Faces of Tradition in Chinese Performing Arts is a Journal of Folklore Research book, part of a series titled Encounters: Explorations in Folklore and Ethnomusicology edited by Ray Cashman and Michael Dylan Foster. Consisting of an introduction, five articles, a Glossary of Selected Chinese Terms and Phrases, and an index, the book discusses expertly the roles played by scholars, cultural brokers (judges, educators, journalists, etc.), and individual performers in the development of the “faces” of different forms of Chinese performing art traditions. The “faces” in the title refer not only to such representatives of diverse traditions but also to the “mediums” through which the two mutually inform and transform each other. The genres treated include song and music from Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi, northwestern China, and Yunnan; and European-influenced modern ethnic dances; and televised singing competitions.

With the exception of the article on modern dances, the faces discussed show palpable influences of the engulfing wave of the “Intangible Cultural Heritage” (hereafter ICH) movement, which began during the advent of the twenty-first century, when China entered into the first UNESCO convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. A watershed for heretofore marginalized, delegitimized, and denigrated genres of folk performing art traditions, society now sought after unadulterated, “authentic” (original ecology) folk artists and performances. Gaining an ICH designation, particularly one at the national level (local and provincial levels are also coveted), meant instant fame for the locality (great for bolstering tourism), the performance genre, and the two named “heritage transmitters.” The “before-their-time” field recordings of music and other performance traditions and anthologized songs preserved by scholars discussed in three of the articles (D’Evelyn; Tuohy; Rees) must have been instrumental in the application for the ICH designation by local government officials, who were fortunate to have had such earlier materials. The article on modern ethnic dance (Wilcox), which was the preeminent “folk” dance form in socialist China performed by official state troupes and is now criticized by some for its lack of authenticity, seems to be an apt apology for the genre. By using the “dynamic inheritance” concept and presenting the methodology used by the choreographers of such professionalized folk dances, the author inspires renewed respect for the sophistication of the genre. The article on televised singing competitions (Gibbs) shows the continued societal preference in the present for “folk” performances from rural peripheries.

Charlotte D’Evelyn’s “Grasping Intangible Heritage and Reimagining Inner Mongolia: Folk-Artist Albums and a New Logic for Musical Representation in China” describes the role in the production of knowledge by a university professor through the reimagining of music in Inner Mongolia via his collection of diverse audio recordings. She also describes the careers of the three most prominent singer-musicians of the region: two from the earlier Chinese socialist tradition of performing newly composed Mandarin-language pop songs with idealized representations of the Mongol ethnic group (the song equivalent of the modern folk dance), and one from the ICH project that shows the emergence of valuing music from a most remote and ignored region of Inner Mongolia.

Levi S. Gibbs’s “Chinese Singing Contests as Sites of Negotiation among Individuals and Traditions” shows how televised contests often act as stepping stones from the regional/provincial to the national for performers from remote regions who exhibit the “original ecology” of their art form. The article shows, however, that the process is not simply one of authenticity. It discusses the negotiations between the performers and common folk audiences, hosts, and judges (intellectuals, past performers, political elites, and luminaries who comment on performances); and the careers of several singer-artists from Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia in relationship to televised singing contests.

Emily E. Wilcox’s “Dynamic Inheritance: Representative Works and the Authoring of Tradition in Chinese Dance” includes a case study of the creation of a modern ethnic dance and its creator. I find most illuminating a schematized methodology of “dynamic inheritance” that stipulated for the artists the following activities for the creation of their ethnic/folk dances: “excavation” of basic materials with the goal of protection; “decision to absorb/to abandon” based on style/flavor with the aim of further development; “organization” of the distinctive characteristics with the goal of inheritance; and “creation” of new dances based on the typicality of the original folk materials with the goal of their promotion. Interpretation rather than original ecology was valued.

Sue Tuohy’s “Collecting Flowers, Defining a Genre: Zhang Yaxiong and the Anthology of Hua’er Folksongs” describes the role played by Zhang Yaxiong, a collector-editor of a genre of folksong of the northwest and multiple ethnic groups, from being referred to as “wild tunes” and “wild weeds” to be eradicated, to one of respectability and national prominence, in fact a UNESCO ICH in 2009. Zhang’s own life story reflects the tragedies suffered by many an intellectual of his generation. Starting in 1950, he spent seven years in a “reform through labor” prison. And then, as a “bad element,” he worked in a limestone factory and had all his work burnt during the Cultural Revolution (the Red Guards called them “bullshit” and “obscene”). Both he and his scholarly contributions were finally rehabilitated in the 1980s. A farmer presented him with a copy of his anthology which the former had saved during the book burning.

Helen Rees’s “From Field Recordings to Ethnographically Informed CDs—Curating the Sounds of Yunnan for a Niche Foreign Market” is an insider’s view of the process and tremendous challenges that brought the field-recording collection of Zhang Xingrong and Li Wei’er (a music professor husband and videographer wife) from the 1980s and 1990s to the attention of the outside world. Having studied for a year (1991-1992) with Zhang while conducting dissertation fieldwork in Yunnan, Rees eventually became instrumental as the translator/mediator between Zhang and Li and the foreign partners who produced their field collection. Although the CDs were originally intended for a foreign audience, they have helped promote local performers and become invaluable, rare resources for a China that had become interested in the original ecology of its varied traditional performing arts. It was instrumental in the inscription of one folksong tradition (the polyphonic folksongs of the Hani People of Honghe County) in China’s first list of national-level ICH. Rees includes the titles of ten CDs and DVDs and the four companies from which they can be obtained.

The articles include histories and discussions of the genre of performing art traditions they represent and numerous pertinent themes presented (e.g., the history of anthologizing). Each article also includes an extensive bibliography on the genre and themes treated. A book that introduces performing art genres (Mongolian folksongs, singing contests, socialist modern dance, Hua’er songs of northwest China, Yunnan performing arts) and examines themes (ICH, televised singing competitions, etc.) that were rarely on the academic map related to China a decade ago. Faces of Tradition in Chinese Performing Arts not only situates the thrust of its premise (see the introduction on intricacies related to the faces of tradition) within the context of Western discourses, but is also a splendid and informative contribution to this expanding field.

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[Review length: 1170 words • Review posted on April 15, 2022]