Cultural Revolution and Political Ambivalence in Zhao Xiaosheng’s Two Ballades for Piano Solo

The ascendancy of China’s Cultural Revolution led to a purge of the rightists, including musicians. This article unveils composer Zhao Xiaosheng’s emotional entanglement of fear and suppressed hostility toward the revolution, reflected in the political and artistic ambivalence in his two ballades for solo piano composed after his father’s death.


Introduction
The decade-long Cultural Revolution in China (1966China ( -1976 under the authoritarian leadership of the Communist Party of China's Chairman Mao Zedong's (毛泽东) followed the principles of socialism and Marxism. This resulted in a rise of fanaticism in China, created chaos in the society, and led to the purges of the rightists, especially the intellectuals. 1 In addition, the Cultural Revolution led to the formation of the radical and factional "Gang of Four (四 人帮)" 2 and Red Guards (红卫兵). They became major forces that eliminated any sign of the bourgeoisie, and of the "Four Olds" or "feudal culture." 3 Due to the brutal censorship exercised by the Red Guards, tolerance and liberalism in the area of art came to a halt. 4 During the revolutionary period, expressing a fondness for Western art music was considered as a mark of the bourgeoisie and this fondness was likened to a tumor. 5 There was resentment toward Western music trained musicians such as Fou Tsong, whose father was a professor and translator of French literature. Fou Tsong was devastated and angry when both his parents committed suicide at the start of the revolution. He expressed resentment towards his country by saying that: "[Mao's rule is] a form of fascism, because it is totalitarian and hypocritical." He further added that the Chinese leaders were "full of lies." 6 During the revolutionary period, Western art music was generally considered as elite music. It was considered as the type of music that belonged to the bourgeoisie. However, contradictorily, the Communist Party members and followers considered that following the West was a sign of modernity, but they accordingly shunned Western art, music, and thought. The latter led to the survival of the use of Western art music elements and music instruments 1 Further details in: Felix Wemheuer, A Social History of Maoist China: Conflict and Change, 1949-1976(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 2 The "Gang of Four" is a political faction that existed in the period of the Cultural Revolution, which was led by Jiang Qing (Mao's wife) and three other officials: Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen. The appellation of Gang of Four was first used in 1974 when they criticized Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping through the campaign of 'Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius'. However, the members of the Gang of Four turned the Cultural Revolution into a "dark night," "raging blood," or "a savage beast." Michael Sullivan, "The Politics of Conflict and Compromise," in China Since the 'Gang of Four ', ed. Bill Brugger (London: Routledge, 1980). 3 The Red Guards were Chinese urban youth. Under Mao's directives, they persecuted the bourgeoisie intellectuals and teachers, gained control of schools, and destroyed cultural icons and arts. Lek Hor Tan, "Fou Tsong: I Wept for China," Index on Censorship 8, no. 89 (2007): 21. during the Cultural Revolution. 7 In describing its irony, political scientist Richard Kraus explained that "the piano was likened to a coffin, in which notes rattled about like the bones of the bourgeoisie." However, the piano was also perceived as a departure from Chinese traditional culture or one of the "Four Olds," and the radical leader Jiang Qing (Mao's wife) "had a soft spot in her heart for pianos, which she helped save from Red Guard destruction." 8 The examples of works produced under the supervision of Jiang Qing are Huanghe (Yellow River Piano Concerto) and the revolutionary symphony, Zhiqu Weihushan (Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy). 9 These works served as a coalescent between Western art music form and China's political propaganda during the period of the Cultural Revolution. Jiang Qing also transformed the traditional Peking opera into the Model Opera or Yangbanxi (样板戏) using a Western heptatonic scale and an accompaniment of Chinese traditional instruments with Western orchestra instruments. This form further became the legitimate musical form that conformed to Mao's doctrine. 10 On the other hand, instrumental or vocal music genre served as a panegyric of socialism and Maoism, or as an accompaniment to the Model Opera. Thus, the musicians' creative output needed to be approved by the Union of Chinese Musicians 11 and their career prospects depended on following the new revolutionary musical model with legitimate musical form and style. 