Chinese Songs Research Articles

Dama Orchestra’s Shidaiqu Recontextualized in Theatre

This article examines how Dama Orchestra has recontextualized shidaiqu (时代 曲) in a theatrical setting. Dama Orchestra was originally a Chinese orchestral group in Malaysia that, due to economic crisis, changed its focus from classical music to staging the more popularly demanded shidaiqu. Shidaiqu is a southern Chinese song genre popular from 1920 to 1950 and typically performed in Malaysia during Phor Tor (Hungry Ghost Festival). It has remained popular with mature Chinese Malaysian audiences at ko-tai , pubs, and karaoke bars. By adapting it to a theatrical form in the late 1990s, Dama Orchestra transformed the popular and commercial nature of these songs into an elite musical theatre genre. Performed as a Westernized hybrid theatre, shidaiqu attracted serious music aficionados in Malaysia and was raised from its stigmatized position as genü maichang (sing-song girl entertainment). This article draws on participant observation work to report how Dama musicians re-Sinicized the orchestration of shidaiqu and combined it with theatrical elements to appeal to the diasporic Chinese community of Malaysia.

Using Optical Coherence Tomography to Examine Additives in Chinese Song Jun Glaze

We use optical coherence tomography (OCT) to acquire microstructure images of Chinese Song Jun glaze to reveal the copper and quartz additives used and, in two typical samples, we show that the amount added is considerable. Focusing on these two additives, including the species, amount and granule (particle) size added in the glaze, the objective of the present study is to explore how they functioned in relation to the Jun glaze's visual characteristics, opalescence and sky-blue colour, attributed to the unique liquid–liquid phase separation that occurs in Jun glaze.

A Study on the “Mother” Image in Korean Chinese Popular Songs after the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China

A Study on the “Mother” Image in Korean Chinese Popular Songs after the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China

Technology and Art in Society: The Significance of "Furnace Transmutation" in Chinese Song Jun Ware

Technology and Art in Society: The Significance of "Furnace Transmutation" in Chinese Song Jun Ware

Classification of Chinese Popular Songs Using a Fusion Scheme of GMM Model Estimate and Formant Feature Analysis

In this paper, a fusion scheme that combines Gaussian mixture model (GMM) calculations and formant feature analysis, called GMM-Formant, is proposed for classification of Chinese popular songs. Generally, automatic classification of popular music could be performed by two main categories of techniques, model-based and feature-based approaches. In model-based classification techniques, GMM is widely used for its simplicity. In feature-based music recognition, the formant parameter is an important acoustic feature for evaluation. The proposed GMM-Formant method takes use of linear interpolation for combining GMM likelihood estimates and formant evaluation results appropriately. GMM-Formant will effectively adjust the likelihood score, which is derived from GMM calculations, by referring to certain degree of formant feature evaluation outcomes. By considering both model-based and feature-based techniques for song classification, GMM-Formant provides a more reliable recognition classification result and therefore will maintain a satisfactory performance in recognition accuracy. Experimental results obtained from a musical data set of numerous Chinese popular songs show the superiority of the proposed GMM-Formant. Keywords: Song classification; Gaussian mixture model; Formant feature; GMM-Formant.

Evaluation of symptom, clinical chemistry and metabolomics profiles during Rehmannia six formula (R6) treatment: An integrated and personalized data analysis approach

Ethnopharmacological relevanceRehmannia Six Formula (R6, Chinese name is Liu Wei Di Huang Wan) is one of the most important classic Chinese medicine formula used to treat metabolic disorders related to aging. It was first reported in the Chinese medicine book titled ‘Xiao Er Yao Zheng Zhi Jue by Qian Yi’ (Chinese Song dynasty: 1035–1117). In modern times it is therefore often used to treat diabetes, pre-diabetes, fatigue and people with metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study is to measure changes in symptoms, clinical parameters and serum metabolite profiles during R6 treatment of human subjects with features of metabolic syndrome. Materials and methodsSymptoms, clinical parameters and serum metabolites were measured before and after 4 and 8 weeks of R6 treatment. Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis was applied for the first time to conduct an integrated analysis of the three data sets. Correlation structures were compared before treatment and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. Additionally, a State Space Grid approach was used to study personalized changes in symptom profiles. ResultsThe symptoms ‘hectic fever’ and ‘spontaneous sweating’ were found to be most relieved during R6 treatment. Most of the symptoms were less correlated with other variables after 8 weeks of R6 treatment. LDL-C, total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and waist size were found to decrease during R6 treatment. Additionally, 10 of the 15 measured phosphatidylcholines were found to decrease. Personalized symptom profiles as described by Chinese medical terms show that most Yin deficiencies are addressed first by R6 treatment. However, in subjects with reduced or less Yin deficiency but which do have a substantial Qi deficiency a reduction of Qi deficiency is subsequently observed. ConclusionsR6 treatment was shown to improve the lipid profile indicating a reduction of cardiovascular risk. Additionally, the changes observed in correlation structure indicate a different angle of looking at treatment effects. Less strong correlations between symptoms and metabolites suggest a healthier situation after R6 treatment. A State Space Grid analysis showed that the effect of R6 was different for the Yin deficiency subjects and the Qi deficiency subjects. The observed decrease of Yin deficiency related symptoms is in agreement with the use of R6 in Chinese medicine to nourish Yin. Observing individual differences in treatment effects is therefore an essential step in the development of personalized medicine.

