Rock in China. Thesis. Korchuganova

In 1989 Cui Jian released his first album “Rock and Roll on the New Long March” by state-own record company (Huang, 2003). Despite the fact that the album was actually released with the help of government, Cui Jian allowed himself to criticize the existing situation. In Huang's opinion, this album had a certain influence on the political situation of that time. “It electrified Chinese youth with daring rethinking mainland Chinese rock `n' roll challenges to conventional social values. `Rock and Roll on the New Long March' not only alluded to the heroic history of Mao Ze Dong and his dedicated comrades, it converted popular music from an insipid Western import to a contemporary revolutionary weapon against institutional inertia and corruption. The founding deeds of Communist Chinese leaders were joined to a driving rock beat, and instead of veneration, an irreverent challenge was unleashed in the form of rock energy” [31, p. 187]

The relationships between Yaogun, which had a rebellious potential in the second half of 1980s' and became a symbol of protest and the government were difficult.

2.3 A turning point of 1989: Tiananmen Massacre and its influence on Chinese rock

The contradictions between Democratic Movement and officials resulted in an open conflict in 1989. “By 1989, everyone was unhappy. Ordinary citizens were seeing their standards of living cut into a half by double-digit inflation, while the corrupt and hypocritical party leaders who bullied them every day at work got fat off the reforms. Intellectuals were clamoring for freedom of the press and the release of those political prisoners. College students, packed eight to a room in a filthy dorm and force-fed Marxist-Leninist dogma in class, spent their time listening to rock music, talking about how to change China at surreptitious "democracy salons" on campus” [35].

The death of Hu Yaoban on April, 19 was a reason for students to come out the streets for his memory. “That night students marched on Tiananmen Square demanding freedom and democracy. The protest then escalated into a full-scale popular uprising rapidly, when martial law declared on May 20, millions of citizens, determined to protect the students on Tiananmen square at any cost, jubilantly threw together makeshift blockades to stop the troop trucks massed on the perimeters of the city from coming in” [35]. The anthem for them was famous song of Cui Jian “Nothing To My Name”. He sang for students in the square in the end of May 1989 (Huang, 2001).

The protest was suppressed by Army on the 4^th of June. It's still unknown how much people died that day. As for Chinese rock, Tiananmen Massacre influenced it with no doubt.

Tiananmen Massacre is often considered as a turning point in the history of Chinese rock. It connected with a political role that played rock-musicians during the second part of the 1980s'. “At this time, Chinese rock and roll held a central role in the struggle for control of meaning in a Chinese mass culture, as a point of resistance to social and political repression” [32, p. 5]. Officials couldn't ignore the fact that “Nothing to My Name” became an anthem for demonstrators. “Immediately following the Tiananmen massacre, Beijing security forces were ordered to locate and imprison prominent rock musicians, who were characterized as social delinquents on a par with student prodemocracy leaders” [31, p. 189].

Were the restrictions of the government the beginning of the end of rock music in China? I assume that rock musicians had to leave the sphere of politics because circumstances had changed. But anyway, they continued to play music and perform. Sanctions turned out to be temporary and in several months rockers came back to Beijing but rock went underground [35]. “On occasion, Chinese rock bands have been permitted to undertake overseas tours of Hong Kong, Malaysia and even the United States, to bring back precious foreign currency” [31, p. 183]. One again money overweighed ideology. But officially rock music wasn't recognized by government. “The word "yaogun," Chinese for rock 'n' roll was not sanctioned in the print media” [39, p. 69]. Also a ghost of Tiananmen influenced on restrictions that was in the logic of policy of obliteration. “From 1990 until 1999, rock performances were banned in Beijing for the entire month of June of every year, because government officials were afraid that rock student audiences would publicly commemorate the anniversary of the June 4 massacre” [31, p. 191]. Rock musicians could play in small clubs (De Kloet, 2005) and release their albums but no longer with a help of state-own labels, rock-musicians had to release their albums in Honk Kong and Taiwan and then import it back to mainland China through tapes and Hong Kong cable network (Huang, 2001).

In spite of the fact that rock had no rights to exist through the official point of view and it was prohibited to use the term Yaogunyue in mass media for about 10 years, people continued to play rock music. The first half of 1990s' was a time of flowering of bands that gathered in the end of 1980s'. Jeroen de Kloet says, that in spite of government restrictions on rock music after Tiananmen Massacre, Chinese rock continued to develop. “With the crackdown on the student protests on 4 June, 1989, the cultural fever that raged over China in the 1980s is believed to have quickly faded out, after which Chinese popular culture had to reground itself. Nonetheless, Beijing rock culture continued to grow, and the works of bands following on Cui Jian, such as Tang Dynasty, Black Panther and singers like He Yong and Zhang Chu, continued to be deeply embedded in the rock mythology” [21, p. 232].

