The emergence of electroacoustic music in China began much more recently than in Europe, the United States, North America, and Japan. Scholars have located the mid-1980s as the turning point in this development. Although consensus is lacking about the exact events and influences that initiated this field of musical production, a pervasive issue confronting historiographical scholarship has been the belatedness of this production. Linked to the trope of belatedness is an acknowledgement of the extremely rapid development of Chinese electroacoustic music, which both assimilated Western technologies and asserted distinctive national characteristics. Furthermore, one of the pioneers in the field, Zhang Xiaofu, has argued that a distinctive ‘Chinese model’ of electroacoustic music marked by stylistic hybridity and integration quickly emerged after this inception. The resulting ‘syncretism’ of practices has generated extensive reflection among Chinese composers and critics.

In this article, I discuss the case of Chinese electroacoustic music with a focus on contemporary music, Asian instruments and mixed music. I pay particular attention to mixed music, without however limiting myself to it, also dealing with contemporary Western-style instrumental music. Several authors have discussed the question of the relationship between contemporary creation and certain stylistic factors of Asian cultures. They questioned what might constitute identifiable traits unique to Asia that could be observed in contemporary creations and they sought to determine whether systems of relationships can be established. Some, such as Chou Wen-Chung (周文中 Zhou Wenzhong), emphasised syncretism, thus establishing a link with the works of anthropology and cultural studies. In his 1971 article, ‘Asian Concepts and Twentieth-Century Western Composers’, Chou cites many examples that tend to emphasise notions of integration and syncretism across various stylistic gradients found in many composers, mostly Western. More recently, musicologist Yayoi Uno Everett described distinct categories in these relationships, on the part of both Asian and Western composers. This article attempts to find which cultural gradients can be observed in the electroacoustic music production of Chinese composers. For instance, the specific case of mixed music creates an unprecedented situation of contact between instrument and sound material in the context of renewed intercultural relations.

To create a bridge between young students and senior scholars, the Shanghai Conservatory invited musicians who studied abroad to teach at the Conservatory beginning in the early 2000s. The result was the return to Shanghai of prominent composers. This article examines the impact of this project on electronic music composition and teaching and suggests how these developments relate to the broader historical context of Chinese electronic music. Through an analysis of representative works, it surveys compositional techniques and approaches to sound diffusion and spatialisation among composers associated with the Shanghai Conservatory. It demonstrates how these techniques, which reflect the international training of these composers, are used to express a range of subjects from abstract and philosophical concepts to concrete aspects of nature and human action.

Current trends in the works of Chinese composers and their electroacoustic music today embrace increased abstraction and individual self-expression, while others celebrate the importance of clear communication and a unified ‘Chinese model’. How is one to derive the current state of a Western art form imported by China, in the context of unparalleled sharing and convergence of ideas made possible by the internet and extensive intercultural exchange in today’s globalised world? And how important is it to identify and measure the level of Chineseness in the artistic output of today’s electroacoustic music composers that embrace Chinese elements – whether born inside or outside of China? This article seeks to unpack some of the current thinking shared by institutional leaders, such as Yu Feng, president of the Central Conservatory of Music; scholars of Chinese electroacoustic music, such as Marc Battier, Ken Fields, Leigh Landy, Yang Yinuo and Annie Yen-Ling Liu; and several composers and thought leaders in the most recent generations of Chinese electroacoustic music.

Traditional Chinese music highlights the linear beauty, or the melody. In addition to the presentation of melody, traditional Chinese music tends to create rhythmic beauty with a broad sound language of different attributes, which is realised by controlling the sound variation with its rich playing fingerings and techniques. Instead of evading noises, traditional Chinese music even applies noises intentionally to meet certain demands, as is very commonly found in plucked string instruments. Many typical noise languages used in plucked string instruments, while in the context of electroacoustic music, demonstrate their features in multiple dimensions of sound, such as the basic form, colour, dynamics and longitudinal gradation structure, which are gained by changes in parameters such as sound pitch, frequency, time and space information. Therefore, they imply both the basic timbre characteristics of the musical instrument and the technical characteristics of the electroacoustic music.

The development of computers and technology has made electroacoustic music an important part of modern music. In an effort to broaden the musical dimension and to offer more possibilities for timbral combinations, composers have used various techniques to combine electroacoustic music with acoustic instruments, giving traditional instrumental music a richer timbre, a wider range of pitches and greater sonic expressiveness. The pipa, a typical representative of Chinese music culture, has a long history and its unique timbre is widely loved by electroacoustic music composers. This article uses Marc Battier’s mixed music Mist on a Hill (for pipa and electroacoustic sounds) as an example to explore the integration and practical use of Chinese folk elements in electroacoustic music.

