ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationships between social transformation, popular songs and school music education. It shows that the politics has the power to influence culture, popular songs, the community, institutions and social order, which together condition individual and collective action. The chapter also examines the attempts made to shape cultural politics through the medium of protest, as well as how revolutionary songs have been used as a means of social integration through education during the 20th and 21st centuries. The growth of nationalism in song lyrics in Mainland China was further reinforced by the invasion of China by foreign countries during the Second World War. The 2011 reform of the Curriculum Standards for Primary Education and Junior Secondary Education marked the first time that the school music curriculum officially included learning a canon of popular songs. The chapter addresses the power and potential use of popular songs in school music education as a producer and reproducer of cultural politics in the mainland.