Jonathan Matusitz thinks that the Tiananmen Massacre was a cause of further popularization of rock music in China, as foreign as domestic. “Until the Tiananmen Square tragedy, only small sections of Chinese audiences had been attracted to international rock and pop thanks to the icons' long hair, tight pants, and strange lyrics from legendary characters on foreign labels. The popularity and marketability of global rock and pop was mostly limited to Beijing's college students and artistic circles. The state-run recording studios would allow only few albums to be produced because some rock and pop songs, with their lyrics on individuality and depression, was disturbing the Chinese government. Since 1989-1990, however, things changed. Many state-run publishing houses lost their subsidies and were driven to produce profits. As a result, the popularity of international rock and pop increased both within and outside of Beijing. This means that Chinese rock and pop has become not only imitation but also innovation” [45, p. 485]

Andreas Steen assumes that the genre changed after events of June 4^th. “After the Tiananmen Massacre in June 1989, the number of rock bands in Beijing increased dramatically. Over the years, however, the genre has changed, and not only because of the PRC's ideological, social, and economic development. Another reason was that, consciously or not, several musicians agreed to "koutou" to a politically responsible and economically motivated music industry in order to reach their goals and release records. Chinese rock has obviously lost its formerly criticized "rebellious spirit" (fanpan jingshen) and transformed into a politically lighter version. This process allowed the genre to enter into the mainstream of Chinese popular music” [54, p. 3]

As it said earlier, a great number of bands that appeared in the end of the 1980s'continued to play music in different genres, as well as new bands emerged. In spite of the fact that musicians played rock music after Tiananmen Massacre and released albums, there is an opinion that “real rock” was in 80s', and after that rockers became a part of show business and earned money but didn't express their attitude towards current order of things through their music. Rockers were blamed in consumerism and commercialization as by scholars as by contemporaries. Here is the quotation that Jeroen de Kloet provides in one of his articles: “The perceived crisis of Chinese rock in the mid-1990s is shown by the words of DJ Zhang Youdai, who told me: “The new generation does not have their own culture, or their own life; it's consumerism. I think the 1980s were the golden years. People ask me why Chinese rock started in the 1980s. I think you should ask why in the 1990s rock died in China. In the 1980s young people concentrated more on culture; right now people concentrate on the economy, on making money” [22, p. 612]. Hao Huang has the same opinion. “Instead of heading a movement advocating openness versus repression, rock musicians are scrambling to find a tenable niche in Chinese popular culture. Consumerism has changed the rules. Trading fever has displaced cultural fever. Rock musicians are no exception. In the 1980s, they proudly flaunted their individualism, outside social norms. In the 1990s, they clawed their way into the commercial arena by pledging allegiance to the Chinese cultural core. Living outside mainstream economic discourse has become too heavy a price for those who once symbolized resistance to a corrupt, superannuated regime. Now, it is rock musicians themselves who are fighting to demonstrate that they remain relevant to China's mass culture, present and future” [32, p. 11]

One more evidence that rock culture didn't die after Tiananmen is foundation of MIDI Beijing School of rock and jazz in 1993 that was the first institution where students could learn modern music and advanced musical techniques [62].

Relationships between government and Cui Jian were difficult as they were before. From one hand, he brought money. From the other hand, he criticized government. Cui Jian was allowed to go on tour for the Asian Games 1990, but it was cut by officials because Cui blindfolded himself by a red patch while performing “A Piece of Red Cloth” [52]. This image showed his disappointment with the situation and will to not see what was happening and it was obvious for government too.

In spite of the attempts of Cui Jian to continue speaking out his attitude towards current situation, Yaogun seems to lose its political meaning in the beginning of the 1990s' because the moods in youth changed: young people decided to think about themselves rather than about their country. Pragmatism and individualism replaced idealism of the 1980s' [52]. This trend will be explained in the 3^rd Chapter.

Conclusion for the 2^nd Chapter

At the first stage government tried to stop the spread of the Western music and lifestyle. In the beginning of the 1980s' there were precedents when young Chinese were prohibited to go to the discos, communicate with foreigners and so on. Officials even launched “Anti-spiritual pollution campaign” in 1983 but it wasn't successful.

The attitude towards new phenomena in youth culture began to change. Foreign musicians came to China with concerts; the most remarkable was the concert of British band Wham! in 1985. In 1986 Cui Jian appeared in public at the first time and this event shows that officials allowed playing rock. He released his first album through state-run label. At the same moment the second half of the 1980s' is a time of emergence of Democratic Movement. Yaogun became a symbol of the protest at Tiananmen Square in 1989 because the song “Nothing To My Name” was its anthem.

After events on June 4^th restrictions for Chinese rockers followed, but they weren't long and serious. Rockers continued to perform and release their albums, but they had to do it through labels in Hong Kong and Taiwan and only then distribute their music in China. Nevertheless it was banned in mass media; Yaogun got more popularity in the beginning of the 1990s'. That's why it was allowed to musicians to perform and go to tour outside the country: they earn money for their music. One more reason is that Yaogun lost its political meaning and musicians preferred to sing about their individualities rather politics.

Chapter 3. The measure of American and European influence on Chinese rock: the cases studies of Cui Jian, Tang Dynasty and Black Panther

The third chapter is dedicated to two case studies: the father of Chinese rock Cui Jian and two heavy metal bands Tang Dynasty and Black Panther. I want to show the different extent of American and European influence on the artists (I call it “Western” further in the text). In the first part of the chapter I compare heavy metal bands Tang Dynasty and Black Panther. They appeared in Beijing approximately in one time and played music in one genre. In spite of this, they put a different meaning in their songs and used different images and I want to show it on the example of music videos “A Dream Return To Tang Dynasty” by Tang Dynasty and “Shame” by Black Panther.

