From Cultural Revolution to cultural consumption: forming a contemporary identity through Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

ABSTRACT

The formation of a Chinese identity through symphonic music is an indispensable part of the overall cultural landscape in China. This article takes the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra – the oldest symphony orchestra in Asia – as a case study to examine the formation of a contemporary identity in China’s cultural field, especially after the ten-year Cultural Revolution. Identity is a complicated and fluid concept for it concerns both individual and collective, and moreover, it is a concept that needs to be negotiated and communicated in spatial and temporal dimensions. This new Chinese identity formed through symphonic music not only involves the tension between local Chinese culture and Western bourgeois culture but also triggers argument with regards to the past, present and future Chinese self. The identity is also formed and confirmed through cultural consumption of symphonic music, a form of cultural capital which later defines social classes. Musical production at Shanghai Symphony Orchestra also affords identity formation and acts of cultural consumption. Materials collected from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Archive are used to illustrate the process of identity formation and relevant issues. The concept of cultural capital is also applied to address some of the examples that illustrate how contemporary identity is formed via symphonic music.

KEYWORDS:

• Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
• identity
• cultural consumption
• cultural capital
• archival research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mengyu Luo

Mengyu Luo is a lecturer from College of Communication and Art Design, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Her research interests include music communication, cultural studies and creative industries. Her recent publications include Cultural policy and revolutionary music during China’s Cultural Revolution: the case of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and book chapter in New Media and Chinese Society (Springer, Singapore, 2017). She is currently doing more research on music in creative industries and Chinese hip-hop music.

John Tebbutt

John Tebbutt is a researcher with the School of Media, Film & Journalism, Monash University (Melbourne). He has recently published chapters on related topics in The Handbook of Global Cultural Policy, (Routledge, London, 2017) and The Companion to Cultural Industries (Routledge, London, 2015). He is currently a chief investigator on an ARC Discovery Grant 2016-2019, 'Interrogating the Music City: Cultural Economy and Popular Music in Melbourne'.