Abstract

This is a qualitative investigation of the impact of political changes in twentieth and twenty-first century China on the development of the traditional banhu fiddle. Data was gathered from documents and interviews with scholars in northern China to explore the role of politics in cultural progress. Results indicate that there are three micro stages of banhu development that saw very different interactions between political ideology and cultural creation. The study concludes that there is a clear link between the development of this traditional Chinese fiddle and the political climate of the country, in terms of musical structure, instrument composition, playing techniques, and societal role. It cannot be denied that the banhu has both profited and suffered from political changes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.