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Shanghai School

  • Writer: The sound of Experiment
    The sound of Experiment
  • Oct 21, 2024
  • 6 min read

Updated: Oct 24, 2024


Introduction

East Asia extends to Mongolia, mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and North and South Korea. East Asian art and culture are characterized by philosophical schools of thought and language systems such as Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Shamanism (Asian Art | Oxford Art). It is worth noting that modernism in East Asia had a different starting point in the countries that make up the region. In China, the starting point of modernism can be considered its defeat in the Second Opium War in 1860 (Meccarelli et al.). In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng admitted that Imperial China had to treat Europe and Japan on the basis of equality. That year the first Ministry of Foreign Affairs was established in China, followed by China's gradual and managed adoption of a number of key European institutions and practices in conducting diplomacy and international affairs, the kowtow, a long-standing symbol of Chinese culture, was officially abolished (Park). China's relations (Park). The Shanghai School is a style of Chinese art developed in the late nineteenth century and focused on Shanghai. At this time, China was going through the last years of the Qing dynasty, which were quite a turbulent period. This period immediately followed China's defeat in the First Opium War by the British Empire. This defeat led to the opening of several ports, such as Shanghai, to foreign trade. This period was further destabilized by the Taiping Rebellion and the unequal treaties signed with the European imperial powers. Shanghai became a kind of Asian melting pot where the various European powers could freely express their influence in the city. In turn, this influence created a new middle class that supported a new art style known as the Shanghai school. (Wikipedia contributors, ‘Shanghai School (Painting)’).


Arts

China's defeat in the Second Opium War, in 1860, played an important role in the use of the camera, greatly influenced the art trade, but also the style of art produced. A schism developed among conservative artists who sought to preserve their legacy in the face of rapid Westernization and innovative artists. In particular, three styles appeared in painting: 1) the Lingan school, 2) the Beijing School (or Beijing style) and 3) the Shanghai School (or Shanghai style) (Meccarelli et al.). The Shanghai School marked the first significant departure from traditional Chinese painting by breaking with the elitist tradition of Chinese art, and focusing less on the symbolism emphasized by the Literati style and more on the visual content of the painting itself. At a time of rapid social change, works by the Shanghai School were broadly innovative and diverse, and often contained thoughtful but subtle social commentary (Wikipedia contributors, ‘Shanghai School (Painting)’). These three schools formed the three pillars of modern Chinese painting.


Music

In China, by the end of the nineteenth century, intellectuals had begun to travel abroad for new ideas. This led to the emergence of a new musical movement, "New Music", as it was called. The "New Music" movement combined Chinese music with Western music. In particular, "New Music" reflected the new compositional techniques and musical idioms of the European styles of the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Liu and Mason). During this period, Cantonese opera was developed, one of the most important categories of Chinese opera, originating in a provincial city in southern China (Guangdong). Like all versions of Chinese opera, it is a traditional Chinese art form, involving music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics and acting (Wikipedia contributors, ‘Cantonese Opera’).


 Politics

In the late Qing period, China's once largest metropolis in the south, Yangzhou, began to decline, but Shanghai became one of China's first foreign trade ports, due to the "Nanjing Treaty" in mid-19Th Century. Shanghai has been transformed from a quiet fishing port into the commercial center of the country. Economic prosperity brought cultural growth. Shanghai became an important city in the field of art and attracted great painters, who formed the largest school of modern Chinese art, the Shanghai School. (Long Museum Pudong). During this period China was facing a political and economic decline, which led many artists to move to Shanghai, where traditional Chinese painting styles were increasingly taking inspiration from the influx of new forms of media such as photography and colored posters. During the transition of Chinese paintings from ancient times to modern times, a new form of style called the Shanghai School appeared (Asia Art Collective). The pioneers of the Shanghai School were mostly professional painters who used rich secular colors and beautiful coloring methods in their paintings (Long Museum Pudong). They made innovative efforts to incorporate techniques of Chinese folk art using Western media (Bing). In addition, they tried to get rid of old motifs, break down traditional barriers, paint foreign art and develop new painting styles (Long Museum Pudong).


