Theoretical writings on Chinese music by westerners in the 19th century

Authors

  • Yuanning Zhang Faculty of Music, Belgrade, Serbia

Keywords:

Theoretical writings, Chinese music, 19th century, Westerners

Abstract

In the 19th century, Western countries hae dispatched a number of officials and missionaries stationed in China, in order to tighten the control over the Qing imperial court; most of them were well educated, and left a bibliography of classics on Chinese culture devoting themselves to translate and write books. Theoretical writings, however, have been overlooked by the academic as facing the strained social situation of the 19th century, where none of paper focusing on theoretical writings on Chinese music by westerners in the 19th century has been put forward. This paper here, through reading and collecting a mass of works, will firstly draw attention to make a list of comprehensive books with related contents to the topic of Chinese music published in the 19th century; secondly, the priority will be given to professional ooks specialized in Chinese music; important journals in foreign languages regarding Asian issues with published papers and articles on Chinese music, and finally, those special editions of Sinology researches in the West. Its aim, to sum up the above written, is to comprehend better, on one hand, how related aspects of Chinese music were understood by westerners, its accuracy and reliability; on the other hand, Westerners’ overall cognition towards Chinese music in the 19th century, through which one truth should be pointed out: that 19th century enjoyed considerable attention, so as to form a clear line of theoretical writings on Chinese music by Westerners in the respect of understanding Chinese culture over the communication history between the West and China.

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Published

2022-01-16

How to Cite

Zhang, Y. (2022). Theoretical writings on Chinese music by westerners in the 19th century. Young Scientific Music and Dance Forum : Conference With International Participation, (15), 189–214. Retrieved from https://ojs.nbu.bg/index.php/YSMDF/article/view/618