12 Placing such restrictions on the composition of music was advocated by Mao's in the following statement: "there is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics." 13 During the revolution, musicians and other intellectuals were further intimidated by Mao's propaganda tool -dazibao or big-character posters displayed by the Red Guards at public spaces, schools, and universities. These posters condemned past educational styles, declared charges and issued reprimands to "rebels." 14 In line with Mao's beliefs, music teachers and professors in schools and conservatories were given the derogatory label of "criminals" for either being "capitalist roaders" or belonging to the bourgeoisie. 15 This belief of Mao led to an anti-leftist purge and denouncement of musicians, professors, and composers. During an interview, composer Zhao Xiaosheng (赵晓生), recalled that his father was one of the eleven music professors of Shanghai Conservatory of Music whose lives were taken during the period of the Cultural Revolution and that it was this incident that led to his composition of the piano solo Ballade in D♭ Major. 16 Mao's reeducation program included sending younger musicians to the camp of Laogai (劳改, thought reform through labor). 17 This led to a "new wave" of Chinese composers, who underwent the rustication program (上山下 乡运动, up to the mountains and down to the countryside) as part of the Laogai system. Their obligatory participation in this program led to a long immersion in the selected fields including underprivileged society, rural living, farming and fishing. This evoked a change in the Chinese composers' poiesis, 18 a term used by the semiologist Jean Molino to refer to the first step of a creation. The "new wave" composers presented a musical style that incorporated Chinese traditional and folk music elements, an obvious influence of their experiences through the rustication program. Subsequently, they were then enrolled and trained at music conservatories after the National College Entrance Examination (高考) resumed, and tried to express individuality in their works. 19 The impact of the revolution on China's musical development attracted considerable attention of scholars such as Xu,Judd,Yung,Mittler and Lu. 20 Revolution. It also became a form of practice of Chinese calligraphy in schools as part of the Chinese Yuwen curriculum in 1966. See also Cynthia B. Leung  Many researchers focused primarily on political factions and the Model Operas. For example, Chi and Moskowitz studied the emblematic revolutionary music and dance epic East is Red and discussed how it later became a popular national song throughout the country. 21 Lu looked into the anthems and quotation songs of Chairman Mao. 22 Songs such as Sailing the Sea Depends on the Helmsman, There will be no New China without the Communist Party, Make up Your Mind, Rebellion is Justified are the representative examples of quotation songs. An obvious worship to Mao is evident from these in the rhetorical use of 'he' in the song text of There will be no New China without the Communist Party, that either praises Mao or the Communist Party led by Mao. 23 The literature on piano music mainly focused on Huanghe as the representative revolutionary model work. 24 On the other hand, Kraus explored in detail the contested role of the piano in the revolution with cases of three virtuoso pianists: Fu Cong (傅聪), Yin Chengzong (殷承宗), and Liu Shikun (刘诗昆). New piano solo works did appear in the middle and later years of the Cultural Revolution, but they were concomitant with fear. The composers' infighting allegiance to the Communist Party's model works eviscerated the patriotic intention in their works to a certain extent. 25 Examples of such works are Huang Anlun's (黄安伦) Overture and Dance suite and Zhao Xiaosheng's six études and two ballades composed between the years 1973-1976. The traumatic fear of being reprimanded resulted in resistance to music composition that revealed the composers' real intention in their music. For example, Huang Anlun's Overture and Dance suite for piano solo was originally titled China Rhapsody No. 2: People of Mesa Ethnicity Asking for Liberation. However, due to the political coercion, and criticism made by Yu Huiyong (于会勇) and Yin Chengzong, Huang adapted the national anthem East is Red and orchestrated the piece as a symphonic work, and abandoned the Mesa ethnic music elements. 26 In China, tolerance to creativity liberalism increased only after the incident on September 13, 1971 (the Lin Biao incident), after which Zhou Enlai (周恩来) and Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) presided the work of the Political Bureau and restored the social order in the country. 27 The period was followed by a proliferation of "new wave" music.
