23-25 April 2010
The University of Hong Kong

Organiser
Department of Music, School of Humanities, The University of Hong Kong

Theme
Modern scholarship has argued that there is no such thing as a Chinese essence or a fixed Han ethnic identity. To say that Chinese identity is a construct, however, is not to say that it is not real; rather, its reality is defined within its socio-cultural moment. Against such a background, this symposium aims at locating the transmission of Chinese music within the larger framework of the global debate on identity formation, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. What role has music played in building China's nationhood? And how has Chinese music been received as the music of the Other by its neighbouring cultures? Potential reference points might include, but are by no means limited to, Hobsbawm's concept of the invention of tradition and Greenblatt's work on identity formation in pre-modern societies.

Speakers
Invited speakers include Robert Bagley (Princeton University), Joseph Lam (University of Michigan), Alan Thrasher (University of British Columbia), and Richard Widdess (SOAS, University of London).

Performance
A historically-informed performance of the 12th-century Chinese poet-musician Jiang Kui's music will be featured on 24 April 2010.

Submissions
Speakers will be given 20 minutes for their presentations, which will be conducted in English. Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent by 1 September 2009 to Yang Yuanzheng at yuanzhen@hku.hk. Each abstract should include its author's name, institutional affiliation, telephone number, and email address. The authors of selected papers will be notified via email by 2 November 2009. The submission is now closed.

Conference Programme

Contact
Dr. Yang Yuanzheng
Department of Music
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2241 5738
Fax: +852 2858 4933
Email: yuanzhen@hku.hk
Website: www.hku.hk/music/events/conferences/china