0:00:06 > 0:00:10China is the fastest-growing nation in history.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14But this economic superpower with a fifth of the world's population
0:00:14 > 0:00:16has a cultural agenda, too.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20In the last 30 years it has enthusiastically embraced
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Western classical music.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Huge sums are being poured into instruments and concert halls,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28making music very big business.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36I believe in the universality of music,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40and I think Beethoven's symphony speaks with the same
0:00:40 > 0:00:45directness to anybody who has the capacity to open himself.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Superstars like Lang Lang are inspiring a whole generation
0:00:54 > 0:00:59of Chinese children, over 50 million of whom are learning piano.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Overall, my estimated number for people who are learning music,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11it's almost 100 million, I would say.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25The surprising thing is that 40 years ago, this music
0:01:25 > 0:01:29was condemned as imperialist and corrupt.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Now it seems that almost everybody in China wants to master it.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35SHE SINGS
0:01:38 > 0:01:43It is a cultural experiment on a vast scale.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Is this part of the government's initiative to sell China to the West?
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Or is it a form of social engineering?
0:01:50 > 0:01:53There's no doubt that there's a new generation of Chinese
0:01:53 > 0:01:56who are immersing themselves in this music
0:01:56 > 0:01:59that has its roots on the other side of the world.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03SHE SINGS
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Peking Opera is China's own ancient musical form.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Dating from the 18th century,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26it's based on long-established folk tunes.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Performers are expected to subdue their own individuality
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and copy the masters of the generation before.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47In contrast, tonight's opera performance
0:02:47 > 0:02:50is followed by a Beethoven string quartet,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55which requires a personal, emotional interpretation from each player.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00These are members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02and in this setting it's a very public statement
0:03:02 > 0:03:05of the new status of Western music here.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09MUSIC: String Quartet No. 14 By Beethoven
0:03:27 > 0:03:30The latest foreign orchestra to visit China is here
0:03:30 > 0:03:33with its conductor, Daniel Barenboim, to perform the Beethoven
0:03:33 > 0:03:36symphonies in Beijing and Shanghai.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41You cannot speak about music only as emotion,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46as you cannot speak about music as only discipline.
0:03:46 > 0:03:54Music really allows the marriage of inconceivable partners.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03It is most definitely thrilling,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07I think for the audience as well as for us.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Coming here to Asia, playing concert halls to a full public
0:04:11 > 0:04:16and getting such warm response, it is exhilarating.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18It is like a wave coming and washing you up.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:04:39 > 0:04:43This appreciation of Western music has been fuelled by local
0:04:43 > 0:04:47governments building brand-new concert halls all over China.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Every city, it's not just the top tier cities now,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55it's the secondary cities and even the tertiary cities are building these places.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59There are cities no-one in China has ever even heard of and has this fantastic concert hall in it.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01So it's a real, real building boom.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05They say they have hundreds of beautiful halls,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09no programme to fill in, but at least you see the intention
0:05:09 > 0:05:14to make classical music part of the Chinese life, you know?
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Not an exotic import, but part of our life, as well.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22The music isn't entirely new to China.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26It first arrived with missionaries, but took hold in the early
0:05:26 > 0:05:3120th century among the Western colonial population of Shanghai.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36For the Chinese government, it has always had a political significance.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39After World War I in 1919, there was a real questioning of traditional
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Chinese culture and there was this idea that maybe the reason
0:05:42 > 0:05:44these Western countries can come in here and create
0:05:44 > 0:05:47colonies like here in Shanghai is because our culture is too weak.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Several people actually wrote - if our Chinese people
0:05:50 > 0:05:53went to a Western classical music concert every week,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56they wouldn't spit, they wouldn't gamble, and they wouldn't go to prostitutes.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Because Germans don't do those things,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00ergo, we won't do those things if we hear this kind of music.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10This is the globally recognised Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12When it was founded in 1879,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17it consisted of 20 Filipino musicians and a French conductor.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22Initially, only Westerners were allowed to listen to them perform.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28The first Chinese musician, Tan Shuzhen, didn't join until 1927.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35This is a Chinese musician, he started to learn the violin
0:06:35 > 0:06:39with missionaries, but he had never been to an orchestra.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Especially a foreign orchestra.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46So he's the first one, sitting in an all-foreign orchestra
0:06:46 > 0:06:49to play this piece which he had never heard before.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53The music starts. Beethoven Fifth Symphony. Ba-ba-ba-bam!
