Musical Rhetoric in China: Knowledge Production and Paradigm Construction
Abstract
Over the past three decades, musical rhetoric in China has undergone a “double variation” of introducing Western theories and constructing indigenous discourse, currently advancing toward a critical transformation from “dialogue with the other” to “subjective construction.” Confronting the ontological tension between Western logocentrism and the characteristics of traditional Chinese music — which emphasizes yijing (aesthetic conception) and is non-semantic — the academic community has strived to break through the dilemmas of “theoretical application” and “indigenous aphasia,” achieving the localized reproduction of Western theories. This article systematically reviews the evolutionary trajectory of this field across the dimensions of ontology, methodology, and praxis. It analyzes how researchers have reconstructed concepts such as “musical rhetoric,” “sound rhetoric” and “work rhetoric,” elevating rhetorical thinking from mere technical embellishment to the core creative logic of “conception – layout – expression.” The study argues that by establishing “rhetorical awareness” and constructing rhetorical paradigms that organically fuse Chinese and Western elements, significant insights are offered for contemporary Chinese music composition regarding the modern translation of national spirit and the establishment of cultural subjectivity.
Keywords: musical rhetoric, knowledge production, cultural subjectivity, music analysis, composition
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.56620/RM.2026.2.074-092
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