ABSTRACT

Based on interviews, conversations, and observations drawn from extensive field research, Jazz in Contemporary China: Shifting Sounds, Rising Scenes explores the current developments and conditions of Chinese jazz. Negotiating socio-political, cultural, and spatial phenomena, the author provides unique insights for understanding China’s modern history through its happenings in jazz, unveiling an insider’s look at the musicians and individuals who populate and propel these scenes. This first-hand perspective illuminates how jazz generates and disseminates practices of creativity and individuality in twenty-first-century China.

chapter |21 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|29 pages

Beijing Jazz

A Center Within the Margins

chapter 2|18 pages

Jazz Politics

chapter 3|18 pages

Shanghai Jazz

The Cosmopolitan Scene

chapter 4|17 pages

Cultural Politics, Identity, and Myth

chapter 5|15 pages

Nanjing Jazz and the Case of Suzhou

A Scene Behind the Wall

chapter 6|12 pages

Chengdu Jazz

Hybrid Affiliations and Ma Laoban

chapter 7|11 pages

Kunming Jazz

Tracing the Exotic

chapter |7 pages

Concluding Notes

Trends of Creativity and Individuality