Multicultural Music Education in Chinese Middle School General Music Classes,1978–1988

Introduction

Students in grades seven to 12 in the People’s Republic of China represent a population far less diverse than this same group in the United States. In 2020, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. students of color represented about 48% of the total school-age population, and this percentage comprised 14% black children, 25% Hispanic children, 5% Asian children, and 4% children of two or more races. ¹ There is no specific data showing the population of students of color in the Chinese education system. According to the data of the seventh National Bureau of Statistics of China, Han Chinese account for 91.11% of the population, and people from other ethnic groups account for 8.89% of the population. ² Thus, it can be inferred that the racial diversity of students in China is significantly less than in the U.S. Yet, China has 56 ethnic groups (see Table 1), including Han and the remaining 55 ethnic minorities. ³ The other 55 ethnic minorities represent just over 8% of the population.

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Table 1.

Names of 56 ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China.

Achang, Bai, Bonan, Bouyei, Blang, Dai, Daur, Deang, Dong, Dongxiang, Dulong, Ewenki, Gaoshan, Gelao, Han, Hani, Hezhe, Hui, Jing, Jingpo, Jinuo, Kazak, Kirgiz, Korean, Lahu, Li, Lisu, Luoba, Manchu, Maonan, Menba, Miao, Mongolian, Mulao, Naxi, Nu, Oroqen, Ozbek, Pumi, Qiang, Russian, Salar, She, Shui, Tajik, Tatar, Tibetan, Tu, Tujia, Uigur, Wa, Xibe, Yao, Yi, Yugur, Zhuang. Note: All the ethnic groups listed in alphabetical order. Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group in China.

The music from 55 ethnic groups were known as Chinese ethnic minority music. Music from each ethnic group reflects aspects of that group’s culture. Ethnic Han music and ethnic minority music were known collectively as Chinese folk music. Folk music found in China is influenced by the music of other countries. One reason for this diverse music is likely because of the impact of travel along the Silk Road, which promoted commodity and cultural exchange among China and East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Europe, and North Africa. ⁴ These cultural exchanges influenced Chinese folk music, creating blends that are highly diversified. Consequently, from the perspective of learning Chinese folk music, studying Chinese multicultural music education is necessary, and learning multicultural music may benefit Chinese cultural development.

Multicultural music education is a vital means to show students’ cultural diversity and teach them about a variety of music genres. Chinese educators believe that school multicultural music education plays an essential role in decreasing ethnic bias and fears. ⁵ Music could be a way to let students have an increased understanding of other cultures. In this way, multicultural music education benefits students in fostering a broader perspective of a number of the world’s cultures.

The current Chinese music education curricula took shape in 1950. ⁶ According to the documents issued by the Ministry of Education of the Central People’s Government, including the Middle School Music Teaching Syllabus (Draft) (1956, 1957), there is no evidence to indicate that music education in middle schools originally included multicultural music. ⁷ From 1958 to 1962, music education in primary and secondary schools was reduced or even discontinued due to the influence of the “Great Leap Forward” movement. ⁸ The core idea of this movement was to call on the entire Chinese people to devote themselves to industrial and agricultural production, aiming to catch up with or even surpass the United Kingdom in terms of output in 15 years or less. Under this guidance, the Chinese government at that time put forward a series of unrealistic targets. China’s industrial and agricultural production pursued rapid development. The Great Leap Forward also encouraged progress in other aspects of Chinese life, such as transportation, education, and culture. In the education field, the Great Leap Forward was known as the “Education Revolution,” and it emphasized a combination of education and productive labor. The Chinese government encouraged students and teachers to participate in efforts that would assist agricultural and industrial production. ⁹ This educational movement resulted in chaos in school education.

In 1966, Chairman Mao ¹⁰ launched the Cultural Revolution, which lasted 10 years. The Cultural Revolution was a political movement to prevent the restoration of capitalism. ¹¹ From 1966 to 1976, school education was mainly aligned with Mao Zedong Thought ¹² and contained many references to Mao Zedong’s Quotes. ¹³ Likewise, the purpose of school music education was largely restricted to its political function. In February 1967, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Notice on the Proletarian Cultural Revolution in Primary Schools (Draft) stipulating that students must learn to sing revolutionary songs. ¹⁴ At that time, there was no national document to guide middle school music education. In response to the 1967 official notification, elementary and middle schools in some areas changed music classes into revolutionary art classes. ¹⁵ Chinese school music education, thus, became stagnant over the decade of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). A series of little songbooks, such as Promote Mao Zedong Thought (《大立毛泽东思想》) (see Figure 1) and Song Collections of Mao Zedong’s Quotations (《毛泽东语录歌曲》) (see Figure 2), provide evidence that revolutionary songs and drama were the only remaining music for music teaching from 1966 to 1976.