0:06:53 > 0:06:56MUSIC: Symphony No. 5 By Beethoven
0:06:58 > 0:07:04He just...shaking! Because he has never heard sound come out that loud.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21As Tan Shuzhen was becoming part of the musical establishment,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25others were able to learn about European music on its home ground.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33One of these was Zhou Xiaoyan, who studied in France and Germany in her teens,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and is still teaching today in her late 90s.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41SHE SINGS IN FRENCH
0:07:47 > 0:07:49There!
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- "Le silence."- Le silence.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54SHE SPEAKS CHINESE "Si-LAN-ce".
0:07:56 > 0:07:58My Father is a music fan.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04He loves music, so whole family studies music,
0:08:04 > 0:08:10Singing, violin, piano, composition - all my brothers and sisters.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14For me, I like to sing.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22STUDENT SINGS, PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT
0:08:22 > 0:08:26On her return from Europe, Zhou became a teacher at China's
0:08:26 > 0:08:29first conservatory of music, in Shanghai.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34Even today she is one of very few teachers there who have studied abroad.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43The Communist government, which took power in 1949,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47wanted the Chinese to listen to Chinese music, and distrusted musicians, like Zhou,
0:08:47 > 0:08:52who seemed to know more about Western music than their own.
0:08:52 > 0:08:59When I went to France they say, "You are from China. Could you sing a Chinese song?"
0:08:59 > 0:09:04I had no Chinese song. Only I remember one Chinese song
0:09:04 > 0:09:08is a lullaby my mother sang, you know?
0:09:08 > 0:09:12SHE SINGS IN CHINESE
0:09:16 > 0:09:20A song like this. "Oh, this is lovely!"
0:09:20 > 0:09:23That's the only Chinese song I could sing.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27During China's Cultural Revolution,
0:09:27 > 0:09:33between 1966 and 1976, everything Western was condemned.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36And those involved in Western music suffered for it.
0:09:38 > 0:09:45The Cultural Revolution is the worst time for classical music developing in China,
0:09:45 > 0:09:46in the sense of the people.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50Whoever studied Western music, you get punished.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53You cannot play Beethoven, you cannot play Mozart.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Tan Shuzhen, who had blazed a trail for Chinese musicians,
0:10:00 > 0:10:05was now teaching the new generation at the Conservatory Of Music.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07The Red Guard took him from the home
0:10:07 > 0:10:13and he stayed in the conservatory in a little room under the stairway,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17and so his function is not teaching violin any more,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21his function every day is to clean the bathrooms.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24And he can tell you very clear when we visit him,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27when you talk about this period,
0:10:27 > 0:10:32he said he knows exactly 134 toilets in the whole building
0:10:32 > 0:10:34he had to clean every day.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Zhou Xiaoyan was another victim.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42At that time, almost ten years, I couldn't sing.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48Because I was an enemy. Enemy of the Chinese people.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55STUDENT SINGS, PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT
0:10:55 > 0:10:58'They could forbid me to sing and to teach,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00'but they couldn't forbid me to think.'
0:11:07 > 0:11:11The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra had survived changes of leadership
0:11:11 > 0:11:15and the ups and downs of government policy.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Now it was sent to play for the peasants in the countryside.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24The results changed the government's mind about classical music again.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Chinese music was seen as lethargic and making you want to sit
0:11:27 > 0:11:31and listen to poetry or go off to the mountains and not make you want to fight,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35whereas Western music was seen as more inspirational and more martial.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38LIVELY ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Mao's wife believed that Western musical instruments would
0:11:47 > 0:11:50promote people to want to be more revolutionary.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54And when they created these so-called model operas that were
0:11:54 > 0:11:56basically big propaganda set-pieces,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58they all used Western-style musical instruments
0:11:58 > 0:12:01because she thought it would inspire people to revolution.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04So, it was an unintended by-product of the Cultural Revolution,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06was the training of a whole generation of musicians
0:12:06 > 0:12:08of Western musical instruments.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Today, this unlikely product of Maoist propaganda has become
0:12:17 > 0:12:21the main attraction in nostalgically themed restaurants.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24UPBEAT MUSIC
0:12:27 > 0:12:29HE SINGS ALONG
0:12:29 > 0:12:31APPLAUSE
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Despite the political turmoil, classical musicianship had survived.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43After the Cultural Revolution in 1978,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47when the conservatory started recruiting students
0:12:47 > 0:12:50there were 18,000 applicants
0:12:50 > 0:12:53competing for 200 positions.