The second case study is the most famous song of Chinese rock “Nothing To My Name” by Cui Jian. I made a comparative analysis of his song with “The Times Are A-changin'” by Bob Dylan. I chose these artists due to the several reasons. First of all, Cui Jian is often called “Bob Dylan of China”. Second, both of them were anthems for the civil movements in America 1960s' and China 1980s'. I want to look at the historical contest of the creation of these songs and how authors expressed the meaning they wanted to say. Also I am trying to understand the cultural roots of songs “Nothing To My Name” and “The Times Are A-changin'”.

The aim of this work is to find out how much Chinese was in Chinese rock in the second half of 1980s' and how much it was inspired by foreign influence on the example of famous Chinese musicians, their songs and images they used.

3.1 Tang Dynasty and Black Panther - how much Chinese is in Chinese heavy-metal?

As I talk about the measure of Western influence on Chinese rock, I need to prove that it was different extant of this influence. I want to show it on the example of two most famous rock bands of the second middle 1980s' - Black Panthers and Tang Dynasty. I compare them because they have some similarities and differences between each other. They appeared almost at the same time in Beijing - in 1987 and 1988 respectively. They still are the most famous rock bands of the first generation of Chinese rock. In spite of the fact that they started to play almost at one time, these bands use different images and symbols in their oeuvre. We can trace it even in their names. Tang Dynasty got its name from ancient dynasty, which is known for the bloom of poetry and art (Jones, 1992). Zhao Nian, a drummer of the band, explained the reasons why did they choose this name for it: "We chose the name 'Tang Dynasty (Tang Chao)' because that was China's greatest period. It was also the greatest era for the arts" [52]

The name “Black Panther” refers to the rock mythology: images of wild animals are wildly spread among rockers. Li Tong, leader guitarist, said that they decided to play rock because they all listen to foreign music that time. Originally, they called the band “Dark horse”, but Li Tong decided to name band Black Panthers because he thought that they “had a power of Hard Metal. Also panthers are rare animals and they close to our image” [60]

So, it looks like Black Panther uses traditional rock images and doesn't refer to Chinese cultural heritage and Tang Dynasty does it. So, to prove this idea I want to tell more about the history of these bands and compare two videos on songs “Shame” [5] of Black Panther (1992) and “A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty” [6] of Tang Dynasty (1992).

3.1.1 Tang Dynasty and Black Panther, Chinese heavy metal bands

Tang Dynasty is metal band in China gathered in 1988. They combined British heavy metal with traditional Chinese music. They wrote melancholic songs that were dedicated to the imaginary world and were an attempt to escape from the present [74].

The leader vocalist, Ding Wu was born in 1962. He spent his childhood in Northeast China, where he started to study traditional opera vocal in the age of 8. Ding Wu and his family came back to Beijing in 1972. He learnt to play the guitar in 1976 when popularity of this instrument just had begun to grow and people called guitar “an instrument of hooligans”. In 1978 Ding Wu entered Fine Arts Department of Beijing Academy of Fine Arts. Shortly before the graduation in 1982 he began to listen to rock music with his friends. At that time it was difficult to get any relevant information about it and good instruments to play music. Ding Wu participated in some performances with his friends. Also he tried to get tapes and magazines from friends who played music to learn more about rock. “In 1984 he with Li Ji established rock band Bu Dao Weng (“Roly-Poly”), which was supported by a work unit (danwei) with instruments” [54]. They played covers of Japanese and Western songs for a year and then disbanded. After that, Ding Wu began to sing in Black Panther but not for a long time. In 1988 he met Kaiser Guo, a half-Chinese American who came to China for study. Kaiser gave more information to him about rock music, for example Pink Floyd that became a favourite band of Ding Wu. They began to play music together and established band Tang Dynasty [77]. Kaiser was a guide of American and European influence on the sound of the band. He showed different bands for other members of Tang Dynasty, for example, Queensryche [67]. Liu Yijin, also known as Lao Wu joined them as a guitarist. Liu was born in Tianjin, China. The guitar was his second instrument; his first was the Guqin. Eventually he felt interest in playing the guitar and got his first instrument in 1978. Despite the fact that his father opposed him in playing music, Lao Wu continued to practice the guitar 15 hours a day by himself without teacher. His family moved to Beijing in 1984 where he continuously failed to find a stable job and he began to make money by playing music. Lao Wu eventually picked up the seven string guitar and the erhu, as heard in the song "The Sun" [77]. “He gained a reputation for his lightning-quick guitar chops, the guitar virtuoso of China's glory days of rock” [50]. He always acted as conductor of Chinese national identity: “Rockers are jockeying for legitimacy as popular-culture brokers by taking Beijing rock as part of a northern Chinese cultural core” [31, p. 193].

