Reforming music education in China, 1861–1937
| dc.contributor.advisor | Stock, Jonathan | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Khalil, Alexander | |
| dc.contributor.author | Mengwei, Zhang | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | China Scholarship Council | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | University College Cork | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-02-09T16:13:39Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-02-09T16:13:39Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2025 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This study takes as its starting point the historical context of China as a semicolony and semifeudal society to argue for the legitimacy and appropriateness of employing a postcolonial perspective in examining music educational reform. Building on this foundation, the research analyzes three specific cases to explore the roles and practices of three types of institutions, including missionary schools, professional music education institutions, and higher education conservatories, involved in the reform of music education in China. The historical materials on which this study is based can be categorized into three types. The first consists of published historical documents and literature, such as A Pictorial Chronicle of National Conservatory of Music (1927–1941) (2013), and The Journals of the National Conservatory of Music (1928–1937) (2007). The second includes relevant sources from modern digitized historical databases, for instance: The National Index to Chinese Newspapers & Periodicals (NICNP). The third comprises original archival materials and documents personally collected by myself from institutions such as The Second Historical Archives of China (Nanjing), the Shanghai Municipal Archives (Shanghai), the Harvard Divinity School Library (Boston), and the Presbyterian Historical Society (Philadelphia). Drawing on these three categories of sources, I analyze the selected case studies using varied narrative frameworks, with the aim of reconstructing this historical process from a postcolonial perspective. This dissertation is organized into six chapters. Chapter One outlines the feasibility of the theoretical perspective adopted in this study and explains the research methodology. Chapter Two reviews the historical background and relevant studies, with particular emphasis on the historical development of music education in China. Chapter Three focuses on the case of Hangchow Union Girls’ School, examining the issue of subjectivity loss in the development of Chinese music education through both its religious and secular music curricula. Chapter Four is the case study of Conservatory of Music of the Peking National University. Through analyzing the establishment of Conservatory of Music of the Peking National University, this chapter explores the contradictions, changes, and developments in attitude faced by Chinese music educators as they sought to construct an indigenous professional music education system. Chapter Five uses the National Conservatory of Music (National School of Music) as a case study to discuss the concept of “hybridity” in the process of introducing and adapting Western music education models, and further considers whether this hybridity might be interpreted as a form of resistance by Western-trained Chinese musicians and music educators against Western cultural hegemony. Finally, Chapter Six serves as the conclusion, summarizing the three case studies and attempting to construct a broader historical narrative of the development of Chinese music education between 1861 and 1937. Additionally, I examine the research limitations and identify potential opportunities for future study. | en |
| dc.description.status | Not peer reviewed | en |
| dc.description.version | Accepted Version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Zhang, M. 2025. Reforming music education in China, 1861–1937. PhD Thesis, University College Cork. | |
| dc.identifier.endpage | 142 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10468/18511 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | University College Cork | en |
| dc.rights | © 2025, Mengwei Zhang. | |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Music education | |
| dc.subject | Modern China | |
| dc.subject | Hybridity | |
| dc.subject | Cultural hegemony | |
| dc.title | Reforming music education in China, 1861–1937 | |
| dc.type | Doctoral thesis | en |
| dc.type.qualificationlevel | Doctoral | en |
| dc.type.qualificationname | PhD - Doctor of Philosophy | en |
