010: 25).

In comparison with earlier scholarly writings, recent studies of Chinese electronic music carried out by the younger generation and by international scholars include more musical analysis and an engagement with aesthetic issues, a greater historical distance and less retreading of the same historical background. Li Qiuxiao, who has advanced the concept of an ‘Eastern School’, exemplifies this newer style of scholarship. Her article ‘An Investigation into the Compositional Characteristics in Early Chinese Electroacoustic Music’ demonstrates this greater consideration of aesthetic issues and more extensive examination of musical detail. Li, who is both a composer and a scholar, adopts a more objective or distanced view in evaluating the works of the first generation of electroacoustic composers. For instance, she concedes that their lack of theoretical knowledge and their unfamiliarity with much electronic music were two of their primary weaknesses. First-generation composers were thus led to experiment with technologies and techniques, ranging from the use of MIDI and synthesisers to more complex tools. The result of this experimental period is that systematic procedures of composition and high-quality technical standards were not yet well established.

These issues, however, are not in conflict with the ambition of incorporating traditional music and arts into compositions as envisioned by this first generation. Li argues that a ‘nationalist’ quality was one of the most significant characteristics in these early works. She recognises that traditional drama, regional musical cultures, folk sources, philosophical doctrines and other forms of traditional art served as compelling subject matter. By analysing and comparing four different compositions, Li suggests that the ‘nationalist’ spirit is particularly manifest in the construction of melodies, unique harmonic language and striking timbral variety. Li further argues that first-generation composers were not satisfied with the superficial borrowing of traditional ideas, nor were they satisfied with the mere imitation of Western practices; instead, they attempted to combine practices rooted in traditional Chinese aesthetics with Western technology in what they considered to be a meaningful synthesis.

In contrast to Chang’s analysis of Chou Wen-Chung’s musical syncretism, Li’s account of this synthesis does not use extensive musical analysis to support the historical and aesthetic judgements underlying it. There is a similar gap between analysis and historical argument in Wu Linli’s ‘To Pursue a Syncretism of Chinese and Westerns Cultures’ (Wu Reference Wu2010), a study of Nuo-Ri-Lang that explores the so-called ‘hybrid language’ used in most Chinese electroacoustic music. However, Wu’s work signals the important role that musicologists and other scholars are increasingly adopting in the study of electroacoustic music, given that composers have generally been the most prominent voices in research.

The motivations that have led electroacoustic composers in China to develop and promote a ‘Chinese model’ are undoubtedly complex. To position their work effectively within an international context, the use of distinctive and recognisable ‘Chinese’ characteristics has been advantageous for both domestic and overseas Chinese composers. The demand for originality within this competitive field is perhaps the principal driving force. For instance, in a lecture at the China Conservatory of Music, Tan Dun spoke of ‘earning your rice through Chinese music’ [ba zhong guo yin yue dang fan chi, 把搞中国音乐当饭吃]. This figurative expression suggested that students could use Chinese music to further their compositional careers. The musicologist Yao Yaping has argued that there are two ways of reading Tan’s statement: the first is that Chinese composers could promote Chinese music as a cultural mission; the second is that they could appropriate this music to gain international visibility and standing (Yao Reference Yao2019: 44). For Yao, both stances are present in Tan’s statement. By contrast, Samson Young’s postcolonial reading of Tan’s work stresses that such ‘appropriations’ may be a form of self-orientalising (Young Reference Young2009: 85–9).

Chinese electroacoustic composers of the first generation were also deeply involved in these two intertwined ends, evoking Chinese qualities in ways that could serve both broadly cultural and distinctly personal agendas. For first-generation composers, devising and promoting this strategy was particularly urgent, given their perception of lagging behind developments in the West. The nationalist sentiments in much of the discourse surrounding electroacoustic music is embedded within the personal pursuit of careers.

Underlying the ideal of ‘approachability’ in the ‘Chinese model’ advanced by Zhang, one may sense the contested role of the avant-garde in Chinese musical culture. Yao has characterised the sporadic development of avant-garde music in China as an ‘odd phenomenon’, and he has suggested that market forces have been the primary obstacle rather than governmental intervention. Heated political debates over avant-garde and experimental music in the past, however, may continue to influence compositional decisions. For his part, Zhang has attempted to incorporate experimental techniques into an accessible style: he has aimed to ‘popularise avant-garde music’ by communicating with his audiences in the most direct manner. Zhang’s ‘Chinese model’ allows the paradox of an accessible avant-garde to thrive in China and further demonstrates the possibility of balancing localisation and globalisation in music.

The history of Chinese electroacoustic music is short, and its historiography shorter still. Both will undoubtedly continue to develop and transform with new composition, artistic exchanges, and scholarly and critical responses to these activities. As I have argued in this article, music-aesthetic discourse involving cultural oppositions and canonical works has not only attempted to grapple with this emerging practice but has shaped this practice as well by establishing ideals – or less ambitiously, pathways – for this future musical development.