In 1989, after Tiananmen Massacre, when Kaiser Guo had to come back to America and Ding Wu moved to Xinjiang for a few months, the band was temporarily disbanded. But in the end of this year Tang Dynasty participated in concert “Modern Music 90”in Beijing at Capital Indoor Stadium. It was their first appearance in public and people liked them a lot [76]. The significance of this event can be comparable with Woodstock 1969 because it signed the emergence of Chinese rock after temporary sanctions of Post-Tiananmen period.

On May 1990, Tang Dynasty signed a contract with Taiwan record company and started to record their first album “A Dream to Return to Tang Dynasty”. It was released in China in 1992 [63]. Also it was released in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia [65]. In April 1993, the nation's MTV Video Music Award nominations were announced; Tang Dynasty won the Best Asian MTV nominations for their album “A Dream to Return to Tang Dynasty” [65]. This release got its accolades for the mix of Western and Chinese traditions. “It's art rock at its pompous best: complex harmonies, breathtaking guitar work, and Led Zepplinesque mysticism wedded to ornate, flowery lyrics. In spirit, Tang Dynasty isn't that far removed from the progressive metal bands of the 1970s. Instead of the knights-errant of Arthurian legend, the band is enchanted by the youxia - valiant Kung Fu-fighting swordsmen wander the pages of Chinese history. The album is a fusion of great metal, intricate art rock, Arabic folk music from the far western deserts of Xinjiang, and well-crafted pop melodies” [35].

¡¡¡¡The very name of the album tells that musicians wanted to stress their national identity and don't look like a copy of the Western precursors. They used a form of heavy metal, which characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound, and vigorous vocals [77]. They were heavy metal rockers and they the style musicians used with long hair, tight jeans and black leather is a feature of heavy metal (Kostiuk, Savina, 2013). At the same time they stressed that they play Chinese music. Lao Wu said in 1992: "This isn't the '60s and China's not the U.S.A. Our music doesn't have to follow the same road as rock music in the West, and it doesn't necessarily mean the same things here" [35]. Tang Dynasty used Chinese cultural heritage in their performing music. “A strong longing for the past is expressed in the band's name, album titles, imagery, music, and lyrics. This celebration of the past and its related discontents of the present, form the leading characteristic of Tang Dynasty. In their songs, they express their solitude in modern times, their despair, and their search for a better world” [21, p.237] Ding Wu combined Chinese operatic traditions with rock vocal. Lao Wu played not only guitar but also traditional Chinese instruments as erhu and guqin. The sound of the band was in trend of the attempt to come back to historical and cultural roots. “Their sound is part progressive rock and artistic metal and part traditional Chinese vocal techniques with lyrical poetry and musical arrangements meant to hearken back to the glorious days of ancient Chinese civilization; in particular, the cultural epitome of Chinese history as popularly represented by the era of the Tang Dynasty” [60]. I think that they felt the time and play music appropriate for the circumstances. The trend of nationalism was very strong in Chinese society, especially at Post-Tiananmen era (Kendall, 2009). Hao Huang explains it through governmental policy. “Desire to produce a purely Chinese rock music appeals to the CCP's post-Tiananmen, market-oriented authoritarians. Recently, the chief of the Beijing Bureau of Security praised Tang Dynasty “`off the record” citing them as examples of assertive Chinese nationalism, while deploring the addiction of certain band members to narcotics. Tang Subei, chair of the Chinese delegation to the Cross-Straits Talks between Beijing and Taipei, has acknowledged that he was pleased to hear from a Taiwanese delegate that while rock has existed in Taiwan for decades, it has never been properly Sinicized, whereas the Mainland can already boast of Tang Dynasty. In 1991, the China Youth News printed an article that asked the government to tolerate rock music, because it was the only effective defense against the flood of Western-deprived pop music in the mainland market” [32, p. 9]

The second band appeared at that time was Black Panther. It was formed by Guo Si and Li Tong. Their official debut happened in Hong Kong. Black Panther released debut album in 1991 in Honk Kong and Taiwan. A year later album “Black Panther” was released in mainland China [74]. The leading guitarist Li Tong started to play the guitar in high school. He often called a “heart” of the band. His favourite singer was Ozzy Osbourne [63]. Guo Si told that he met rock music through foreigners first. "In 1982 a Filipino surf band did a show at a park. It was all covers, Beach Boys and stuff. We stood there stunned. We had no idea a guitar could make those sounds! That was a turning point" [52] .Then he bought an electric guitar and started to play music.

As I have said before, Ding Wu sang in Black Panther in the beginning. Then his place took Dou Wei. Dou Wei was born in Beijing in 1969. In 1983 he begun to listen to Western Music and learn to play the guitar by himself. He joined Black Panthers in 1988 as keyboard player and vocalist [63]. He left Black Panther in 1990 and Luan Shu came to his place. Luan Shu studied at Central Conservatory of Music, his major was trumpet. He joined Black Panthers in 1990 as keyboard player and singer [78]. Wang Wenjie, bassist, also was a founder of the band and also started to play music at school [77]. The album “Black Panther” was sold with 1.5 million copies and had brilliant status. In 1991 they performed at Shenzhen Modern Music Spring Festival. The songs for this album were written mostly in Chinese except two songs “Take care” and “Don't break my heart”, which have repeating lines in English. So, in comparison with Tang Dynasty, Black Panther didn't try to create a conceptual music by stressing their national and cultural roots and the sound of the band is more international then the sound of Tang Dynasty.

rock music ñhina

3.1.2 Comparative visual analysis of music videos “A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty” by Tang Dynasty and “Shame” by Black Panther

The song “A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty” is the first in the debut album of the band. It tells a story about dreamer who wants to return back to time of Tang Dynasty:

“A prediction about my future is burned along the lines on my hand.