Liubai (留白, literally ‘leaving blankness’) is a unique method of expression in Chinese classical paintings. The core spirit of the technique is inextricably linked to ancient Chinese Taoism and traditional aesthetics, which are prominently featured by simplicity and nationality. This article, taking the real-time interactive electroacoustic Chinese art song ‘Lang Tao Sha’ (浪淘沙), explores the use of the artistic technique of liubai from the perspective of a soprano singer by focusing on the three aspects of lyrics, vocal music and electroacoustic music creation, and singing performance.

Yarlung Zangbo is a multimedia symphony combining orchestra, visual images and electroacoustic music by one of China’s most internationally influential electroacoustic music composers, Zhang Xiaofu. This article focuses on the spatial aspects of Yarlung Zangbo. First, we discuss two different spatial composition preferences in electroacoustic music: image delivery and creation. We then divide the development of electroacoustic orchestral music into three different periods and examine the general spatial intention of the works in these periods. Finally, we analyse and identify four spatial composition strategies of Yarlung Zangbo: equity, virtuosity, diversity and unity. The successful utilisation of these strategies has not only made the piece a milestone in Chinese electroacoustic music, but also a unique and meaningful contribution to the electroacoustic music repertoire worldwide. We believe this article will provide valuable knowledge and insight for future research and practice of spatial composition.

The importance that Chinese composers attach to their nation’s cultural traditions in their electronic music compositions has become a dominant trend in Chinese electronic music. This has generally led to a ‘Chinese imagery’ in Chinese electronic music compositions. Among China-inspired electroacoustic music, the interactive multimedia work A Reflection in the Brook (小青, 2013) shows a unique expression. The author explores how the composer recreated a controversial female figure in Chinese history through a completely real-time audiovisual language: Feng Xiaoqing, thereby presenting Chinese imagery in electroacoustic music through an alternative approach. The audiovisual relationship in A Reflection in the Brook will be analysed through the lens of Michel Chion’s audiovisual theory and the perspective of musical composition techniques, further presenting the audiovisual aesthetics of multimedia electronic music.

This article analyses recent developments of sonic art in Hong Kong. Based on a series of in-depth interviews with 23 local sonic art practitioners over the past six years, we discuss the contextual understanding of what constitutes ‘sonic art’ among local practitioners, along neighbouring terms such as ‘electroacoustic music’, ‘experimental music’ and ‘computer music’. We also give a description of the new generation of sonic art practitioners who emerged over the past ten years, contributing to a renewed sense of professionalism. These developments can be understood in relation to four aspects: a strong cluster of interrelated higher education institutions; a shift in public policy supporting ‘art and tech’ projects and cultural organisations; specific individuals, practitioners deeply invested in what we here define as sonic arts, acting as passeurs, connecting underground and academic milieux; and the international integration of Hong Kong-based sonic artists and promoters.

Drawing from the ancient Chinese text The Zhuangzi, the sinologist François Jullien suggests that to nourish one’s life is to nourish life’s vital potential by keeping it open to renewal. Inspired by the anthropocosmic vision of environment improvisation developed by the Chinese musician Li Jianhong, this article begins to explore the philosophical and aesthetic principles that connect electroacoustic improvisation to life nourishment through discussions of electroacoustic improvising practices from China but not limited to China. This article proposes that an understanding of electroacoustic improvisation on the spiritual and existential level offers a refreshed conceptualisation of creativity, environment and improvisation at large.

This text deals with the difficult task of notating timbre by addressing how it can be classified, synthesised, recognised and related to visual correspondences, and then looking at the relevance of these topics for notational purposes. Timbre is understood as dependent on both spectral and time-dependent features that can be notated in ways that make sense in relation to both perception and acoustics. This is achieved by taking the starting point in Lasse Thoresen’s spectromorphological analysis. Symbols originally developed for perception-based analysis are adapted for use over a hybrid spectrum-staff system to indicate the spectral qualities of timbre. To test the system, it was used to transcribe excerpts of three classic electroacoustic music works. In addition to the benefit of being able to compare the three excerpts transcribed with the same system, there is the advantage that the visual representation is based on spectral measurable qualities in the music. The notation system’s intuitiveness was also explored in listening tests, showing that it was possible to understand spectral notation symbols placed over a staff system, particularly for examples with two sound objects instead of one.

This article documents the circumstances surrounding the composition of the soundtrack to the theatrical production of Bridget Boland’s The Prisoner in 1954. Roberto Gerhard’s soundtrack to The Prisoner is likely the first piece to utilise ensemble and magnetic tape, and as such potentially the first live performance of musique concrète in England, taking place a year before Gerhard’s significantly more infamous electronic score to King Lear, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and four years prior to the establishment of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. No master recording or score has been located and details relating to the soundtrack are sparse. This paper attempts to collect available documentation relating to this production, as well as provide new insights relating to potential draft materials stored in the Roberto Gerhard Tape Archive and a previously unknown connection between the production and Pierre Henry and the Groupe de Reserches de Musique Concrète.