Lanterns and drums: changing representations of Chinese songs in Australian school music

Contemporary Australia is an evolving nation of diverse cultures, but in the past various understandings of national identity were held, first as part of the British empire, then as part of an assimilationist monocultural British society and subsequently as a nation where integration allowed different cultures to be celebrated but within the established social patterns. Since its introduction in the 1970s, Australia has announced itself to be multicultural. This has been confirmed in a recent multicultural policy that interestingly contains no mention of specific ethnicities or geographic locations. Education, school curricula and particularly music have the opportunity to introduce students to music of diverse cultures. One way to do this might be to follow the path taken in this discussion that explores the changing representations of one Asian culture, China, in the songs we present to Australian school children. China has been selected for its regional proximity but traditional cultural distance from Australia. Over time there has been a gradual shift to the present position where we hope to understand ‘other’ musics as being of equal merit to be taught as authentically as possible. Chinese songs presented to school children provide an exemplar of the inclusion of another music and by examining the cultural content of school songs we gain an insight into what cultural understandings educational authorities and teachers hope to inculcate in their charges. The changing faces of China that are presented reveal much about how we want Australian children to understand the culture and identity of their Asian neighbours.

Two Poems

Jami Proctor-Xu is a poet, translator, scholar, and mother. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and spent ten years in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Beijing in 2008. She currently divides her time between Beijing and California. She changed her major from Philosophy to Chinese her sophomore year of college because her experiences working at a Chinese restaurant in Tucson led her to decide she wanted to study Chinese and travel to China. She wrote her first poem in Chinese the following summer, and began writing poems in Chinese more regularly beginning in 2008. Currently, she writes in English and Chinese, and translates back and forth between the two languages. Her poems and translations have appeared in journals such as Chinese Literature Today, Squaw Valley Review, Left Curve, and She regularly reads at poetry festivals and events in different parts of China and is an alumnus of the Napa Valley Writers' Conference and the Squaw Valley Poetry Workshop. She is currently translating a collection of poems by the Chinese poet Song Lin and working on her own poetry collections in English and Chinese.

Modeling and Simulation of Chinese SONG Telescope

Telescope structure is used to support and position the optical mirrors in the right place during the period of telescope observation, so it will have such capability to withstand a certain load. In order to ensure SONG telescope has such capability, FEM analysis and calculation are finished in this paper. With the help of ANSYS, firstly the finite element model of SONG telescope is built. Then using this model, the analysis and calculation of static and dynamic are performed, including the deformation under the gravity load with the tube in different directions, eigenfrequency calculation of the whole system and the responses under the seismic acceleration spectra. The results show that the max. offsets and max. relative tilt angles between primary mirror and secondary mirror are very little under the gravity load. The first natural frequency is 20.083Hz, larger than the design requirement 8Hz. The results of seismic load analysis show that the deformation in the telescope structure is 0.42mm and the stress is 33.8MPa, less than the allowable stress of the structure material. The above analyses verified that the structure design of SONG telescope is reliable and acceptable.

Despotism and the Destiny of the Chinese Lawyers : Reconsideration on the Theory of the Chinese Renaissance