Zhao Xiaosheng (b. 1945) is one of the representative figures of the "new wave" composers, and one of his most notable contributions is the Tai Chi composition system. 28 Zhao was born in a musical family and began his music lessons at the age of six. His father was a violinist at the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra and a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. After graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with a bachelor's degree, Zhao was forced to participate in the rustication program as a fisherman under the Laogai system in 1975. His experience in fishing led to the composition of his piano solo Yuge (渔歌, Fisherman Song). 29 Zhao recalled his hardship as a fisherman on a fishing vessel of just 37 tonnage that sailed often through rough sea with waves twice as higher as the room in his house, and he stated that he faced nausea and vomiting every day during this period. 30 An influence from the Laogai experience may seem evanescent, but it was the purge of the intellectuals and the denouncement of his father during the early period of the Cultural Revolution that was inconceivable to Zhao. The traumatic aftermath of his father's death led to the creation of his two piano solos: Ballade in D♭ Major (published in 1977) and Ballade in D Gong Scale (1976). These two pieces are the only ballades written by Zhao. Although Zhao initially planned on writing four ballades like Chopin, he stopped writing the ballades after Ballade in D♭ Major. Two hidden facts were brought to our attention during the study of these two ballades. Firstly, the actual year of commencement and completion of Ballade in D♭ Major is 1976, and the completion date of this work was fabricated as the musical elements in this work were deemed illegitimate during the harsh time of the Cultural Revolution. This hidden truth was revealed by the composer only in 2016. Therefore, both ballades were never listed under the composer's official biography and the scores were published in Zhao Xiao Sheng Solo Piano Works (赵晓生钢琴独奏 作品集) much later by Shanghai Music Publishing House in 2015. Secondly, there were obvious Western elements in this work that were perceived with a derogatory "bourgeoisie" label by the Red Guards during the revolution. Such "Western" elements were also found in our analysis of the "legitimate" Ballade in D Gong Scale written in the same year. Therefore, we revisited the two ballades and their political sentiment, and examined them as cultural artefacts of the bitter incident of China's Cultural Revolution. This paper unveils the reason behind the fabricated date of the completion of Ballade in D♭ Major, the composer's difficulty to differentiate between his emotions of fear and anger, and suppressed hostility, and the much-politicized musical compositions.

Reflecting fear and anger: The ballades of suppressed hostility
A hidden element of emotional turmoil is embedded in the two ballades of Zhao Xiaosheng. After his father, along with ten other professors who were purged during the Cultural Revolution, fear might have been the core factor in Zhao's emotional turmoil when he composed the two ballades in 1976. Zhao's piano solo Ballade in D♭ Major was an emotional response of anguish and anger to the purge. Feeling powerless against the Red Guards, Zhao created a secretive rebellious pastiche of Western art music during the Cultural Revolution. However, the actual date of writing and completion of the ballade was masked out of fear. The composer gives the following explanation for the fabrication: The purge of musicians resulted in Zhao's antagonistic attitude towards the Communist Party. Thus, when Western art music works were prohibited by the Communist Party, the composer continued to embrace them in the Ballade in D♭ Major. However, the fear of death kept the composer from any further act of hostility, as he explained below: The pronoun "you" in the above statement refers to the Red Guards, and Zhao condemned their rash, illegal, and cruel behaviors with respect to the death of the musicians. For Zhao, his two works were an emotional outpour to express his anguish, and his sarcasm towards the faction. Zhao explained that the Ballade in D Gong Scale was composed as a complementary piece to the Ballade in D♭ Major. The former work does not conform to the rules approved by the Union of Chinese Musicians, as Zhao explained in the following statement: There are some factions in the Red Guards, such as the rebel faction and conservative faction. I don't have any quality that makes me suitable to be a member of the Red Guards. People can join the Red Guards only if they belong to the five red categories. I belong to the five black categories… It is impossible to praise the Red Guards. We stand on opposite positions. 34 Zhao's hatred and fear of the Cultural Revolution led to the input of sarcasm and rebellious illegitimate musical elements into the Ballade in D♭ Major. This was unknown to the Red Guards, and this phenomenon was perhaps similar to Beyer's discussion on aggression, rebellion, and deprivation as a result of stress. 35 On the other hand, the piece Ballade in D Gong Scale reveals Zhao's sarcasm toward the politics of Mao, Red Guards, and also toward the aesthetics of that time. Both of Zhao's works displayed an underlying tone of "rebellion," with an emotional entanglement of anguish, fear, and antagonism. Thus, the following sections regarding the musical analysis of Zhao's ballades reveal Zhao's experience and intention in his compositions during the late Cultural Revolution period, and consider his two ballades as a form of rightist sentiment.

