Search

The Making of a Musical Canon in Chinese Central Asia: The Uyghur Twelve Muqam, by Rachel Harris. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008. xviii + 157 pp., + CD. £27.50 (hardcover). This book is essentially a musicological, historical and social analysis of the Twelve Muqam, the series of suites that many Uyghurs regard as the acme of their traditional cultural achievements. Its central research question is how and when these suites entered the national musical canon of the Uyghurs, a Turkic people most of whom live in Xinjiang in northwest China. Rachel Harris is developing a fine reputation for her work on the past and present music and culture of Xinjiang, and especially the Uyghurs. She has already published a book on the music and culture of the Xibes of northern Xinjiang, and several book chapters and scholarly articles on Uyghur music. This book will certainly add to her reputation. The coverage is thorough and scholarly. It gives great insight into the suites and to Uyghur music in general. As Harris rightly points out, there are many traditions of this music, situated in a variety of Xinjiang's localities. There are also muqam traditions in other parts of Central Asia, as far as Iran. However, along with scholars like Nathan Light and James Millward, Harris is clear about the lack of significant Chinese influence on this tradition. In its documentation, the book is excellent. It includes references to sources in Uyghur, English, Chinese and French. It is based on extensive and high-quality fieldwork, as well as a good deal of personal experience in the field of Uyghur music. For instance, the author not only knows numerous musicians well but also can play the dutar, the two-string long-necked lute, which is the most widespread of Uyghur musical instruments. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of hearing her play, but I can say that her passion, deep musical understanding and close experience show through in her writing. The book also has quite a few pictures and musical texts. These add to its scholarly value, the pictures being well produced and showing themes and people that add to the interest of the text. One of the central issues of this topic is Uyghur cultural survival. Harris' descriptions of her own fieldwork and experiences suggest to me that, though local traditions are weakening, the twelve Uygur muqam are very much alive. The extensive Han immigration has not diluted this significantly, and a few of the most important contributors to understanding of the muqam are themselves Han. One often hears how the Chinese are destroying Uyghur culture, but there is no evidence for it in this book. There is a good deal of information and insight about the main performers of the muqam. One of them is Abdulla Majnun, on whom there is a whole chapter as well as numerous references in other chapters. He comes through not only as a brilliant musician but as an extremely colourful character, who has succeeded in annoying colleagues by his boorishness when drunk but is universally acknowledged for his brilliance as a performer and his work in maintaining and developing the tradition. …

Telling Chinese History: A Selection of Essays, by Frederic E. Wakeman, Jr., selected and edited by Lea H. Wakeman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. xx + 453 pp. US$60.00/£35.00 (hardcover), US$24.95/£14.95 (paperback). This book is a collection of articles by the distinguished historian Frederic E. Wakeman (1937-2006) on various aspects of Chinese history. As the articles selected here show, his work is characterized by its attention to theory, its deep interpretations of certain periods of Chinese history, and its emphasis on human details. Wakeman was widely learned in the history not only of China but of other countries as well, and his comparative observations added to and deepened his interpretations. This book was compiled after Wakeman' s death by his wife Lea. It consists of five parts, representing emphases in Wakeman's work. These are 1) China in the context of world history; 2) the Ming-Qing period; 3) Shanghai in the Republic period; 4) the historiography of Chinese history; and 5) modernity and the state. The themes of the earlier parts tend to relate to earlier periods. The chapters are from various sources, ranging from scholarly journals like Journal of Asian Studies to chapters in well-known books and to book reviews. In addition, there is an interpretative introduction to Wakeman's work in general, and to this book in particular, by S. N. Eisenstadt, himself a distinguished historian of China. Major themes taken up in the book include early relations between the West and China, ideology, bureaucracy and change. The arguments presented are not all consistent throughout the book, but that is defensible, as this is a republication of particular major articles. Wakeman's writing style is always interesting, and I found this book at times quite difficult to put down. For example, the chapter entitled "Romantics, Stoics and Martyrs in Seventeenth-Century China" includes many personal, even intimate, details about historical figures and links their experiences to the broad sweep of the history that saw the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing. Although Wakeman certainly had interests in the big picture of Chinese history, the common themes that recur throughout this book are comparatively few. One is the power of the state linked with the issue of essential change. One chapter is entitled "Models of Historical Change: The Chinese State and Society 1839-1989" and was originally published in 1991. Wakeman discusses four models of the state, beginning with Karl Wittfogel's "oriental despotism", and analyzes the development of police power in China. His conclusion is that the state has increased its power over society, with the People's Republic having the largest extent of power, and takes this as indicative of a gathering momentum of change in China. …

Review(s) of: Reins of Liberation: an Entangled History of Mongolian Independence, Chinese Territoriality, and Great Power Hegemony, 1911-1950, by Xiaoyuan Liu. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2006. xxxii + 474 pp. US$65.00 (Hardcover).

Shikan (Poetry) January 1976 Renmin wenxue (People's Literature) January 1976 Wudao (Dance) March 1976 Renmin xiji (People's Theatre) March 1976 Meishu (Fine Arts) March 1976 Renmin dianying (People's Cinema) March 1976 Renmin yinyue (People 's Music) March 1976 Ertong wenxue (Children's Literature) August 1977 Shijie wenxue (World Literature) October 1977 Wenyi bao (Literature and Art) July 1978 Shouhuo (Harvest) January 1979 Minjian wenxue (Folk Literature) January 1979 Juben (Play Scripts) January 1979 Dianying jishu (Cinema Techniques) January 1979 Dianying jishu (Cinema Art) January 1979 Dianying chuangzuo (Cinema Creation) January 1979 Dazhong dianying (Mass Cinema) January 1979 Quyi (Quyi) January 1979 Dianying xinzuo January 1979 (Cinema Novelties) (first publication) Dianying wenxue (Cinema Literature) April 1979 Yilin (Forest of Translations) November 1979