This paper is for a comparative historical study to elucidate the legal structure and legal thought of the Chinese during the pre-modern era focusing the Chinese lawyer named ‘songshi(litigation master)’which presented itself in the Song era world-widely considered as the Chinese renaissance period in the circle of sinology. Being a parasitic status in the Chinese bureaucratic system, songshi could not be an elite class like the Western lawyers. In collusion with the petty-officials(xuli) who are in the similar status with the songshis in the Chinese bureaucratic system, songshis as Chinese lawyers in the legal actions seem to have a considerable role in making the Chinese ‘litigious society’. But the Chinese ‘litigious society’cannot be equivalent to the Western litigious society as the Chinese Songshi cannot be equivalent to the Western lawyer. Being comparatively studied, Western lawyer’s guild is a glorious powerful open elite guild which has made an indispensable role in making western modern state, but the Chinese songshi’s guild is an unglorious violent secret parasitic guild which has always been chased by the government as an illegal dangerous group.BR What made the Chinese lawyer as such as illegal is the Chinese despotic rulership and the Confucian moral idea of rule in which Chinese rulership rooted. In the Confucian moral rulership lega actions are in the state of contradiction. In principle they are open and everyone is free to go to act. But in reality not everybody is free to go to court, so someone is needed for one to go to court. Chinese law has kept this law for the people who are in need of someone to help one to go to court as early as Tang law. But the Confucian moral rulership historically being in the state of contradiction at last submitted to the reality of Chinese ‘litigious society’. Emperor Qianlong made the Tang law illegal in 1776. At this point it can be said more clearly that the Chinese ‘litigious society’ is not equivalent to the Western.BR As is shown by the edict of Emperor Dowager, Songshi was one of three evils in the Chinese bureaucratic society. This is to show that Songshi which was to be the fine fruit of the Chinese Renaissance could not become a good profession as Western lawyers which was also the fine fruit of Western Renaissance. In this respect the Chinese Song Renaissance Studies which has it’s own long history is need to be reconsidered.

Technological Variations and the Artist’s Intention: Chinese Southern Song Guan Ware Case Study

Using scientific techniques, certain technological variations, such as composition data, component species and microstructure, actually provide abundant information not only related to manufacturing technology, but also potters' potential, capability, and even limitation in representing their intent for the final product. In terms of reviewing the detailed technological choices, modifications and even challenges, the researcher searches for the artist's intention for the entire creating process. The present study analyzes technological variations appearing in Chinese Southern Song Guan (SSG) imperial shards to gain insights into the imperial potters' intent for their famous SSG ware.

Cathayan Arrows and Meteors: The Origins of Chinese Rocketry

Abstract Although it is now generally accepted that the rocket was invented in China, there is little agreement about exactly when this occurred. Various conflicting claims have been made, usually on the basis of dubious evidence. This article examines these claims and rejects all of them. It also discounts the hypothesis that the rocket developed from a kind of firework called a “fire-rat.” Instead, it suggests that the rocket very probably developed from Chinese fire-arrows, which carried charges of incendiary gunpowder. These became rocket-assisted arrows, fired from bows or, very often, arbalests. They achieved great ranges, of the order of two miles. They were used by the Mongols during their conquests in the mid-thirteenth century and may have formed part of the weaponry of the Chinese Song dynasty at an earlier period. The earliest reference to what were very probably true rockets, launched by their own propulsion, dates from 1272. It occurs in an account of events that took place during the siege of Xiangyang by Mongol forces. These rockets were used for signaling. There is no evidence that self-launching rockets were utilized as weapons in the mid-thirteenth century. Rockets as weapons are unlikely to have been developed any earlier than the late 1200s.

Traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris: A systematic review

With a long history, the treatment of psoriasis by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) could be divided into prophase, metaphase and anaphase. The earliest description of psoriasis dated back to A.D. 581 in ancient Chinese Song Dynasty. After that, a large number of treatment methods emerged with the increasing understanding of the disease. In this paper, a statistical analysis of the TCM category and frequency for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris (PV) in metaphase and modern times was performed to investigate its potential regularity. Different medications were applied for the treatment of PV in metaphase and modern times. In modern times, many prescriptions and TCM ingredients were confirmed to be effective for the treatment of PV. However, based on the clinical literatures, more systematic research methods were needed before the acceptance of evidence-based medicine. Key words: Psoriasis vulgaris, traditional Chinese medicine, treatment, history.

The tuning and vocal formant features of Chinese folk song singing: a case study of Hua'er music

Hua'er music is one of the representative folk music traditions in China today, designated as part of the world intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009. Whilst folk music traditions like Hua'er have been promoted in the education of young musicians due to their musical and cultural significance, no in-depth research has analyzed the acoustic characteristics of this vocal style. In this study, studio recordings were made of eighteen folk song examples sung by four four traditional and one formally educated singers. Analyses showed that both the traditional and the formally trained singers used a tuning pattern containing four main anchor-pitches approximating a Pythagorean tuning. The voice source in two different vocal styles ('Zhensheng' and 'Jiasheng'), reportedly used by these singers in performances, were examined by inverse filtering. LTAS of songs performed by the traditional singers were similar and showed a 'Speaker's formant' cluster near 3.5kHz. Implications are drawn for the education of folk music singers in higher education.

Using optical coherence tomography to characterize thick-glaze structure: Chinese Southern Song Guan glaze case study

This study explores the structure characteristics of thick glaze, in terms of the case study of Chinese Southern Song Guan (SSG) ware, focusing on the bubble and its media structure, using a novel focus-tracking optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. The OCT images we obtained not only unveil the structural uniqueness of the thick-glaze SSG sample, but also establish a distinguishable structural pattern for aiding authentication. In addition, information revealed in our images provides a logical explanation for the subtle texture and tone of SSG glaze as well as insights into the technologies used in layering and firing these thick glazes.

