The omnivore turn in cultural production: Case study of China’s Rainbow Chamber Singers

Abstract

Previous studies on China’s cultural production have concentrated on the tension between state and individual creativity, overlooking the more dynamic and popular expression in China’s complicated cultural market, especially in this information age. This article is inspired by the omnivore–univore argument in cultural consumption and argues there is a similar omnivore turn among China’s independent cultural producers. Drawing on a case study of the Rainbow Chamber Singers (RCS), this article provides a new dimension and perspective to examine omnivore production in China’s ‘unconventional’ chamber choir. Data from the RCS’s music, lyrics, performances, the conductor Jin Chengzhi’s interviews (first-hand and second-hand), and the author’s own participant observation of the RCS’s concerts will be combined and elaborated. This article contends that the RCS adapts to creative thinking from creative industries and blurs conceptual boundaries between state/individual, art/commerce, and highbrow/lowbrow. The process also contributes to forming a participatory culture in the arena of classical chamber music.