Op-Ed Contributors

Musical road to tradition

By Wang Zhengxu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-04 07:36

China should hold UK-style promenade concerts to celebrate culture, raise happiness levels and bind the social fabric

For eight weeks of every British summer a series of classical concerts, described by Czech conductor Jiri Belohlavek as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival", are held in London.

The promenade concerts, or Proms as they are called in Britain, have been a central part of many Britons' social and cultural calendar since their inception in 1895. Performances by international philharmonic orchestras, for which tickets cost as little as 50 yuan, are broadcast across BBC television and radio. Some of the concerts are beamed onto giant screens in town squares all over the country and family events are organized to encourage participation among the younger generation. The Last Night of the Proms, which falls on Sept 11 this year, is a patriotic and highly energetic flag-waving affair, celebrating British tradition.

It is a cultural model that China would do well to follow. There is an increasing need for innovative cultural products to bind the fabric of Chinese society and foster a sense of national cohesion, similar to that displayed to spectacular effect during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Perhaps the closest thing to the Proms in China is the Spring Festival gala, an all singing, all dancing, televised show, which entertains millions of Chinese on the eve of the Chinese lunar new year. But in recent years it has been blighted by commercialism and has degenerated into a hodgepodge of traditional culture and saccharine pop all rolled into one night only. The show is so restricted that the performance directors have little opportunity, or incentive, to dream up original content.

Increasingly young people find the gala unattractive and, in its current state, China's cultural and entertainment industry seems fragmented. Shows run by different provincial television stations compete head-to-head against each other to increase their viewing figures.

Worse still, with this fierce competition comes cultural lowness. The recent anti-three-vulgarity campaign is the latest State effort to intervene in the degeneration of the industry.

A Proms-style festival in China, in which Western classical music complements traditional Chinese performances, would promote a sense of "high culture" and would, in the spirit of democracy, bring classical music to the attention of ordinary working Chinese.

Concerts performed by international and homegrown troupes could be held in cities across the country where a growing number of orchestra groups have sprung up in recent years. The market demand is clearly there and tickets should be priced low enough to appeal to the people and quell any feeling of elitism that often surrounds the classical arts in the West.