ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 adopts a Chinese socialist perspective to discuss left-wing music during the Chinese Republican era (1911–45) and songs composed by the sent-down youth (知青zhiqing) during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966–76. This chapter begins with an examination of collectivism, a cohesive consensus in all aspects of the humanities and sciences under the dome of socialism. Collectivism in conjunction with Mao Zedong’s “mass line theory,” which ascribes the principles of Mao’s “from the masses to the masses” ideology, presents how collectivism was promoted, becoming socialist patriotism. Based on this, folk music is examined as propaganda art that was used to disseminate sociopolitical collectivism. Left-wing’s modern songs from Nie Er (聶耳1912–35) and Liu Xue’an (劉雪庵 1905–85) are also examined to identify the evaluation of music among the socialist circles, which relied heavily on the musicians’ relationship with audiences. The emphasis of portraying sociopolitical correctness diminished the presence of dissidents while consolidating the blind worshipers of Mao and later put China into a series of man-made traumas. With the emergence of the sent-down youth’s songs, collectivism was transformed to emit signs of individualism. This transformation created a unique youth culture that allowed personal feelings to be revealed and disseminated under the constraint of collectivism.
