Abstract

The study subject of this thesis comprises mainly the 21-string zheng (a type of Chinese zither with 21 strings) musical works that incorporate new playing skills developed in three regions, China, Taiwan and Japan, during the 1980s. One thing that needs to be brought to attention is that a majority of these works were created by Chinese artists, while the rest by Taiwanese and Japanese ones. The artists of these works include Shiaolin Shu, Chienming Wang, Chungshan Wang, Ching Yang, Xiaofei Huang, Minoru Miki, Hiswen Chin, Yaming Shu, and Shanhua Chien.

Since 1980s, some professional composers started creating musical works of zheng. They did not only imbue their works with novel ideas and musical languages, but also present them in new forms and with new playing skills. The product of artists’ comprehensive adoption of the 20th-century composing techniques is new manifestation of zheng music, which enriches the content of modern zheng music works. In the past, zheng works featured simplicity and finesse, and now they are presented in more sophisticated and varied forms. These artists are making an attempt to diversify the arts of zheng music, while preserving the uniqueness of it.

This paper first made a retrospect of the new techniques of making and playing zheng music adopted by five major Chinese schools since 1980s. In the following parts, the author introduced respectively the history of zheng music in Taiwan and Japan, presenting the successful interpretation and development of zheng music, as an exotic representation of musical culture, in these two nations. This paper highlights the attributes of new playing techniques of modern zheng music by both vertically introducing the background of the works and horizontally summarizing the results of the analysis of these works.

The conclusion of this report shows the development of new techniques of zheng music, the integration of musical cultures around the world, and the structures of traditional and modern music. The contribution of this research is threefold: 1. to enable zheng players to understand the characteristics of zheng music in different periods and of various schools; 2. to better and standardize learning system of zheng music; 3. to provide composers of zheng music with more diversified and comprehensive information, assisting them, with the knowledge about the attributes of different country’s music, the traditional rhymes of zheng music and the features of modern music, in making zheng music the artistic treasure of the new century.