An Antiquity Of Jazz In China: From Yellow Music To A Jazz Revival In China

Abstract

Jazz has the potential to bring people of all backgrounds together in China, and the US government is working hard to get the word out about this.  A country is about to get funding and instructors to help spread jazz throughout the country. In June 2015, Blue Note Entertainment Group CEO Steven Bensusan announced the launch of a Blue Note jazz club at No. 23 East Qianmen Road in Beijing. Between the years 1900 till the late 1930s, this building served as the seat of the United States Embassy. The United States and China chose jazz as a means of cultural interaction.

For the Chinese, first encountering Western ideas was like being sucked into a whirlwind of novel thoughts. The passion faded as the basic human urge for pleasure, attractiveness, wealth, and comfort reclaimed the spotlight once civilian life resumed its regular rhythm. This economic and cultural revival gave the intellectuals optimism, and many of them set out on new career paths. An old debate about China's modernization, which had previously divided opinions along Western and Oriental lines, was rekindled in the pivotal year of 1978. No satisfactory answer has been discovered to the issue since its origin in the 1860s, when China was only starting its modernization process. In the 1980s, as postmodernism started to acquire influence in China's popular and creative cultural institutions, there was optimism about the country's potential for future modernization.