Challenges to values education in school music education between nationalism and multiculturalism in Beijing, China

With a particular reference to Beijing, this chapter will examine musical and non-musical learning as a reflection of the internationalization of China's sociopolitical ideologies and the relative nationalism of its education system. Multiple research methods, including content analysis of relevant official documents and music textbooks, and semi-structured interviews with 20 primary and secondary school music teachers, were employed to give a full picture of the topic under investigation. The main purpose of this study was to collect Chinese music teachers' perspectives on how schools can reconcile the teaching of musical knowledge and cultures with the promotion of global and national education. The three goals of this study are as follows: (1) to examine the teachers' views about the integration of values education into school music education; (2) to determine the extent to which the social changes experienced by China have affected its music education policies, with respect to the values of nationalism; and (3) to examine and discuss the perceptions of school music teachers on the use of music for multicultural music education, and the development of global ethics and peace in school music learning in the twenty-first century. This chapter will conclude with a clear view of China's school music education as not only complex and contradictory, but also the mutually constitutive relationship between multiculturalism and nationalism in the interplay between Communist ideology and contemporary values in the global age.