Rock en Chine : contestation et consommation depuis les années 1980 (Rock in China : Protest and Consumption since the 1980s)

摘要

Born at the same time as the “30 years of China’s Reform and Opening" political discourse, Rock music in China (Yaogun) at its outset is often understood as an ideological weapon with a somewhat “revolutionary” touch to it against the Communist orthodox principles. This is mainly due to some values known as part of the Rock Myth, such as individual freedom, social equality and democracy.However, since the 1980s, there has been a significant transformation in the People's Republic of China (PRC): the shift to a free-market economy and the opening of the country to outside influence have led to the resurgence of a relevant social and cultural diversity. In the meantime, the new ideologies, technologies and mode of economy unavoidably brought about the commodification of the so-called “Chinese Culture” as part of the modern Chinese “Nation-State” construction, both at the level of the authority’s cultural policy and of the collective social imaginary, including the commodification of the so-called “Chinese Rock” or Yaogun. After one decade of development in the 1990s, generally speaking, China’s Rock or “underground” turned out to stay away from politics. It became hip, professionally organized, commercial and partly moving “overground” (not about revolution, but about everyday life). Similarly to other forms of art and cultural production in contemporary China, Rock also engaged in a complex and creative relationship with the PRC’s revolutionary heritage. From the late 1980s onwards, Yaogun has developed from being a rebelling voice in opposition to the ideology of the Chinese authorities to representing a subject of commodification by different agencies in sharing the same signs of the PRC’s revolutionary heritage. This dissertation attempts to shed some light on the complexities and contradictions involved in the tremendous social and cultural transformations of post-socialist China through the rock music scene. It brings into play the sociology of Rock music, Cultural Studies, together with the production and spreading of the culture and ideology of contemporary Chinese society.