THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ETHNIC SONGS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF KOREAN AND CHINESE NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE MUSIC THROUGH THE WORKS OF HAN HYUNGSEOK AND XIAN XINGHAI

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study conducts a comparative analysis of national independence music through the works of Korean composer Han HyungSeok and Chinese composer Xian Xinghai, examining their stylistic approaches within early 20th-century anti-colonial contexts. Both nations leveraged musical expression as cultural resistance against Japanese domination during this turbulent historical period. Han’s compositions strategically adapted Korean traditional music through pentatonic melodies and accessible structures, aligning with grassroots mobilization needs. Conversely, Xian synthesized Western compositional techniques with multi-ethnic Chinese musical idioms, creating grand choral works that sonically embodied mass participation ideologies. Analytical comparisons reveal Han’s intentional preservation of Korean musical authenticity versus Xian’s cosmopolitan synthesis. While both composers utilized folk elements, their technical implementations diverged significantly: Han prioritized melodic memorability for communal singing, whereas Xian developed sophisticated harmonic textures supporting narrative grandeur. These stylistic divergences reflect contrasting cultural strategies: Han’s functional approach served immediate independence movement objectives, while Xian’s monumental soundscapes constructed symbolic representations of collective resistance. Findings illuminate the “common origins, divergent expressions” paradigm in regional anti-imperialist sound cultures. Comparing Chinese and Korean anti-Japanese war songs provides models for preserving musical heritage and fills key gaps in East Asian music history.

Keywords

• Han HyungSeok
• Xian Xinghai
• national independence
• music style
• composition analysis.

ETNİK ŞARKILARIN EGEMENLİĞİ: HAN HYUNGSEOK VE XİAN XİNGHAİ'NİN ESERLERİ ÜZERİNDEN KORE VE ÇİN ULUSAL BAĞIMSIZLIK MÜZİĞİ ÜZERİNE KARŞILAŞTIRMALI BİR ÇALIŞMA

Öz

Bu çalışma, Koreli besteci Han HyungSeok ve Çinli besteci Xian Xinghai'nin eserleri üzerinden ulusal bağımsızlık müziğine dair karşılaştırmalı bir analiz yaparak, erken 20. yüzyıl anti-sömürgeci bağlamlarındaki stilistik yaklaşımlarını inceler. Her iki ülke, bu çalkantılı tarihi dönemde Japonya'nın egemenliğine karşı kültürel bir direniş olarak müzikal ifadeyi kullandı. Han’ın eserleri, beş notalı melodiler ve ulaşılabilir yapılar aracılığıyla Kore geleneksel müziğini stratejik bir şekilde adapte ederek halk hareketinin ihtiyaçlarıyla uyum sağladı. Buna karşın, Xian, Batı kompozisyon tekniklerini çok etnikli Çin müziğiyle harmanlayarak, kitlesel katılım ideolojilerini sesli bir şekilde somutlaştıran büyük koral eserler yarattı. Analitik karşılaştırmalar, Han’ın Kore müziği otantikliğini koruma amacını, Xian’ın kozmopolit sentezine karşı ortaya koymaktadır. Her iki besteci de halk müziği öğelerini kullanmış olsa da, teknik uygulamaları önemli ölçüde farklılaşmıştır: Han, toplu şarkı söyleme için melodik hatırlanabilirliği ön planda tutarken, Xian anlatısal büyüklüğü destekleyen sofistike armonik dokular geliştirmiştir. Bu stilistik farklılıklar, karşıt kültürel stratejileri yansıtır: Han’ın fonksiyonel yaklaşımı, bağımsızlık hareketinin acil hedeflerine hizmet ederken, Xian’ın anıtsal ses manzaraları kolektif direnişin sembolik temsillerini inşa etmiştir. Bulgular, bölgesel anti-emperyalist ses kültürlerinde “ortak kökenler, farklı ifadeler” paradigmasını aydınlatmaktadır. Çin ve Kore’nin Japonya’ya karşı savaş şarkılarını karşılaştırmak, müzik mirasını koruma konusunda modeller sunar ve Doğu Asya müzik tarihinde önemli boşlukları doldurur.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Han HyungSeok
• Xian Xinghai
• ulusal bağımsızlık
• müzik stili
• kompozisyon analizi.

References

1. Cathcart, A. (2010). Japanese Devils and American Wolves: Chinese Communist Songs from the War of Liberation and the Korean War. Popular Music and Society, 33(2), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007760903143028
2. Chey, H., & Jeon, J. (2024). Animosity Toward the Japanese Rising Sun Flag in South Korea: A New Development of Anti-Japanism. Pacific Focus, 39(3), 558–587. https://doi.org/10.1111/pafo.12263
3. Chow, R. (1992). Between Colonizers: Hong Kong’s Postcolonial Self-Writing in the 1990s. Diaspora, 2(2), 151–170. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.2.2.151
4. Coble, P. M. (2007). China’s “New Remembering” of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance, 1937–1945. The China Quarterly, 190, 394–410. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741007001257
5. Haggard, S., Kang, D., & Moon, C.-I. (1997). Japanese colonialism and Korean development: A critique. World Development, 25(6), 867–881. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(97)00012-0
6. Halliday, J. (1984). Anti-Communism and the Korean War. 1950-1953. Socialist Register, 21. https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5509
7. Heward, L. G. (2023). Scripting a Multicultural Future: The Chinese and Korean Songs of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, 23(1), 73–93. https://doi.org/10.1215/15982661-10336302
8. Ho, W.-C. (2006). Social change and nationalism in China’s popular songs. Social History, 31(4), 435–453. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071020600944876

9. Howard, J. H. (2015). “Music for a National Defense”: Making Martial Music during the Anti-Japanese War. Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 4(1), 238–284.
10. Li, L. (2015). Rural mobilization in the Chinese Communist Revolution: From the Anti-Japanese War to the Chinese Civil War. Journal of Modern Chinese History, 9(1), 95–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/17535654.2015.1032391
11. Lim, T. C. (1999). The Origins of Societal Power in South Korea: Understanding the Physical and Human Legacies of Japanese Colonialism. Modern Asian Studies, 33(3), 603–633. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X99003388
12. Lincoln, T. (2021). The Rural and Urban at War: Invasion and Reconstruction in China during the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance. Journal of Urban History, 47(3), 549–567. https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144211428684
13. Lynch, R. N. (1921). The Development of the Anti-Japanese Movement. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 93(1), 47–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/000271622109300111
14. Shu, D. (2024). Vocal Mobilization of Anti-Japanese Aggression Music by the New Fourth Army in the Yanfu Region. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 12(10), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2024.1210021
15. Yang, H.-L. H. (2019). Hearing the Second Sino-Japanese War: Musical Nationalism and Internationalism in Xian Xinghai’s Yellow River Cantata. Journal of Musicological Research, 38(1), 16–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411896.2018.1560192