The Study on the Way of Narration and Genre Characteristics of Naong Gasa and Chinese Poetry Song

The Study on the Way of Narration and Genre Characteristics of Naong Gasa and Chinese Poetry Song

Edible Landscapes: Song Dong's Food Installations

This article addresses Chinese contemporary artist Song Dong's July 2009 edible installation-cum-performance at the former PaceWildenstein Gallery in New York City, in which he created landscapes out of foodstuffs. The landscapes alluded to penjing, an artistic practice of creating miniature sceneries using natural elements. Their accompanying inscriptions on the gallery walls, on the other hand, humorously appropriated colophons commonly attached to hanging scroll paintings. The installation departed from these traditional artistic forms, however, as the viewers literally consumed the landscapes. The corporeal implications of Song's work reference the body-centric performances of Tehching Hsieh and Zhang Huan, as well as the relational aesthetics events staged by Rirkrit Tiravanija, while Song's broader emphasis on ephemerality, drawn from Zen Buddhism, points to the transience of bodily needs and desires, even as he aims to fulfill them.

REGIONAL VERSUS STANDARDIZED COINAGE IN EARLY MODERN JAPAN: THE TOKUGAWA KAN'EI TSŪHŌ 寛永通宝

In the currency system of early modern Japan, concurrent with gold coins and silver ingots issued under monopoly by the Tokugawa shogunal government from the beginning of its rule, in 1636 a new standard for copper coins was introduced with the Kan'ei tsūhō 寛永通宝, and subsequently a three-currency system spread throughout the country. Prior to that, no central Japanese authority had issued its own copper currency since the ancient imperial court discontinued minting coins bearing its own era-names in the tenth century. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, imitation Chinese Song copper coins minted domestically, known as kyōsen 京銭, played an indispensable role in interregional payments, while separate regional coinages circulated in many of the feudal domains. Imitation Song coins from Japan were also in such strong demand in Southeast Asia that merchants Japanese as well as foreign made large profits by exporting them. The decision to mint the Kan'ei tsūhō arose in part from a strategy to unify the currency domestically, and also to prevent further production and export of the kyōsen at a time when the Tokugawa government was seeking to limit and control foreign trade. This study explores the context in which the Kan'ei tsūhō was introduced, drawing on both documentary and archaeological evidence, to establish a more comprehensive picture of the new coinage than has previously been available. It will be demonstrated that currency unification within the Japanese archipelago represented a breakaway from the East Asian currency sphere, which was dominated by purer silver ingots and Song coins, both originals and later imitations. As a result of the diffusion of the Kan'ei tsūhō, coins circulating domestically tended to become increasingly homogenized nationwide, though in fact a greater degree of regionality and stratification remained than has previously been thought.

Japanese Devils and American Wolves: Chinese Communist Songs from the War of Liberation and the Korean War

This article analyzes anti-American songs from China's protean mobilization for the Korean War. After constructing the historical context of Maoist attitudes toward music and exploring Japan's role as an idée fixe for Chinese song, the article arrives at the Korean War via an analysis of song tunes and texts from the Chinese home front in 1950, emphasizing the role of wolf and devil imagery in anti-American song propaganda. From student amateurs to the conservatory administrator Ma Ke, song composers under communist rule used music and lyrics to drape China's new American enemies in the garb of past Japanese foes, suggesting that Chinese songs from the Korean War extend beyond buoyant patriotism, evoking past traumas and prefiguring the animistic fury of the Cultural Revolution.

Bringing the East to the West: A Case Study in Teaching Chinese Choral Music to a Youth Choir in the United States

Abstract The purpose of this case study ws to document and evaluate the process which 35 singers (ages 14 to 18 years) in a youth choir in the United States learned Chinese choral pieces during a fourmonth period. The researchers identified challenges and strategies used, and aided by 43 choral directors in China, evaluated the choir’s performance of these Chinese songs. Observations, interviews, and performance evaluations were the main methodologies used. Sources of data included choir members’, choir directors’, and researchers’ accounts of rehearsals and performances. The data revealed eight major themes. These themes concern the importance of parts to whole, the importance of visual and aural demonstration/feedback, aesthetic enjoyment and application of the challenge, high-achieving student profiles, understanding of lyrics and their cultural context, utilization of community culture bearers, extension to native experts, and cultural submersion providing musical and life insights. We conclude that strategies used were effective and resulted in student gains in four areas: musical, pedagogical, cultural, and attitudinal and personal.