From “Russian sound” to “Chinese melos”: reception and transformation of the Russian choral tradition in China in the 20th–21st centuries

INTRODUCTION. The reception and transformation of the Russian choral tradition in China in the 20th–21st centuries have been studied. The relevance is due to the scale of the choral movement in China (over 50,000 ensembles) and the need to understand the intercultural transfer in musical art. The aim is to identify the stages, mechanisms, and outcomes of the appropriation of Russian tradition by Chinese culture. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The object is the Russian choral tradition as a cultural system (vocal school, pedagogy, and repertoire). Historical-genetic, comparative, and system-cultural approaches were used, as well as T.M. Lezhneva’s theory of cultural transfer and enculturation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The reception went through four stages: the émigré stage (1920s–1940s), the Soviet-institutional stage (1949–1966), the crisis stage (1966–1978), and the dialogical stage (since 1978). The most profound transformation occurred in vocal technique – “Chinese bel canto” emerged. The repertoire evolved from copying to the synthesis of European polyphony with Chinese pentatonicism. CONCLUSION. The “Russian model” was not mechanically copied but profoundly transformed, becoming an organic part of the emerging “Chinese choral paradigm”. The evolution “from Russian sound to Chinese melos” demonstrates the universal patterns of intercultural transfer.

1. Xu Yanping. Choral art of China: history, theory, performance. Cand. Sci. (Cultural Studies) diss. abstr. St. Petersburg, 2025, 21 p. (In Russ.) https://vak.gisnauka.ru/api/att/adverts/179112/autoref-file/

2. Xu Kaihua. Ways of development of choral art in China. Khudozhestvennoe obrazovanie i nauka = Arts Education and Science, 2022, no. 2, pp. 98-106. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/pagnkw

3. Egorova N.A., Li P. Genesis of chinese choral art. Sbornik statey IV Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii «Aktual’nye vektory belorussko-kitayskogo torgovo-ehkonomicheskogo sotrudnichestva» = Collection of Articles from the 4th International Scientific and Practical Conference “Current Vectors of Belarusian-Chinese Trade and Economic Cooperation”. Minsk, Kolorgrad LLC Publ., 2024, pp. 232-236. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/bfqdxd

4. Yu Xue. An analysis of the “factors” of Russian Choral singing in the development of modern Chinese Choral art. Voice of the Yellow River, 2023, no. 18, pp. 88-91. (In Chinese) https://xueshu.baidu.com/usercenter/paper/show?paperid=107y0tf0vg380mk0j6610xj0t1020043&site=xueshu_se

5. Dumashev L.N. Regarding the training of Chinese choral conductor talents. People’s music, 1955, no. 9, pp. 28-29. (In Chinese) https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=e063606ea59a845cb0c0cb98f1ebb1ea&site=xueshu_se

6. Kornoukhov M.D., Zhao Wanyue. Russian choral methodological schools in the educational process of modern China. Nauchnoe mnenie = The Scientific Opinion, 2019, no. 5, pp. 71-76. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/wzdbvp

7. Xing Xiaomeng, Xu Dunguang. The Development and Transmutation of Chinese choral culture. Journal of Northeast Normal University. (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 2015, no. 4, pp. 172-176. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.16164/j.cnki.22-1062/c.2015.04.032

8. Lezhneva T.M. Choral Art as a Factor of Personal Enculturation. Cand. Sci. (Cultural Studies) diss. abstr. Chita, 2006, 23 p. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/nkhoqj

9. Zhang Xiaocai. The Collision of Choral Art-Side Notes of the “Second International Conference on Choral Culture Research between China and Russia”. Educator, 2016, no. 45, pp. 89-90. (In Chinese) https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=a4997dbaa229cda76f19b4382dc663b0&site=xueshu_se

10. Ban Jinyu, Zhu Jing. Development of choral art in the People’s Republic of China at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii «Pedagogika iskusstva v tselyakh ustoychivogo razvitiya obshchestva» = Materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Pedagogy of Art for the Purpose of Sustainable Development of Society”. Minsk, Belarusian State Pedagogical University Publ., 2025, pp. 402-405. (In Russ.) http://elib.bspu.by/handle/doc/66442

11. Li Xiaofeng. The phenomenon of Russian classical vocal school in the context of the development of Chinese vocal traditions. Vestnik Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kul’tury i iskusstv = Bulletin of Kazan State University of Culture and Arts, 2022, no. 3, pp. 22-28. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/xddgdy

12. Du Yin. Cultural Appropriation in Chinese Performing Arts. Cand. Sci. (Philology) diss. Belgorod, 2021, 117 p. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/ifnlzj

13. Wang Yuhe. Overview of the Development of Choral Music in China. Journal of Tianjin Conservatory of Music, 1991, no. 1–2, pp. 18-22. (In Chinese) https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=db1a09a6c331ea4e76177e76613223c9&site=xueshu_se

14. Xu Hailin. Practice·paradigm·form: an examination of the history and culture of Chinese choral singing for a hundred years – a review of Tian Xiaobao’s “The Diversified Development of Chinese Contemporary Choral Art”. People’s music, 2017, no. 3, pp. 91-93. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.0447-6573.2017.03.025

15. Li Xiaobin. Comparative study on music professional education in China and Russia. Art education, 2017, no. 1, pp. 94-95. (In Chinese) https://xueshu.baidu.com/ndscholar/browse/detail?paperid=d87fedf71d38226ca27dd350d1773614&site=xueshu_se