0:12:57 > 0:13:03The symphony that always spelled freedom to the Chinese is Beethoven's 5th.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09It was the first piece to be played after the Cultural Revolution.
0:13:12 > 0:13:19And Beethoven's masterpiece was welcomed for its symbolic meaning as much as for its music.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23It's like a symbol of a coming back to civilisation,
0:13:23 > 0:13:28to art and from the destruction of the Cultural Revolution.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is performing the Fifth
0:13:34 > 0:13:37in Shanghai's vast Oriental Arts Centre.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42This music, despite coming from a different culture,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45clearly has a huge attraction for Chinese audiences.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54These young musicians come from Middle Eastern countries
0:13:54 > 0:13:59and some of them, like the Chinese, were not necessarily born into the Western tradition.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09It has to be said, you know, as an Arab,
0:14:09 > 0:14:11I'm not supposed to be appreciating Beethoven either, right?
0:14:11 > 0:14:14I mean, I'm supposed to be listening to Kulthum or what have you.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Yet here I am, and I love this music.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24I don't know, I've always questioned the notion of origin
0:14:24 > 0:14:27defining one's appreciation of art, whether it's music or otherwise.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45But China's drive to become a world leader in this music involves
0:14:45 > 0:14:48much more than simply welcoming foreign orchestras.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03One particular instrument is key to Chinese musical aspirations.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09When Western music came in, the piano just somehow became
0:15:09 > 0:15:12a big symbol. It's big, it's expensive, it's dramatic,
0:15:12 > 0:15:17and so if you could play the piano, it showed that you had kind of arrived.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Chinese enthusiasm for the piano is driven by this man.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Lang Lang is one of the most famous pianists on the planet,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and he's inspiring a whole generation of young Chinese musicians.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44Piano lessons aren't just a stepping stone to the best schools,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48but also a sign that a family can afford more in their lives than just work.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Jing Ting has been playing since he was five.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07I think music also fills some of the role
0:16:07 > 0:16:09that sport fills in other countries,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12cos you don't see Chinese kids going into sports
0:16:12 > 0:16:14nearly as much as you would see American kids.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16A lot of kids are cared for by their grandparents
0:16:16 > 0:16:18and their grandmothers don't want them to get dirty,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20or rip their pants or cut their knees,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22and so playing violin or piano is a much safer endeavour
0:16:22 > 0:16:26than playing football or basketball or something like that.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38I like playing the piano.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40I do it five years.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51It can make me smart, it can make me clever,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53it can make me famous.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56And it can make me happy.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07My grandfather, grandmother, mother, father is proud of me.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Chinese parents very much view children as a continuation
0:17:20 > 0:17:23of their own life's pursuit
0:17:23 > 0:17:27and dream and aspiration.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29So, in a way, they very much
0:17:29 > 0:17:33fuse their own life together with children's.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Chung is 11 and she's also been playing the piano
0:17:40 > 0:17:42for just five years.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44In China's new culture of success,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48the pressure on children like her is intense.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54I notice often, then, one of the parents,
0:17:54 > 0:18:00feeling that it's best to spend all their time helping the child
0:18:00 > 0:18:02and to look after his or her life,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04and sometime even sit with them
0:18:04 > 0:18:06while they practise hours and hours.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11So that means that one of the parents simply has to stop working.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55LANG LANG: I mean, that's actually Chinese mentality,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57is that we work everything harder.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59It's not just music.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Everybody knows this is maybe a little bit too much,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05but the whole society is like this,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and to ask me to say to a parent "Hey, slow down,"
0:19:09 > 0:19:12is a waste of time. Just no-one going to listen.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24The Chinese capacity for hard work
0:19:24 > 0:19:28may be producing an army of aspiring professional musicians,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32but classical music demands more than sheer mechanical perfection.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38PIANO PLAYS
0:19:42 > 0:19:46LANG LANG: I mean, nobody wants to only play piano like a machine.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52You can always copy a recording, listen 100 times
0:19:52 > 0:19:56and you kind of get some kind of a right accent,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58right kind of a beat,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00right pulse,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03but that's not going to be for long,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06because you need to understand why,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09that actually the interpretation is that.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13ORCHESTRA PLAYS
0:20:13 > 0:20:17This is why Daniel Barenboim's players are drawn to the
0:20:17 > 0:20:19West-East Divan Orchestra,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22to learn from one of the world's greatest interpreters
0:20:22 > 0:20:24of classical music.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28MUSIC: Symphony No 4 by Beethoven
0:20:28 > 0:20:32He's giving us the inspiration, he's showing us the direction,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35he's telling us how he hears it in his ear.
