Please be prepared to discuss these questions in class.
- Who was Li Jinhui? How has his legacy typically been treated by Chinese historians? How does Jones differ in his approach?
- What did critics of “yellow music” mean when they characterized the style as “decadent” and “vulgar”?
- Who was Nie Er and what was the relationship to Li Jinhui?
- What does the term “yellow music” mean?
- Why was Li Jinhui’s use of female performers in his song and dance troupe controversial?
- How is the notion of “mass ornament” (p. 96) related to later representations of “mobilized masses” (p. 101)?
- What is “phonographic realism” and what did it have to do with Nie Er’s political agenda?
- Describe in a few sentences how leftist filmmakers and composers appropriated the figure of the “sing-song” girl. What kind of symbolic power did she assume in their work?
