Newsletter No. 27

CUHK Newsletter- No.27 February 1992 The Chinese Music Archives Walk past the main entrance of Chung Chi College on Taipo Road, and the first building that meets the eye on the right of the descending road is a small two-storey stone house. Its rubble stone wall is characteristic of all old buildings on the Chung Chi campus and matches well with its natural environment. Nailed to the door of the small house is a dark brown board inscribed with several Chinese characters, reading ‘The Chinese Music Archives'. Its Origin Interestingly, the archives on Chinese music came into being as a result of a suggestion by an expatriate lecturer in music, Dr. Dale A. Craig. An enthusiastic admirer of Chinese music, he observed that Hong Kong had a predominantly Chinese population and that Chinese and Western cultures coexisted in harmony. Dr. Craig therefore vigorously advocated introducing a course of study in Chinese music to supplement the departmental programme which was then largely Western music-oriented. Once the newprogrammewas launched, teaching aids like relevant literature, music scores and audio materials began to pile up. Later, with a generous grant from the Commission for the Advancement of Christian Higher Education in Asia and the donation of a large number of valuable 78-rpm gramophone records from Radio Hong Kong and the Commercial Radio, the Chinese Music Archives was formally established in 1972, with Mr. Cheung Sai-bung as the first director. Gradual Expansion The Chinese Music Archives has since been placed under the Music Department. Its early collections consisted of musical instruments, music scores, books, periodicals, audio and video tapes, and microfilms. The archives has undergone two broad stages of development. Under the first two directors, Mr. Cheung Sai-bung and Mr. Louis Chen Poh-tong, the archives focused its efforts on collecting and managing music literature. A handsome collection had already accumulated when the third director, Dr. Lu Ping-chuan, assumed office in 1980. Apart from carrying on with the collection work. Dr. Lu actively forged ahead in other areas such as organizing workshops and seminars with a view to extending the archives' influence and raising its international status. Enjoying a Unique Position Prior to the eighties, musicologists overseas experienced great difficulties in acquiring information on the development of Chinese music behind the closed doors of mainland China. Hong Kong, with its different political system and freedom of speech, became an ideal place for collecting materials on the subject. The archives distinguished itself as the forerunner in systematic information collection and in the interdisciplinary study of Chinese music. Despite the fact that there has been greater access to materials on Chinese music since the opening of China in the eighties, the unique position of the Chinese Music Archives as an important research and resource centre remains unchanged. This is because mainland institutions suffered from a prolonged break in academic research during the Cultural Revolution and have not quite caught up with their counterparts abroad in terms of perspective and methodology. The Chinese Music Archives therefore plays a bridging role in facilitating cultural interflow between mainland China and other 4