0:20:35 > 0:20:36He's working with us
0:20:36 > 0:20:38down to very small details.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58And then he gives us room to do it ourselves.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Those are one of the most beautiful moments
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and not every conductor can do that.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11Just have this trust in his musicians and go back
0:21:11 > 0:21:12and let them create it.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18It is reflecting from one's own emotions into the bigger,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21broader picture of humanity
0:21:21 > 0:21:23and it's taking you on a journey.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:21:36 > 0:21:39A literal journey, to the source of the music,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42was undertaken by Lang Lang himself.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46I toured everywhere in Europe, small towns that...
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Basically, every musician who was born in those towns
0:21:49 > 0:21:51had been there.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56MUSIC: Piano Concerto No 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff
0:21:56 > 0:22:00And, obviously, before that, I can play their notes
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and their music's fine, but, when I go there,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06when I talk about that composer with certain people
0:22:06 > 0:22:10around the environment, it's a totally different thing.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It feels like you get their feelings,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24you get their emotions, you get their thinkings,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26rather than just a piece of paper.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36William Chen is trying introduce his Chinese pupils not just to
0:22:36 > 0:22:39notes and phrasing but to the ideas,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43images and emotions that might be hidden in the music.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21'The fundamental good aspects of learning music is that it
0:23:21 > 0:23:26'does better help a young person to discover your inner feeling.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30'At that, certain moments, you become almost vulnerable,'
0:23:30 > 0:23:33but it's through the vulnerability you gain an understanding of yourself
0:23:33 > 0:23:37and perhaps something greater, a sort of spirituality.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46But 50 million solo pianists aren't what's required
0:23:46 > 0:23:49for growing orchestras, or for the country.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Because of the government's one-child policy, making music
0:23:53 > 0:23:57in groups has an important role in teaching children to play together.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03So, all over China, local authorities are funding bands.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05BAND PLAYS
0:24:05 > 0:24:08My primary school wants to have a band.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Then the band needs a trombone.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Not one trombone, but I am one of them.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21When the trombone appears the whole music changes,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24it changes more energetic.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36It's 35 minutes long,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39but they only play for maybe ten minutes.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41HE LAUGHS
0:24:44 > 0:24:49The band teaches its members to be a small part of a bigger whole,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53helps them to socialise and maybe even enjoy themselves, as well.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57I think trombone is just...
0:24:57 > 0:25:02In Chinese, we say they are heavy soy sauce.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04HE LAUGHS
0:25:04 > 0:25:05HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Chinese society, through its Confucian philosophy,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22even before communism laid great emphasis on a social structure
0:25:22 > 0:25:25in which everybody knew their place.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28It may be that in Western music individuals have found
0:25:28 > 0:25:31a space for personal expression.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37Under regimes, their oppressive culture...
0:25:37 > 0:25:42And music is almost a safety valve for the people,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46because a lot of things are not allowed them.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50PIANO PLAYS WALTZ
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Today, musicians of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra are all Chinese,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09and together they have achieved international recognition.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16The scale and success of China's investment in classical music
0:27:16 > 0:27:21is already changing the whole landscape of music making.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23But is it also changing the Chinese themselves?
0:27:25 > 0:27:26Music is just like water.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29You, just like a glass,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32will have a different shape as a character, as a human being.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Why we should put everybody in the same shapes?
0:27:36 > 0:27:38It's not necessary and I think it's a tragedy.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41We put everybody's thoughts the same thought. Why is that?
0:27:41 > 0:27:44People have different imagination,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47which makes our world become very colourful.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51So music helps the kids to raise up their imagination
0:27:51 > 0:27:55and help them to step in their own world.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24FAST-PACED ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS
0:29:15 > 0:29:18CHEERING AND APPLAUSE