IMPACTS OF URBANIZATION AND MODERNIZATION ON GUCHUIYUE: SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65824/mmj.v9.283902Keywords:
Guchuiyue, Urbanization, Systematic Literature Review, Ethnomusicology, Chinese Intangible Cultural HeritageAbstract
Background and Objectives: Guchuiyue (鼓吹乐, Chinese drumming and bowing music), a traditional Chinese wind and percussion ensemble, has undergone profound transformation amid China’s rapid urbanization and modernization. While previous studies have documented changes in performance contexts and transmission practices, few have systematically examined how these transformations are structurally linked to broader socio-economic processes. This study aims to: (1) synthesize how urbanization and modernization have reconfigured the functions and ritual ecology of guchuiyue; (2) analyze the transmission challenges emerging under these structural changes; and (3) identify the adaptive strategies and regional patterns through which practitioners negotiate continuity within evolving cultural fields.
Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Literature Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) protocol were systematically searched for studies published between 2000 and 2024. Keywords related to guchuiyue, urbanization, modernization, transmission, and functional transformation were combined using Boolean operators (AND/OR) in bilingual search strategies. After multi-stage screening and eligibility assessment, 41 studies were included. Quality appraisal followed the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist, which was used to guide interpretive weighting rather than strict exclusion, given the qualitative nature of the reviewed studies.
Results: Urbanization has reconfigured guchuiyue across four interrelated dimensions. First, functional transformation is characterized by a shift from ritual-centered communal service toward diversified domains including staged performance, cultural tourism, and digital dissemination. Rather than a linear replacement, these functions coexist along a continuum, with funerary practices remaining relatively resilient while wedding-related and community rituals decline. Second, a transmission crisis has emerged through the convergence of aging practitioner populations, declining youth participation, and the erosion of repertoire and notation systems. These challenges are driven by rural–urban migration, educational mobility, and the misalignment between traditional apprenticeship systems and contemporary socio-economic expectations. Third, adaptive responses are evident in the institutionalization of training through schools and conservatories, the expansion of digital platforms for dissemination and recruitment, and participation in Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) initiatives. These strategies enhance visibility and economic sustainability but may also contribute to repertoire simplification and the weakening of ritual functions. Fourth, distinct regional typologies can be identified, including conservative–ritual-centered models with strong communal embedment, hybrid–stage-oriented models balancing ritual and performance functions, and industry/digital-oriented models driven by commercialization and media platforms. These typologies illustrate differentiated pathways of adaptation shaped by local cultural resources, policy environments, and market conditions.
Conclusions: This article shows that urbanization and modernization are structural forces that reshape the functional roles, ritual ecology, transmission conditions, and regional pathways of guchuiyue in contemporary China. Rather than producing a simple linear decline, these processes have generated an uneven pattern of functional reconfiguration in which ritual, staged, touristic, and digital forms coexist, compete, and overlap across different local settings. At the same time, urban change intensifies transmission pressures—aging practitioners, youth disengagement, and repertoire loss—while also prompting adaptive responses through educational institutionalization, heritage programs, and digital dissemination. Guchuiyue’s contemporary transformation is therefore best understood as an urbanization-driven process of negotiated continuity, shaped by migration, marketization, educational mobility, platformization, and heritage institutionalization. Taken together, these four dimensions—functional transformation, transmission crisis, adaptive responses, and regional typologies—constitute a functional reconfiguration framework for understanding how guchuiyue is reshaped under conditions of urbanization and modernization.
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