Divide and Connections in Chinese Musical Modernity: Cases of Musical Networks Emerging in Colonial Shanghai, 1919–1937

The divide between the Western-emphasized and Chinese-emphasized approaches in Chinese musical modernity has shaped the thinking and practice of Chinese music. In colonial Shanghai, where the divide was solidified, the divide was organizationally represented by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Great Unity Music Society. Both forces, however, engaged with the same ethical and political discourse of nation-building. For example, both looked up to the colonial Shanghai Municipal Orchestra as a desirable model. Assessing such subtle connections, this article uses the idea of network to overcome the dichotomatic limitation of the divide, while examining its foundation. Drawing upon concepts of “weak ties” and “conflictual ties,” this article shows how interdependence and rivalry overlapped in the emerging musical network, which shaped the new discursive, performance, and compositional practices in both forces. Both forces, indeed, were equally constitutive of the emerging “field” of music in Chinese modernity.