Night is sober and dreamless today

Through the predictions I am rushing into the myth, my dream - Tang Dynasty” Translation from Chinese lyrics is made by the author..

The video “A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty” starts with the face of Vairocana Buddha's statue It is situated in the Fengxian Cave in the Longmen Grottoes near to capital of Tang Dynasty Luoyang, Henan province [61]and face of Ding Wu with closed eyes. During the powerful intro landscapes of China are changing each other: mountains, fields, the caves at Longmen Grottoes and a battle-field with a waving red flag. A white horse is walking through ancient gates and the drummer is beating an old gong. Ding Wu starts to sing and we see musicians playing in different places: onstage, in front of those ancient gates, in the middle of abandoned road, somewhere in Loess Plateau. They are in tie trousers and shirts, jumping and waving their long hair. When the band is on the stage, we can see several red flags in the right corner. There are some moments when they are sitting on the ground in the hills of Loess Plateau and looking at the camera. Their way of performing is very energetic, a bit aggressive, but when they don't play music they are quite relaxed. Ding Wu sings in a high voice and sometimes raises his voice to a shout. The song has a powerful solo by Lao Wu. The video ends with four drop red flags. This clip is full of images and references that lead viewer to the times of Tang Dynasty. “The symbolism in the music, the lyrics, and the video clips that present a sort of Orientalist dream sequence full of references to the traditional past, express a pervasive sense of cultural loss” [21, p. 238]. First of all, these are the landscapes of Loess Plateau, where Luoyang, the ancient capital of Tang Dynasty is situated. Views of Longmen Gates are also bring us back to one of the sights of Luoyang. The statues of Buddha that we watch in video were mostly made during Tang Dynasty. Third, a white horse in the first minute of it is a symbol of White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist temple in China situated in Luoyang.

Song “Shame” was written by Li Tong about his feelings. “I wanted to tell about my emotions, it's not a concrete story” [60] It's rather interesting that the name of the song in Chinese is ÎÞµØ×ÔÈÝ, which is chengyu, Chinese idiom consists of four characters. It translates in English as “can find no place to hide oneself for shame” [70]. This song tells a story in the first person who walks in crowd and talks to another person, probably a lady that “someday will meet him and understand him”. Luan Shu sings:

“I'm not a person that I used to be.

I was so lonely in my past,

People were so cold to me.

And finally I got a feeling

I'm ashamed” Translation from Chinese lyrics is made by the author. .

Video to this song was made near Great Wall in 1992 [60]. The video starts with the waving red flag and a piece of the Great Wall. We can see members of band walking down the Great Wall with a red flag. Then different scenes changes each other: musicians performing on the stage wearing black leather and sun glasses, performing at most famous paces of Beijing as Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, hutongs and, of course, the Great Wall. Also there are scenes when they don't play music and hang around Beijing and do nothing. They have an image of city idlers that have fun and live a modern live of capital's inhabitant.

These two songs tell us stories of people unsatisfied by events happening or happened in their life. If “A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty” is full of escapism and antagonism to modern life, the hero of “Shame” lives now and here. I suppose these videos were shot in two capitals of China - ancient and present. Music video of Tang Dynasty is full of images that refer to the past epoch: Buddha's faces, old building in traditional Chinese style and a white horse as a reference to the oldest Buddhist temple in China. Black Panther's members are children of 1980s' and they speak about current problems of an individual, which is more typical for the person of Western culture, not Eastern. They are enjoying they walk around Northern capital and a bit reflexing about their “shame”. In spite of obvious differences of music videos there are some their similarities. First of all, through the standpoint of direction of the scenes they are quite similar. We can see musicians performing their music on the stage, and their stage behavior is the same - they are wearing tight leather trousers or jeans, waving long hair and moving around the scene. Second place of the shoot is see sights that are remarkable for Chinese people, for example, Longmen Grottes and the Great Wall. The third scene is when musicians don't perform and Tang Dynasty members are sitting in peace somewhere in the hills of Loess Plateau and band of Black Panther is walking around Beijing. Finally, both bands use red flags. Red is a color of joy and happiness in Chinese culture [66]. Also flags remain audience about communistic present. Red flag is used to times in Tang Dynasty's video: first it's waving at the battle-field; also there are 4 red flags on the stage. They are dropped when musicians leave the scene in the end of video. I propose that these 4 flags are symbols of 4 members of band that don't feel any joy out of the dream about the times of Tang Dynasty. Also dropped flags in the end can be a sign, a very sad one, of a total disappointment of present order of things. I assume that Black Panther bring a red flag through the Great Wall as a connection between past and present. Also, they could mean their loyalty to the government by using a red flag. The video was shot at Tiananmen Square only in 3 years after events of June 4^th and it was possible due to the allowance of the officials, I believe.