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Figure 1.

The cover page and content list of songs of Promote Mao Zedong Thought 《大立毛泽东思想》.

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Figure 2.

The cover page and content list of songs of Song Collections of Mao Zedong's Quotations 《毛泽东语录歌曲》.

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping, a new leader, came to power in China. ¹⁶ The same year, Deng proposed and helped initiate an “open-door” economic policy. This policy opened up China to investment by foreign companies. The policy impacted Chinese education, resulting in a new direction for school music education, including the directive to embrace various musics from all over the world. An earlier study by the author, ¹⁷ explored middle school multicultural music education from 1989 to 2010.

The present study continues to examine Chinese middle school multicultural music education in general music classes from 1978 to 1988. This study aims to explore the multicultural portions of the Chinese national syllabi in middle school general music classes from 1978 to 1988. Two questions guided this research: What was the definition of multicultural music in Chinese education from 1978 to 1988? What were the purposes of multicultural music education in Chinese middle school general music classes during this decade?

A Definition of Multicultural Music

In the United States, multicultural studies “highlight racial, ethnic, national, class, gender, religious, and linguistic differences.” ¹⁸ However, the definition of “multicultural” may change based on the cultural and historical context. Chinese music educators and scholars provided a different interpretation of multiculturalism. Some of them believe that the core idea of multicultural music is to challenge the concept of “Western Music-centrism” and value music culture of all nationalities in the world. ¹⁹ These authors claimed that Chinese folk music, representing some of the 56 Chinese ethnic groups, should be an indispensable part of multicultural music. Therefore, in the current study, multicultural music education consists of “Chinese multicultural music” and “world multicultural music.” Chinese multicultural music includes folk music from 56 ethnic groups in China (Chinese folk music), emphasizing ethnic diversity within China. Based on the perspective of contrasting “Western Music-centrism,” world multicultural music means folk music from ethnic groups in other countries but excludes western classical music.

Primary and Secondary Sources

In historical research, researchers collect and interpret historical data to explore past events. Historical data includes primary and secondary sources. The primary sources of the current study heavily relied on documents issued by the Ministry of Education of China. They were Full-Time, Ten-Year Primary and Secondary School Music Teaching Syllabus (Trial Draft) (1979), Full-Time Middle School Music Teaching Syllabus (Trial Draft) (1982), and Nine-Year Compulsory Education Full-Time Middle School Music Teaching Syllabus (Preliminary Draft) (1988). ²⁰ These syllabi primarily include educational purpose, teaching requirements, teaching method suggestions, and assessment suggestions. These documents provide an overview of the Chinese central government’s middle school music education policies. These national syllabi impacted the goals of China’s middle school music education, as well as the teaching materials and instructional strategies that teachers implemented in the classroom. Since these national syllabi did not include suggested repertoire, Full-time Ten-Year School Middle School Music Trial Textbook ∙ Volume I and II were also used to deeply understand findings from the syllabi. These two textbooks were national music textbooks for middle schools, which were published in 1980.

To better understand the historical background of Chinese education as well as school music education from 1979 to 1988, the educational chronicles of this period will also be used as secondary data. The secondary sources examined for this study were Chinese music education history books and other relevant historical research, such as Education Events of the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1982; History of Music Education in Modern China: 1840–2000, and A History of School Music Curriculum in China. ²¹ The data from the secondary sources were used to corroborate the findings from the primary sources.

