Abstract
By examining the development of Western classical music in modern Shanghai,
this paper argues that a shared era of musical modernity was created amid segregation within
the colonial municipal government, with the interactions and exchanges between diasporic
European musicians and Chinese performers. Rather than following the traditional narrative
in treating Western music as a simple instrument of colonial power, this paper examines the
Shanghai Municipal Orchestra within the racially divided municipal structure of the
International Settlement, where orchestral performance functioned as a symbol of colonial
authority but at the same time was constantly redefined by the active participation of native
Chinese musician intellectuals and urban residents. The study, through analyzing the careers
of Mario Paci and Arrigo Foa, will show how diasporic European musicians were able to
recalibrate inherited European traditions under war, exile, and political upheaval. At the same
time, Chinese performers transformed Western repertoire, using it as a means for social
mobility and recognising their own modern cultural identity. Ultimately, through a historical
analysis grounded in class and postcolonialism, this paper demonstrates that the encounters,
where local intervention and crisis occurred, allowed the reorientation of musical authority in
the city of Shanghai.
Keywords: Western classical music, Colonial Shanghai, Cultural identity, Social mobility, Diasporic European musicians, War and exile.
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