So, as we can see, these two bands had a different extent of Western influence, which is obvious not only from their names, but also from the meaning of the songs, images in music videos and design of albums. Tang Dynasty tried to stress their national identity and traditions and seeks for the cultural roots of great past of China through the form of heavy-metal. They make music about past, how perfect and beautiful it was and how disappointed in present they are. They are less Western inspired then Black Panther. Black Panther use heavy metal aesthetic as well but they didn't try to show their “Chineseness” in every creative act. The usage of English in such songs as “Take Care” and “Don't Break My Heart” proves that they were more open to the Western influence. Their songs describe feelings and emotions of a person that lives here and now and more concerned about his place in the society and relations with other people. Anyway, their music is a Chinese rock; played by Chinese people in mainland China from the second middle of 80s mostly in Chinese language and the chengyu in the title of the song “Shame” proves that they used traditional Chinese forms as well.

Nevertheless, Tang Dynasty and Black Panther have some common features. They play music in one genre of heavy metal. The analyzed videos have similar art direction: the order of scenes, stage behavior of musicians, the usage of the red flag, but in different symbolism, by the way. Musicians even looked quite similar with their long hair and tight dark leather trousers or jeans.

3.2 Comparative analysis of Bob Dylan's “The Times They Are A-changin'” and Cui Jian's “Nothing to My Name”

I chose the song of Bob Dylan and Cui Jian as subjects of analysis because of several reasons. First of all, both of these songs were an anthem for protest movements. Second, they were written in similar historical context. Third, Cui Jian was inspired by American and European musicians and Bob Dylan was one of them. The first aim of this analysis is to compare the circumstances the songs were written in. The second aim is to compare the meaning of the songs and symbols the authors used. Also I want to look at the way they expressed their points of view to the current situation in America of 60s' and China 80s'. The third aim is to find out how much Cui Jian was inspired by Bob Dylan, did he copy the way Dylan wrote his song or also used Chinese traditions?

I am going to use method of semiotic analysis to compare these songs. “Semiotics studies the world, culture and society as sign systems that produce, keep and promote information” [47] According to Jonathan Matusitz, music helps people to talk to each other in one language. “Music is one of the oldest forms of human communication, in all cultures at all times. Popular music, or rock and pop, denotes a cultural object. It is a sign in itself, and the various ways of organizing it can be viewed as forms of semiotics. Popular music is a sign because it has many facets and many uses, but it is generally acknowledged that its primary appeal is to the emotions of a generation, particularly a young generation. The content of the musical sign in this case is in the emotion evoked within the hearer” [46, p. 157]

The reason I choose Bob Dylan's “The Times They Are A-changin'” to compare with Cui Jian's “Nothing to My Name” is that both of the songs was an anthem of civil movements. The second reason is that Bob Dylan was one of the Western musicians who influence Cui Jian (FlorCruz, 2012) and it is important to see the extant of this influence. It's no doubt that Cui Jian combined Western and Chinese approach towards music. “Stylistically, Cui Jian's music presents the following characteristics: pinched, rough vocal style; a foregrounding of rhythmic elements, both in the accompaniment (which borrows heavily from Western rock music) and in the melody; a melodic construction which is taken to be closely related to northern folk song melodic construction; lyrics often interpreted as politically oppositional in content; and occasional use of traditional Chinese instruments such as the suona, the dizi (a transverse flute made of bamboo), and the guzheng (a zither)” [18, p. 164]. He tried to find a new sound for his music, that was different from what was performed before and also to use new images that came with a new sound. “Cui Jian, studying trumpet at the Beijing conservatory, eagerly incorporated the new, rebellious ``Western'' sounds of rock. With the sound came a new ideology, being part of the ideoscape, as embedded in the rock mythology, which promises (bodily) freedom, masculinity, rebellion, and protest” [21, p. 231].

So he mixed traditional instruments of China with bass-guitars and drums and was searching for the new form of music, but what about poetry? To answer this question, I need to look not only to the song of Bob Dylan but also to Chinese traditions of poetry that correlate with Confucians ideas.

In this case, I agree with poststructuralists approach that the text depends not only on its creator's will but also on the circumstances it was written in (Osipova, 2010). Every song is born in certain circumstances and before I start the comparison of two songs I need to concretize the historical context. “Lyrics are shaped by context as much as context is shaped by lyrics. For this reason, the semiotics of lyrics is best when it focuses on contextualization, that is, the interpretation according to the context. Contextualization helps semioticians understand how rock and pop lyrics are interpreted as a parodic form of individual and cultural detail” [46, p. 168].