Shanghai Music – Opera

With regards to music, it was during this period that Shanghai opera became particularly popular. Shanghai Opera is a type of Chinese opera from Shanghai. It is a special kind of Chinese opera because its repertoire consists almost of dramas set in modern times, i.e. 20th and 21st centuries. The orchestration and style of the works are closely linked to the orchestral style of Giannian Sizu. Tracks of this genre reflect certain aspects from real life as they come from folk songs ('Shanghai Opera').


Notable Compositions

Higher With Every Step [Bu Bu Gao (步步高)] - Lü Wencheng (1920)

Lu Wencheng (1898–1981) was a Chinese composer and musician ('Lü Wencheng').


Drinking Uproariously at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion (Bai Hua Ting nao jiu)

The famous Malaysian Cantonese singer Li Jianying, has a round voice, full of breath, beautiful timbre and sings Cantonese ditties with special charm (Li Jianxing Li Jian Liang - The love of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion Bai Hua Ting Zhi Lian).


The Shepherd Boy and His Flute - He LuTing (1934)

Hu Luting (1903–April 1999) was an early 20th-century Chinese composer. He composed songs for Chinese films beginning in the 1930s, some of which remain popular ('He Luting'). The project The shepherd boy and his flute won a contest hosted by Alexander Tcherepnin in China that year. The composer combined both Chinese and Western musical ideas, making this a simple, charming, polyphonic piece (The Shepherd Boy & His Flute, by He LuTing 牧童短笛，Composed by He Luting).

 

 Flute and Drum at Sunset - Yinghai Li

Li Ying-hai (1927-2007) wrote orchestral works and songs, as well as books on music theory. The project Flute and Drum at Sunset is a piano improvisation based on an ancient melody for Pipa, a popular Chinese folk music instrument. Lee wrote this version for piano in 1975. It is less fragmented than ancient works, emphasizing logical musical development. The pentatonic scale gives the music its traditional sound.  (Pan Young) (Flute and Drum at Sunset, by Yinghai Li).


Celebration of Peace and Prosperity - Qiu Hegu 


Bibliography

1920 - Bu Bu Gao (步步高) - Rising Higher Step by Step. http://www.herongyang.com/Chinese/Music/1920-Bu-Bu-Gao.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2022.

Asia Art Collective. ‘What Is The “Shanghai School” In Arts?’ Asia Art Collective, 2021.

Asian Art | Oxford Art. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/page/asian-art. Accessed 22 Sept. 2022.

Bing, WU. ‘The Shanghai School’. CIPG Magazine, vol. 59, no. 12, 2010.

Bu Bu Gao (步步高) - Higher With Every Step. Directed by Stupid Genius, 2014. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RG8gtxHXHo.

‘He Luting’. Wikipedia, 26 Nov. 2022. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=He_Luting&oldid=1123961377.

Liu, Ching-chih, and Caroline Mason. A Critical History of New Music in China. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2010. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/34918.

Long Museum Pudong. ‘Exhibition on Paintings of Shanghai School’. Long Museum Pu Dong, 2020.

‘Lü Wencheng’. Wikipedia, 3 Oct. 2022. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=L%C3%BC_Wencheng&oldid=1113858679.

Meccarelli, Marco, et al. CHINA AND THE WEST IN THE ART OF THE 19 TH CENTURY: A CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY.*. 2013, pp. 117–60.

Park, Seo-Hyun. ‘Changing Definitions of Sovereignty in Nineteenth-Century East Asia: Japan and Korea Between China and the West’. Journal of East Asian Studies, vol. 13, no. 2, 2013, pp. 281–307. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23418778.

‘Shanghai Opera’. Wikipedia, 14 July 2022. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shanghai_opera&oldid=1098119068.

The Shepherd Boy & His Flute, by He LuTing 牧童短笛，贺绿汀作曲. Directed by Andrew The Piano Junkie小安要彈琴, 2019. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01aDdbWOK6c.

Wikipedia contributors. ‘Cantonese Opera’. Cantonese Opera, Wikipedia contributors, 28 June 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cantonese_opera&oldid=1095445832.

---. ‘Shanghai School (Painting)’. Shanghai School (Painting), Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia., 4 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shanghai_School_(painting)&oldid=1069951583.

李键莨 Li Jian Liang - 百花亭之恋 Bai Hua Ting Zhi Lian. Directed by Life Records Chinese, 2016. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvr3WAGp3dY.


 
 
 

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