Cultural Discourse Study On Communication Of Xinjiang Muqam In People’s Daily

Xinjiang Muqam is a general term for “Twelve Muqam”, “Dolan Muqam”,“Hami Muqam” and “Turpan Muqam” which is widespread among the Uyghur communities. It is a composite of songs, dances, folk and classical music,characterized by diversity of content, dance styles, musical morphology and instruments used. With the state support, “China Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam Art” was declared “The Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO on November 25, 2005.By using the paradigm of Chinese Discourse Studies(CNDS) to analyze the communication characteristics of Xinjiang Muqam culture, this thesis studies the discourses of reports on Xinjiang Muqam culture from 1949 to 2014 in People’s Daily. It adopts both quantitative and qualitative research method. First, frequency of reports is analyzed. Then, based on the quantitative analysis, the author qualitatively analyzes reports about Xinjiang Muqam culture by using the theory of CNDS from four aspects of content, agents, media, as well as the historical changes along the development of Xinjiang Muqam culture.The study analyzes the discourse of Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam as presented in the news articles of People’s Daily with the aim of revealing the main features of communication on Muqam culture. The author divides the whole period into four time intervals in order to study the historical changes of Muqam discourse and discusses the communication features of each period by answering the following research questions:(1) What is the frequency of communication on Muqam culture in the reports?(2)Who are the agents of Muqam discourse?(3)What are the contents of Muqam discourse?(4)What are the mediums of Muqam discourse?(5)What are the historical changes of Muqam discourse?The research has revealed that Muqam has been a focus of constant and increasing attention of the mainstream media since 1949. This thesis comes to the conclusion that the subjects of discourse keep changing, the government pays moreattention to the development of Muqam culture; the common people have more right to raise their voice, The content of Muqam culture is increasingly rich, and the inheritance and protection of Muqam is paid more attention to by government. The mediums variety ranges from a pure oral tradition, the folk dance to today’s Muqam research, books, audio and video publications which play an important role on the communication, inheritance and protection of Muqam culture.