Chinese Middle School Music Classes

In Chinese middle schools (grades seven to nine), a general music class was the only form of music that every student was required to take. ²² The curriculum of middle school general music classes was guided by the national educational documents issued by the Ministry of Education of China, such as Full-Time Middle School Music Teaching Syllabus (1982) and Nine-Year Compulsory Education Full-Time Middle School Music Teaching Syllabus (Preliminary Draft) (1988). ²³ There were various textbooks that teachers used, all designed according to the National Music Curriculum Standards and national syllabi. These books had slight differences, such as genres of music and songs. Usually, the city-level education committee would choose the music textbook for teachers. Thus, music teachers have less freedom to select songs for classroom teaching. The middle school general music classes typically focused on just singing and listening, although the national syllabi included singing, listening, dancing, composing, playing, and analyzing as equally important standards for the music classroom. ²⁴

Initial Exploration of Multicultural Music in China (1978–1988)

School Music Education, 1978–1980

On January 18, 1978, China’s Ministry of Education promulgated the Trial Draft of the Full-Time, Ten-Year Primary and Secondary School Teaching Proposal. In this document, music education in middle schools did not receive a great deal of attention. The information provided stipulated only that the middle school must offer music lessons to seventh-grade students (those in the first year of middle school). There were no specific requirements for music education in other middle school grades. In the document of the teaching proposal, although the Ministry of Education clearly stated that middle schools must offer music lessons to students in the first year, many schools were unable to meet this requirement. This was because the Cultural Revolution had resulted in a shortage of music teaching materials and teachers. ³¹

In February 1979, the Ministry of Education held a conference on primary and secondary music and art instruction materials, which gathered scholars from nine provinces. ³² During this conference, the Ministry of Education developed the Full-Time, Ten-Year Primary and Secondary School Music Teaching Syllabus (Trial Draft) based on the music education section in the trial draft of the Full-Time, Ten-Year Primary and Secondary School Teaching Proposal. ³³ This document was the first national school music education syllabus after the Cultural Revolution. In June of the same year, the Ministry of Education officially issued the Full-Time, Ten-Year Primary and Secondary School Music Teaching Syllabus (Trial Draft). The section of the document named “School Music Education Purpose” mentioned that music education should enable students to love the music from their motherland and familiarize themselves with the folk music of China, as well as provide students with enough opportunities to learn about “excellent” foreign music. ³⁴ Likewise, in the section “Teaching Content and Method,” the document suggested that the repertoire of singing instructions should include Chinese folk songs and appropriate foreign pieces, which are suitable for the context of Chinese school music education. The music appreciation repertoire needs to include vocal and instrumental music from China and other countries, and folk music from China’s 56 ethnic groups. When selecting the music for appreciation instruction, teachers must consider the diversity of the genre, the form, and the style to expand students’ musical knowledge and meet their different various needs. ³⁵ From the perspective of musical diversity within China, this document did not require proportional representation of music from the 56 ethnic groups in all repertoires. However, the guideline advocated the importance of folk music from the Chinese 56 nationalities in school music education. From the perspective of learning and teaching methods, general music education in middle school mainly relied on singing and listening (music appreciation). ³⁶ Teaching suggestions in the syllabus (1979) also highlighted the importance of singing for middle school students by providing techniques for vocal teachings, such as exercises for breathing, breath control, two-part singing, and legato and staccato. These indicate that singing was a primary way for students to perform music at that time. ³⁷

For world music, there is no specific definition of “excellent” “foreign music” and “music from other countries.” The 1979 syllabus did not include any required or suggested repertoire; thus, it is hard for Chinese music teachers to determine whether “excellent foreign music and other countries’ music” merely refer to western classical music or to something else by merely reading the syllabus. Guided by the Ministry of Education of China, People's Music Publishing House published a set of national music textbooks for middle schools in 1980, Full-time Ten-Year School Middle School Music Trial Textbook – Volume I and II. ³⁸ According to the catalog of these two textbooks and introductions to each music pieces in the textbooks, among 24 pieces, Chinese folk songs accounted for 20.83% (5 pieces), and folk songs from other countries accounted for 8.33% (2 pieces) (see Table 2). Other music pieces in these textbooks were either revolutionary songs (12 pieces) or western classical music (5 pieces). Although five pieces of music listed in Table 2 were described as Chinese folk music in the textbook, only “Dance of the Yao People” was from Chinese ethnic minorities (non-Han Chinese populations) (see Figure 3). The lyrics of the folk music from other countries was translated into Chinese; it is difficult for the researcher to chase back the origin of these music pieces. The 1980 national textbook revealed that "excellent foreign music and other countries’ music" mentioned in the 1979 syllabus may emphasize more western classical music than world multicultural music.

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Table 2.

Folk music from Full-Time Ten-Year School Middle School Music Trial Textbook.

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Figure 3.

Music score of “dance of yao people” from Full-time Ten-Year School Middle School Music Trial Textbook ∙ Volume I.