Ternary form: Chinese and Western aesthetics
A similar musical form is employed in both Ballade in D♭ Major and Ballade in D Gong Scale. Both works display a compound structure with a 16-bar introduction and a coda (Table 1a and Table 1b).  The analysis of the internal structures of the two ballades resulted in discovery of embedded elements that reflect Zhao's emotional turmoil during the composition of the ballades. The middle section of both ballades shows different attributes. The Ballade in D♭ Major has a variation structure of Chinese aesthetic while the Ballade in D Gong Scale utilizes a trio with a Western flavor. The variation form, one of the most common structures in traditional Chinese music, 36 is different than the Western variation form in terms of its length. The former merely occupies one part or section in a work while the latter denotes a whole piece or movement commonly found in Western art music by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms. Zhao utilizes a dual-theme variation in Ballade in D♭ Major to describe the emotions of infighting and collision (Examples 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d). Compared to the complex structure of Ballade in D♭ Major, the trio in Ballade in D Gong Scale appears simpler as it uses ordinary ternary form to establish its middle section. Zhao also borrows the concept of qi, cheng, zhuan, and he from Chinese classic literature and uses it in the section A of Ballade in D Gong Scale. Qi, cheng, zhuan and he is a text structure employed in traditional Chinese literature. A scholar of the Qing Dynasty Liu Xizai (刘熙载) explained the form as: The form of qi, cheng, zhuan, and he is also studied in Chinese metaphysics, Chinese thought and conventional psychology. 38 The four-phrase concept of qi, cheng, zhuan, and he is one of the most common structures in traditional Chinese music. This is due to the similarity of syntax and logic of this structure Example 1c: The first theme in the second variation, mm. 135-144. to that of the ancient poems, 39 and its common use in music composition led to the pertinent works being described as having a more "Chinese" identity. 40 In Ballade in D Gong Scale, the form of qi, cheng, zhuan and he frames the melody of the theme in section A (Example 2), where the first and second phrases are qi and cheng respectively, along with the same first two-bar elements and slightly different last two-bar elements. The third phrase, as the role of zhuan, is transformed greatly, ranging from pitches to rhythmic patterns. Performing the function of closure, the first phrase, he, strengthens the tonic function in a tonality. Zhao's original intention in both ballades is shown through a complex and fabricated employment of Western and Sinicized style in order to express his sarcasm and rebellion towards the Cultural Revolution. However, after analyzing the two pieces, we found that the Chinese elements employed in Ballade in D♭ Major which is a pastiche of Western art music, and the Western elements used in the Ballade in D Gong Scale, contradict Zhao's statements. Perhaps, this contradiction reflects Zhao's emotional confusion comprising emotions such as anxiety, anger, hostility, indecisive allegiance towards the faction, along with the repression of his musical aesthetical background due to severe political torment.

Tempo fluctuation and rhythmic characteristics
The use of tempo fluctuation in both Ballade in D♭ Major and Ballade in D Gong Scale was analyzed and illustrated in Figure 1  The composer's performance recorded during his recital at Beijing on October 4, 2016 revealed that the section was played at ♩=46. The section symbolized the obsequies of musicians purged during the Cultural Revolution. This passage was performed at ♩=65, and the music under the tempo of ♩=90 displayed an imaginary escapism from the brutal reality of the revolution. In contrast, Zhao confessed during the interview that the speed marked at ♩=156 in the section of Ballade in D Gong Scale (wherein the section is dominated by percussive imitation) reflects a somewhat pseudobulbar laugh of sarcasm towards the Red Guards. Thus, the tempi probably portray the emotional chaos where the former (♩=65) represents grief and the latter (♩=90) represents gaiety.
