Music Practices in China: Gender, Education, and Creativity

Despite the feminist movement in China, which took place in the early 20th century, and the promotion of state feminism as enforced by the Communist Party of China (CPC) after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, gender education, or feminism and education, in China is different from that in Western societies in many aspects (particularly the ultimate inequality of a female-biased sex ratio at birth, less education, low representation in leadership positions, and income differences compared with male counterparts). Over the last 2 decades, China has placed more emphasis on learning and practice in the process of fostering creativity in school education. With reference to China, this chapter examines the under-researched connection between gender, education, and creative music practices through reproduced gender illustrations found in official music textbooks. Within this context, the chapter also explores gender differences presented in music practices and the representation of gender in activities involving creative music making. Though China is attempting to provide a balanced gender representation via official Chinese discourse in creativity education, I argue that gendered teaching materials are found in creative music practices in the music textbooks. Particularly, males are portrayed as strong while females are seen as weak, as illustrated in the pictures for creative music activities in the official approved teaching materials.