The music textbooks published in 1980 included information specific to each ethnic music, composers of each music piece, and theories that needed to be included in each lesson. However, few introductions included specific cultural information. Due to the lack of information about how music teachers taught music from other cultures, it is difficult to decipher whether the concept of “multiculturalism” at that time was limited to singing songs from other ethnic groups.

Generally, the 1979 syllabus provided policies to support the implementation of multiculturalism in China’s school music classes without many specific recommendations. The repertoire of the 1980 textbook did not well reflect the perspective of musical diversity among the 56 ethnic groups in China. Also, two pieces of folk music from other countries in the textbooks indicated that world multicultural music was also limited.

Conclusion

From 1978 to 1988, with the implementation of Deng Xiaoping’s open-door policy and the national education reform, multicultural music education in Chinese middle school classes entered a germination and exploration stage. In the national music teaching syllabi for middle schools, the Ministry of Education and State Education Commission stated the need for and importance of learning about music from the 56 ethnic groups in China and about music from other countries. However, specific strategies for implementing multicultural music teaching and the definition of multicultural music were vague. According to the guidelines in national documents, the way students experienced folk music from the 56 ethnic was relatively simple, mainly relying on singing and listening.

From 1978 to 1988, although the syllabi emphasized an understanding of the diversity of Chinese national music culture in middle school music classes, based on analysis of national textbooks, school music education did not reflect the proposal of implementing Chinese multiculturalism in national syllabi. For the implementation of world multiculturalism, due to the lack of specific definitions of concepts such as “foreign music,” “world music,” and “music from other countries,” it was difficult to determine whether the folk musics from other countries and other ethnic groups outside of China were included in middle school music classes. The 1980 national textbooks included the most of these so-called “excellent foreign music,” with musicians such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart. The limited number of folk music selections from other counties in the 1980 national textbooks suggested a further impediment to implementing multiculturalism in school music education. Based on sources used in this study, the amount of multicultural music that students experienced in Chinese middle schools during this decade was unclear and would be an excellent topic for future researchers to investigate. Future researchers could investigate the implementation of multicultural music education in middle schools in the specific province(s) by examining the music textbooks used in these place(s).

According to the national syllabi mentioned here, the purpose of multicultural music education during this decade (1978–1988) was to develop students’ respect, understanding, and tolerance of cultural differences among the 56 Chinese ethnic groups. Obviously, the purpose of multicultural education in Chinese middle schools was different from the goal of multicultural education in the United States as described by American researchers: multicultural education for students from different racial, ethnic, gender, and class backgrounds so that these students could have opportunities for educational equity and success. ⁴⁴ Therefore, the purpose of multicultural music education and definition of "multiculturalism" can change depending on cultural context and social background.

Based on the findings of my previous study that examined Chinese school multicultural music education from 1989 to 2010, the educational goal of multicultural music in middle school from 1978 to 1988 seems to have been realized. ⁴⁵ However, during the decade of 1978–1988, a lack of information about Chinese folk music and folk music from other cultures outside of China in national documents issued by the Ministry of Education does not support the existence of a more global approach to multicultural music education at that time.

The findings of the present study and my earlier research show that multicultural music education in Chinese middle schools was developing toward greater globalization. In early 21st century China, both the music of China’s 56 ethnic groups and world multicultural music were essential in Chinese multicultural music education.

I hope that multicultural music education in Chinese school education will continue to evolve by including more music from ethnic and cultural groups outside of China. Moreover, singing and listening might be accessible ways for Chinese teachers to implement in classroom teaching, while they are not always the best ways to experience multicultural music. School educators could consider incorporating other approaches, such as body movements, cultural conversation, and instruments learning, in school multicultural music teaching. Increasing various ways for students to experience music from other cultures would promote the development of multicultural music. The addition of more precise language in national syllabi is recommended to help music teachers implement multicultural music education.

The present study and my previous research examined only the middle school national music teaching syllabi from 1979 to 2010. The Chinese Ministry of Education released two new versions of the national syllabus in 2011 and 2020, respectively. Further research is needed on the evolution of multicultural music education in Chinese school music classes. Future researchers could consider: (1) examining Chinese middle school multicultural music education during the past 10 years (2010–2020), (2) examining multicultural music education in Chinese primary schools and high schools, and (3) investigating how both China’s 56 ethnic groups’ music and world multicultural music both support national music education.