Apart from tempo fluctuation, Zhao applies distinct rhythmic patterns to present different emotions in the two ballades. For example, Zhao borrowed the same speed of Chopin's Funeral March (♩=65) to depict the scene of the purged musicians' obsequies in Ballade in D♭ Major (see Example 7, see later "harmony"). This work also borrowed a rhythmic pattern from Chopin's Polonaise in A♭ major, Op. 53, which comprises an ostinato of octaves along with sixteenth-note quadruplets (Example 3), and this borrowed element portrayed the composer's inner struggle, distress, and uneasiness during the period of Cultural Revolutionary. 42 Example 3: The rhythmic pattern from Chopin' Polonaise in Ballade in D♭ Major, In the piece Ballade in D Gong Scale, Zhao employed a particular rhythmic pattern to imitate the soundscape of gongs and drums (Example 4), the instruments essential to traditional Chinese music. This rhythmic pattern consists of two portions that are distributed in the right and left hands. On the right hand, a dotted eighth note with a sixteenth note and three groups of eighth notes in a duplet establish a rhythmic mode. On the left hand, two dotted-fourth notes along with a fourth note shape the basic beats. The accents marked on the score represent a typical Chinese aesthetic rhythmic pattern: "1-4-7", which Zhao emphasized and marked with accents. 43 In addition, this rhythmic pattern surpasses the limitation of a bar line, and the two-bar music here is viewed as an entirety.

Chinese and Western theories regarding tonality and harmony
In past literatures regarding Chinese new music, a popular debate regarding Chinese elements and the notion of Chinese identity particularly focuses on the music composed during the Cultural Revolution. 44 The compositions of that period were of a nationalistic nature and they were perceived as a political byproduct to a certain extent. 45 The music of this period popularly used traditional Chinese modes such as pentatonic, hexatonic, and heptatonic scales. During the three-decade blockade from the West and the one-sided diplomatic policy of the new Chinese government during the years 46 the composers' cognition of Western music was largely limited to the music of the Classical and Romantic period that they were exposed to before the restriction imposed on the arts during the Cultural Revolution. 47 Therefore, Western music was given the label of "pentatonic romanticism" by the Chinese musicians. 48 The same factor applies to Zhao's Ballade in D Gong Scale that employs Chinese pentatonic scale as its mode (Table 2). In Ballade in D Gong Scale, either the tonggong fandiao (同宫犯调, modulations in the same Gong mode) that occurs in sections A and A 1 , or the yigong fandiao (异宫犯调, modulations in different Gong mode) employed in the three sections reveal a development within the pentatonic scale, even though they are transformed into a hexatonic scale and heptatonic scale through the addition of the bianyin (变音). 49 Example 5 shows a hexatonic scale with bianzhi D while Example 6 is an example of a heptatonic scale with qingjue and biangong.
Example 6: Heptatonic scale in Ballade in D Gong Scale, It is found that the tonality and harmony of Ballade in D Gong Scale employs the Western major and minor key, concurring to Zhao's statement that the Ballade in D♭ Major was Westernized and that the Ballade in D Gong Scale was composed with a nationalistic theme. 50 The details of this finding are shown in Table 3. 49 Bianyin are the additional notes of the pentatonic scale, which include biangong (变宫, B note), qingjue (清角, F note), bianzhi (变徵, F♯ note), and run (闰, B♭ note). 50 Xiaosheng Zhao, interview, November 4, 2016, Shanghai, China. Furthermore, even though the use of B♭ minor in section A breaks away from the conventional rule of the Classical and Romantic period music wherein the tonic key appears in the first section, Zhao's direct borrowing of Chopin's Funeral March (third movement of Piano Sonata No. 2,Op. 35) makes the section A's tonality and rhythmic pattern is obvious (Example 7). The influence of Western art music on Ballade in D♭ Major is also clearly seen when a harmonic writing that mimicked Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3 is detected in section B (Example 8).
