This course will study the social, cultural and political aspects of Western-influenced popular music in Chinese speaking East Asia from the 1920’s up through the present day. From the early Shanghai pop industry to Taiwanese campus folk movement, Hong Kong Canto-pop, China Wind, C-pop, rap and Chinese Rock, this class will investigate how both geography and cultural regionalism in Chinese speaking East Asia transformed Western music influence into a wide variety of genres and styles of Chinese popular music that evoke regional, national and global Chinese identities in East Asia and abroad in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Syllabus will be published by August, 2025.