A new article of mine has been published in the London journal “Popular Music and Society.” I’ll endeavor to fit this latest print-smash in with my upcoming exposition on my personal scholarly statistics soon, but in the meantime, here’s the link and the abstract for parties interested in Chinese nationalism, communist culture, resistance movements, and anti-Japanese/pro-Korean memes in the PRC:
This article analyzes anti-American songs from China’s protean mobilization for the Korean War. After constructing the historical context of Maoist attitudes toward music and exploring Japan’s role as an id
e fixe for Chinese song, the article arrives at the Korean War via an analysis of song tunes and texts from the Chinese home front in 1950, emphasizing the role of wolf and devil imagery in anti-American song propaganda. From student amateurs to the conservatory administrator Ma Ke, song composers under communist rule used music and lyrics to drape China’s new American enemies in the garb of past Japanese foes, suggesting that Chinese songs from the Korean War extend beyond buoyant patriotism, evoking past traumas and prefiguring the animistic fury of the Cultural Revolution.
Adam Cathcart 