The song “The Times They Are A-Changin'” was written in 1963 and realized in 1964. It was a time in the American society when protest moods were very strong. “Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is one of his great early-'60s anthems. The simple tune, played in waltz time, supports five verses that contain a clarion call to recognize and accept change in a general sense. The opening line, "Come gather 'round people," evokes old folk ballads, but the singer has a cautionary tale in mind, not a soothing story. He tells various groups - writers and critics, senators and congressmen, mothers and fathers - that change of an uncertain, threatening nature is coming. He offers little advice to cope with this change, suggesting only that mothers and fathers, whose "old road is rapidly agin'," either lend a hand or get out of the way and that, as the flood waters rise, "you better start swimmin'." Like "Blowin' in the Wind," which Dylan had written more than a year earlier, "The Times They Are A-Changin'" spoke philosophically and in general terms, but was easily interpretable in the context of its period of composition as a referring primarily to the civil rights struggle” [49]. People weren't happy with the things in the USA and wanted to change current state of things. It was a time when they tried to express their ideas participating in Civil rights movement, Anti-war in Vietnam movement and so on. Also one of the features of that time was student activism. Students, as young, progressive and energetic people tried to speak out their ideas and disagreement with official position. So, the song “The Times They Are A-Changin'” became an anthem for them because it proclaimed the changes that are coming. Bob Dylan said ones that he wrote this song because it was exactly what people want to hear. In the liner notes of this album Biograph, Dylan wrote: "I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song, with short, concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. This is definitely a song with a purpose. I knew exactly what I wanted to say and who I wanted to say it to" [75] So Bob Dylan can be called a voice of the generation of middle 1960s' in America.

The second middle of 1980s' was a time of growing protest moods in China. A mass of people wasn't satisfied with the situation in China, such as growing corruption. The aim of Democratic Movement was to make officials listen to the needs of people. But governors didn't agree with the standpoint of the participants of the protest movements. This contradiction led to the Tiananmen Crackdown in 1989. Students of Universities in Beijing went out the streets and the anthem for them was a song “Nothing to My Name”. This song of Cui Jian became well-known at 1986 when he sang it in the first time in the concert. He sang “Nothing to My Name” in front of the students on Tiananmen and all they want was to be heard by the older generation. From the first glance, it is a love-story of a young man who sings to a girl that left him. But it can be interpreted as a song from youth of China that has nothing to power-holders that are older generation and they can change the order of things in the country. He definitely wanted to express his views on situation in country. “For Cui, rock music has a meaning and a certain message, which functions as a cultural force that should aim at social change, or at least make people think” [55, p. 18].

Hence, the comparison of the historical context of the creation of these songs proves that they were written in similar circumstances. The USA of 1960s' and China 1980s' can be characterized by strong protest moods and student activism. People saw that something was wrong in their societies and tried to change it. Every movement needs a symbol and this symbol was a song that represents the feelings of its participants.

And “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and “Nothing to My Name” talk about changes that are about to come. But Bob Dylan and Cui Jian do it in a different way. Bob Dylan told in “The Times They Are A-Changin'”:

The line it is drawn…

… The order is rapidly fading [3].

So, he speaks about changes in explicit way. Changes are happening and it's a fact. Hearer can agree with this or not but it how the things go.

Cui Jian does it in a bit another way. First of all, there are two meanings of this song. First, a literal sense is a story of young man who is left alone by a girl. Second, figurative sense is a call from young people to older generation. In the first chorus Cui sings:

“I asked endlessly, would you go with me?”

In the 3^rd chorus the intonation changes:

“I now you will go with me!” [4]

The changes have come and the hearer is a bystander of them. Hence, people that sang this song in 1989 wanted to see the changes as their predecessors in America in 1964.

The difference in ways singers said about coming changes is in that Bob Dylan belongs to low context culture and it is natural for him to say what he wants to say and Cui Jian is a person of high context culture uses images and metaphors.

We can say the song “Nothing to My Name” was written in traditions of the Western individualism, because it is a story in the first person. It looks like one person speaks for the whole country, and it is in norms of Western tradition. Bob Dylan was a voice of the generation in America in the middle 1960s', and it doesn't surprising. But what is about China? Stereotypes about Chinese collectivism tell us other. But, actually, according to the Confucius tradition, poetry is not only a tool to describe nature or one's feelings. It has a didactic meaning (Smirnov, 2011). “The view that poetry is mainly an expression of personal emotions is at least as old as the didactic one, if not older. Both views--the didactic and the, for want of a better term, individualist--ran parallel in early Confucian writings on poetry” [43, p. 78].

Poet should tell the critic on the government and his views on socio-political organization of the society. “According to the History of the Han Dynasty in ancient times there were officials sent out by the king to collect songs from the people so as to test public opinion. He should bring the people's sufferings to the notice of the ruler in the hope that the latter may be moved to mend his ways, but not incite rebellion. To achieve this aim, the poet should make use of allegory and satire, rather than openly attack the government. This is known as feng chien, or `satirize and admonish'” [43, p. 67].

Hence, Bob Dylan and Cui Jian act for the purpose of their own poetical-protest positions. We can say Cui Jian was inspired in a certain extent by Bob Dylan as an example of a singer who represented mood of people and time. Nevertheless, if “The Times Are A-Changin” is a reference to mass of the people and the first line proves it:

“Come gather round people

Wherever you roam” [3],

“Nothing To My Name” references to one person from another with the first line:

“I have asked endlessly,

When will you go with me?” [4]

So, the first song is an explicit reference, and the second is an implicit one. Two blasts of meaning are very traditional for the Chinese poetry. Ancient poets used a set of images and metaphors to estimate their political point of view that were known among all the well-educated people (Smirnov, 2011). The form of love song that Cui used is not traditional, because classical Confucius poetry condemns romantic love between man and woman as a treat for the society and country (Smirnov, 2011). In 1980s', Gangtaiyue a light pop-music from Hong Kong and Taiwan, used a topic if love. Maybe Cui wrote his song using this form in order to make his views not that obvious. Later he said that he never meant to talk about politics and people can understand his songs as they want [18, p. 166].

