Cultural Continuity under Urbanization: Adaptive Transmission Ecology in a Northeast Chinese Ritual Music Ensemble
Abstract
Urbanization has transformed the social conditions through which local cultural traditions are transmitted, especially where learning depends on kinship, apprenticeship, ritual participation, and community recognition. This article examines how the Wu Family Guchui Ensemble in Shuangcheng District, Harbin, Northeast China reorganizes transmission to sustain the continuity of guchuiyue, a wind-and-percussion ritual music tradition associated with weddings, funerals, and community ceremonies. Based on qualitative ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2024, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, audio-visual documentation, and documentary materials, the study analyses transmission as a social process rather than as the simple transfer of musical technique. The findings show that the ensemble responds to urbanizing pressures by expanding participation beyond lineage boundaries, institutionalizing teaching through classrooms and textbooks, negotiating authority across generations, and sustaining affective responsibility through respect, care, and moral obligation. The article develops the concept of adaptive transmission ecology to explain how cultural continuity is maintained through the interaction of social participation, institutional conversion, authority negotiation, and emotional commitment. The study contributes to social science and humanities debates on intangible cultural heritage, youth participation, and cultural continuity under urbanization.
Downloads
References
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812507
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood Press. https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/sociology-in-question/book204207
Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sociology in question. Sage. https://monoskop.org/File:Bourdieu_Pierre_Sociology_in_question_1993.epub
Chen, Y. (2015). 辽南鼓乐的传承与发展 [The inheritance and development of Liao’nan drum music]. 艺术研究 [Art Research], (4), 88–89. https://doi.org/10.13944/j.cnki.ysyj.2015.0363
Du, Y. (2021). 基于非遗保护的大庆市鼓吹乐传承人研究 [A study on the inheritors of Daqing guchui based on intangible cultural heritage protection]. 艺术研究 [Art Research], (6), 133–135. https://doi.org/10.13944/j.cnki.ysyj.2021.0389
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977 (C. Gordon, Ed.). Pantheon Books. https://monoskop.org/images/5/5d/Foucault_Michel_Power_Knowledge_Selected_Interviews_and_Other_Writings_1972-1977.pdf
Han, Y. (2023). 网络传播视域下鼓吹乐的发展路径研究 [Research on the development path of guchui from the perspective of online communication]. 衡水学院学报 [Journal of Hengshui University], 25(5), 124–128. https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=1m4306x0q3210ph09s200cg0mp629998
Hou, X., & Zhu, Q. (2018). 流风遗韵乐鼓情——海州民间鼓吹乐和苏北大鼓的传承与发展 [Lingering melodies and drum emotions: The inheritance and development of Haizhou folk guchui and northern Jiangsu dagu]. 淮海工学院学报(人文社会科学版) [Journal of Huaihai Institute of Technology (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition)], 16(10), 88–90. https://wenku.baidu.com/view/e38da4ed17fc700abb68a98271fe910ef02daef6.html?_wkts_=1782715832570&bdQuery=%E6%B5%81%E9%A3%8E%E9%81%97%E9%9F%B5%E4%B9%90%E9%BC%93%E6%83%85%E2%80%94%E2%80%94%E6%B5%B7%E5%B7%9E%E6%B0%91%E9%97%B4%E9%BC%93%E5%90%B9%E4%B9%90%E5%92%8C%E8%8B%8F%E5%8C%97%E5%A4%A7%E9%BC%93%E7%9A%84%E4%BC%A0%E6%89%BF%E4%B8%8E%E5%8F%91%E5%B1%95
Howard, K. (2016). Music as intangible cultural heritage: Policy, ideology, and practice in the preservation of East Asian traditions. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Music-as-Intangible-Cultural-Heritage-Policy-Ideology-and-Practice-in-the-Preservation-of-East-Asian-Traditions/Howard/p/book/9781472428523
Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 19–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240006500103
Jones, S. (2004). Plucking the winds: Lives of village musicians in old and new China. Chime Foundation. https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/9579241
Jones, S. (2016). Ritual and music of north China: Shawm bands in Shanxi. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Ritual-and-Music-of-North-China-Shawm-Bands-in-Shanxi/Jones/p/book/9781138056725
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, B. (2004). Intangible heritage as metacultural production. Museum International, 56(1–2), 52–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/muse.12070
