On Christian Music In Shanghai-A Case Study Of The Community Church

The Christian Music was transmitted into Shanghai during the 1840s, when Shanghai was opened as an international commercial port, which experienced its nationalization and developed with the pace of Shanghai. This article set the Community Church, a representative church, as the key researching point to learn about the Christian Music in Shanghai, with its aim to study its three characterized choirs' history and development, ups and downs. Moreover, the article targets at the current condition of the Christian Music to read how it has grown in Shanghai as a whole, trying to learn, from a certain aspect, about the rises and falls of the politics, culture and economics of the city of Shanghai in its modern times.The whole essay is composed of a foreword, six main chapters and a conclusion, attached with a research reference, two appendixes, and a postscript. The foreword is a statement of the purpose, significance, research achievement of the former scholars, and the study method of this essay. The body introduces the history of the Christian Music in modern Shanghai from junior to senior, from superficial to the core, and from history to the current affairs. The first chapter starts from the changes, the etiquettes, the brief history of music of the Community Church, the major study point. The second chapter conducts a case analysis on the three parts of the personnel structure, the conductor with the choice of songs, and the activity condition of the three choirs, the groups singing Christian Music in the church. The third chapter is a comparison analysis, on the past and present, of the singing pieces, personnel quality and popularity condition of the three choirs of the Community Church. Furthermore, it contains another analysis of the briefs of the Christian Music of the church choirs, past and present, in the whole Shanghai. The fourth chapter cuts in from the music itself, clarifying the development of the Christian Music in Shanghai by setting examples as the Christian Music in important festivals of the Christian Church, say, Christmas, Easter's, etc, as well as in the usual Sunday religious services and special Christian rituals. The development follows a progress from the Western Christian Music to the hymn's "Chinalization" and its popularity. The fifth chapter profoundly states the Christian Music's mutual influence with the social culture in Shanghai, during its growth in modern Shanghai. And is spoken in five parts: the influence of the publish of the Christian Music on the culture of modern Shanghai, the influence of the early church schools on the music culture of modern Shanghai, the influence of the Christian music on the choir career of the modern Shanghai, the relationship of the choirs with the musicians in Shanghai, and the influence of the Christian Music on the aesthetics of the Shanghai citizen. And it is worthwhile to point out that the influence of the politics in Shanghai on the Christian Music, of the Christian Music on the economy of Shanghai, is then flowing throughout the passage instead of discussed separately, concerning the thesis and volume. The sixth chapter is aforesight analysis on the way problem of church music of the current society in Shanghai, after the author has had a relatively thorough and intimate study of the Christian Music in Shanghai. It concerns mainly with the relation of "soul" and " music", as well as the problem of existence of the church music under the influence of the pop culture. The conclusion conducts a summary of all the related parts in the passage. And outlines the development of the Christian Music, which transmitted into Shanghai with the Christian Church, and flourished with the urbanization of Shanghai over the past 160 years. In this way, the author casts out the view: "the destiny of a certain art, like any cultural products, is inevitably and tightly bounded with the environment it is living in, and is restricted by it." The Christian Music is precisely restricted and affected by the culture, politics, and economic environment in Shanghai, living and prospering in its particular manner, and then influence the growth of the culture of the city of Shanghai. For the two appendixes at the end of the paper, one is a complete score book of the pieces set as examples in the forth chapter, while the other is the programs for the Christmas, Easter's and the usual music admiration activities performed by the three choirs of the Community Church as well as for the concert of" Priest Shi-Qigui's Christian Songs." joined by almost all the choirs of the Christian churches in Shanghai. In the postscript, the author writes about her accomplishment and outlooks in her investigation, and pays all the sincere gratefulness to whom of help, hoping the paper will give inspirations to the younger sisters and brothers, the students of Prof. Luo, my advisor, who, as a group, are doing the project "On the Urban Music and Culture in Shanghai". At last, the author wishes to receive any tutorials from teachers, students and all the members of the choirs in Shanghai, as well as anyone in love of Christian Music.