It is interesting that both of singers use an image of water in their songs. In Dylan's song he sang:

“And admit the waters

Around you have grown,

… Then you better start swimmin'” [3]

Cui uses this image this way:

“The ground beneath my feet is moving

The water by my side is flowing” [4]

Water is a symbol of woman's nature and romantic feelings in most cultures. Also, in traditional understanding, water is a symbol of human's nature that smooth and liquid as water and changes all the time (Kobzev, 1988). It is a symbol of coming changes and both songs tell it to hearer.

So, these songs as anthems for protest movements have some similarities and differences.

As for music, these songs have their roots in folk traditions. Bob Dylan was inspired by Scottish ballads and Cui Jian used traditional Chinese instruments and melodies that were combined with Western instruments.

These songs were written in close historical and socio-political situation. The youth that was unsatisfied with the order of things in their countries, participated in protest movements for Civil rights and tried to speak out their ideas. “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and “Nothing to My Name” became anthems for the protest movements in America of middle 1960s' and China of the second half 1980s' respectively. They have a reference to the hearer and talk about changes that are coming. But the difference is that Bob Dylan references to the mass people, as young as old generations. He says that changes are happening and it's a fact. Cui Jian talks as a young man to woman that left him. So, there are two semiotic blasts of the song. The first blast is quite obvious: it's an unhappy love-story. The second blast can be regarded as a reference from young generation to old one. Moreover, grammatical peculiarities of Chinese language can determinate the subject of song as “I” as “We”. “Chinese, being a completely uninflected language, is not burdened with Cases, Genders, Moods, Tenses, and the Chinese poet especially is often concerned with presenting the essence of a mood or a scene rather than with accidental details” [43, pp. 39 - 40]. Hence, the main phrase of the chorus “Ò»ÎÞËùÓД can be translated as “I have nothing” and “We have nothing”. Moreover, according to the Confucius tradition, poet has a right to express his socio-political view and to criticize the ruler.

Conclusion for the 3^rd Chapter

Chinese musicians had a different extent of the American and European influence. On the example of Tang Dynasty we can see that they use totally Western form of heavy metal and felt it with Chinese meaning. Their songs are dedicated to the escape to perfect days of Tang Dynasty from the present; they use traditional Chinese instruments and sing only in Chinese.

Cui Jian combined Chinese and Western too. He played rock with loud guitars and political context and at the same moment he used Chinese instruments and revolutionary aesthetics during his performances. In comparison with Bob Dylan, he says things in implicit way, using metaphors and gives hearer an opportunity to ascribe the meaning of the song by himself.

Black Panther didn't care about the past and didn't try to call for the minds of generation. They sang were about current problems and maybe this easiness of their music helped to sell 1,5 billions of their first album? Their music was in trend of Post-Tiananmen era, when Yaogun lost its political meaning and people became more concentrated on their selves rather on socio-political situation in the country.

Anyway, all these artists played music in the genre of Yaogun, Chinese rock'n'roll. It's rock music, with a strong rhythm-section and the sound of electric guitar, but it has some features as lyrics in Chinese and usage of Chinese musical instruments - in most cases; references to Chinese cultural heritage in one or another form. As rock in America and Europe in the 1960d', Yaogun had a political weight, but it lost it after Tiananmen Massacre.

Conclusion

Music is important part of humans' life and society. It influences people heavily by reflecting their emotions and thoughts and helps to share them with others. For China, music served not only in aims of entertainment but also education - in Confucius model, and propaganda as well during Mao's times. It always correlated with changes in the society and 1980s' as a time of dramatic changes prove it. Reforms in economy allow music to be a part of business. People got an access to light pop music from Taiwan and Hong Kong first, called Gangtai and then started to play their own music that had other aim than propaganda. Then appeared Xibeifeng, music that was based on Northern musical tradition and from Xibeifeng came Yaogun, Chinese rock'n'roll. Musicians tried to play rock in the beginning of the 1980s' in spite that information and abilities to learn weren't enough. It was a period of imitation when a little number of cover bands was founded. They played covers of Western and Japanese songs and I think it was a process of learning what music of rock is. The real breakthrough happened in 1986 when Cui Jian first appeared in public. After that more musicians began to play rock: heavy-metal bands Black Panther and Tang Dynasty, singer He Yong and others. It was not a simple imitation of American and European examples anymore. In terms of culture, a new subgenre of rock music emerged - Yaogun. By the term Chinese rock or Yaogun I understand music that musicians began to play in the second half of 1980s' in mainland China. Their songs were mainly written in Chinese and had such features as usage of traditional for rock music instruments as bass guitars and drums that sometimes were combined with traditional Chinese instruments.