Kurin, R. (2004). Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the 2003 UNESCO convention: A critical appraisal. Museum International, 56(1–2), 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1350-0775.2004.00459.x
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815355
Li, F., & Zuo, J. (2011). 秦皇岛鼓吹乐的民族音乐学考察与保护策略研究 [An ethnomusicological investigation and preservation strategy study of guchui in Qinhuangdao]. 艺术百家 [Hundred Art Schools], 27(S2), 299–301. https://wenku.baidu.com/view/0f12fd6458fafab069dc0213.html?_wkts_=1782716133125&bdQuery=%E7%A7%A6%E7%9A%87%E5%B2%9B%E9%BC%93%E5%90%B9%E4%B9%90%E7%9A%84%E6%B0%91%E6%97%8F%E9%9F%B3%E4%B9%90%E5%AD%A6%E8%80%83%E5%AF%9F%E4%B8%8E%E4%BF%9D%E6%8A%A4%E7%AD%96%E7%95%A5%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6
Li, W. (2006). 鲁西南丧葬礼俗与鼓吹乐 [Funerary customs and guchui music in southwestern Shandong]. 中国音乐学 [Musicology in China], (4), 36–40, 82. https://doi.org/10.14113/j.cnki.cn11-1316/j.2006.04.005
Liu, C. (2019). 临清鼓吹乐生存现状调查及保护对策 [Investigation on the survival status and protection strategies of Linqing guchui]. 大众文艺 [Popular Literature and Art], (21), 62–63. https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=10470ms0qe3u00j0mh530jp0q3295235
Ma, L. (2020). 传承与创新: 菏泽鼓吹乐产业化路径探析 [Inheritance and innovation: An analysis of the industrialization path of Heze guchui music]. 菏泽学院学报 [Journal of Heze University], 42(4), 139–142. https://doi.org/10.16393/j.cnki.37-1436/z.2020.04.031
Merriam, A. P. (1964). The anthropology of music. Northwestern University Press. https://archive.org/details/anthropologyofmu0000merr
Nettl, B. (2015). The study of ethnomusicology: Thirty-three discussions (3rd ed.). University of Illinois Press. https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p078548
Rees, H. (2012). Intangible cultural heritage in China today: Policy and practice in the early twenty-first century. In L. Smith & N. Akagawa (Eds.), Intangible heritage (pp. 23–54). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315596723-2
Rees, H. (2016). Environmental crisis, culture loss, and a new musical aesthetic: China’s “original ecology folksongs” in theory and practice. Ethnomusicology, 60(1), 53–88. https://doi.org/10.5406/ethnomusicology.60.1.0053
Schippers, H. (2009). Facing the music: Shaping music education from a global perspective. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379754.001.0001
Schippers, H., & Grant, C. (Eds.). (2016). Sustainable futures for music cultures: An ecological perspective. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190259075.001.0001
Thrasher, A. R. (1981). The sociology of Chinese music: An introduction. Asian Music, 12(2), 17–53. https://doi.org/10.2307/834055
Titon, J. T. (2021). Sustainability and music cultures: An applied ethnomusicology perspective. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 53, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/ytm.2021.2
UNESCO. (2003). Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO. https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/15164-EN.pdf
UNESCO. (2015). Operational directives for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO. https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/15164-EN.pdf
Wang, Z. (2023). 鱼台县鼓吹乐的发展现状及传承 [The current development and inheritance of guchui in Yutai County]. 明日风尚 [Tomorrow Fashion], (17), 84–86. https://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-MRFS202317016.htm
Wei, J., & Wang, Z. (2022). 传统的延续与音景重构——冀东鼓吹乐传承人的音乐叙事 [Tradition and soundscape reconstruction: The musical narratives of inheritors of eastern Hebei guchui]. 南京艺术学院学报(音乐与表演版) [Journal of Nanjing University of the Arts (Music and Performance Edition)], (1), 82–86. https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=1w0w00h09e3x0et0b90h0060h5371776
Wu, L. (2020). 鲁南民间鼓吹乐班的“开放与坚守”——以“崔家班”生存现状为例 [Openness and persistence in Lunan folk guchui ensembles: A case study of the survival of the “Cui Family Band”]. 艺术研究 [Art Research], (5), 92–93. https://doi.org/10.13944/j.cnki.ysyj.2020.0324
Yuan, J. (Ed.). (2023). Comprehensive introduction to Chinese traditional music. Hollitzer Verlag. https://www.hollitzer.at/en/
Zhang, L. (2017). 黑龙江省肇州县杨小班鼓吹乐棚的传承及其生存现状研究 [A study on the transmission and survival status of the Yang Xiaoban guchui ensemble in Zhaozhou County, Heilongjiang Province] [Master’s thesis, Qingdao University]. Qingdao University. https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=45029657db49406ffc1a55ee2bbd48ad