During an interview, Zhao stated that he created his pastiche of Western art music to express sarcasm towards the Cultural Revolution: An embedded antagonistic desire in Zhao resulted in his persistence to compose a pastiche of Western art music. However, perhaps out of fear, fabricating the completion date of work marked a reservation within Zhao's rebellion. Besides a pastiche of Romanticism, Zhao's Ballade in D♭ Major also demonstrates impressionistic quartal chords. The musicologist Fan explained that the themes in a pentatonic scale were furnished well with Western quartal. 52 A continuous connection consisting of quartal chords in mm. 82-84 creates a soundscape of sorrow and loneliness, under the dynamic of pp (Example 9).

Conclusion
The exploration of Zhao's two piano ballades along with a conversation with the composer revealed significant complex insights into the poiesis state of the composer during the composition of the two works during the harsh time of the Cultural Revolution. We concluded that the distinction between the two ballades, according to that of the composer's original intention, is rather ambiguous (Table 4).
The two ballades were written in the same year but present different thoughts and purposes. Due to the death of his father, Zhao held a personal grudge against the Cultural Revolution. He had to hide his feelings of antagonistic rage, fear, and devastation over the death of his father. Thus, Zhao took a personal and political stance in his composition of Ballade in D♭ Major, revealing his suppressed hostility towards the Cultural Revolution through his music. The use of "rural" aesthetics in the Ballade in D Gong Scale may be ridiculed, but at the same time, this work might have masked Zhao's antagonism. Zhao intentionally compared these two ballades with sarcasm, and these works present an ironic interplay between what was legitimate and illegitimate to the Red Guards. However, the two ballades reflect the compositional styles of Chinese composers of that time. Similar to what Liu observed, Chinese new music of that time has a common trait of borrowing musical elements from traditional forms and pentatonic scale with copies of Western music and style. 54 Therefore, Zhao's ballades conform to the compositional trends of their time and these ballades show that Zhao's early works are not as mature as compared to his later works. On the other hand, although Zhao was hostile towards the rules of creating artistic works during the revolution, his aesthetical background as a Chinese composer with years of training in Western art music led to a writing style in his ballades that nationalistically conforms to the rules  The political upheaval and pressure during the Cultural Revolution resulted in a trend of musical output that comprised an emergence of traditional instrumental adaptations, borrowed ethnic musical elements, and works based on the Model Opera. In spite of the apparent conformance of Zhao's two ballades to the nationalistic style, these works reveal a hidden musical polemic of Zhao. We witnessed in the analysis how the phenomenon of China's Cultural Revolution with its Laogai system and its association of the West with modernity heavily influenced the composers and their works. In this case, Zhao's ballades reveal illustrative examples of this phenomenon. The chaos and the purge of musicians during the Cultural Revolution resulted in an expression of political ambivalence in Zhao's works. Thus, his two ballades display a contradictory theme with the use of Chinese elements in the Western pastiche Ballade in D♭ Major, and the use of Western elements in the Chinese nationalistic piece Ballade in D Gong Scale. To summarize, this paper reveals the controversial role of Western art music in the history of music in China during the Cultural Revolution. In addition, signs of unintended allegiance towards the faction were discovered in Zhao's two ballades, which somehow won over the composer's political infighting and vengeful hostility toward the Cultural Revolution due to his father's death. Thus, this finding reflects an eerie outcome of power seizure and possession of the composer's poiesis, regardless of his will.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
KE XUE (shengguadanzi@163.com) is an Associate Professor at College of Humanities, Beibu Gulf University. Her research interests include Chinese contemporary music, Chinese piano music and performance practice. Her publication include research on Zhao Xiaosheng's piano compositions, Zhao Xiaosheng's Tai Chi composition system and Chinese contemporary piano music.
FUNG YING LOO (loofy@um.edu.my) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Music, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Malaya. Her research interests include performance practice, cultural musicology and musical theatre. Her publication includes Malaysian Chinese music, Taichi and its application on piano playing skills, and musical theatre.
FUNG CHIAT LOO (fungchiat@hotmail.com) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Music, University Putra Malaysia. Her research interest includes piano performance practice and musical theatre. Her publication includes studies on performance practice of Messiaen and Malaysian musical theatre.
XIAOHANG WANG (wangxiaohang11@163.com) is an Associate Professor at Beibu Gulf University. His research interest includes Chinese historical and political study, Chinese music culture, and audio frequency analysis of modern piano music.