Jointly reported by:
Foo Zhing Yee Sr2ScA
Louise Kaien Too Sr2ScC
Photography by:
Kuen Cheng Photography Club
On the 20th of May 2023, Kuen Cheng High School organised a Music Appreciation titled “The Century-long Evolution of Chinese Pop Music” for the Senior Middle 2 students. The session was covered by Mr Cheng Fei（程飞). Mr Cheng was born in Hebei, China. He is currently a PhD student at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
What is Pop Music? This was the first question from Mr Cheng’s mentor when he attended her first lecture. According to Mr Cheng, pop music is not only music that is popular at the moment but also music that is divided into many genres such as Jazz, Disco, and Rap, which can be commercialised. It is also closely related to technology and can be produced in large quantities.
Then, Mr Cheng explained the development of music in China thoroughly. In the early stage of development of China’s music, music was flourishing, especially in Shanghai. The first pop music in China is “Drizzle of Rain”(毛毛雨) by Li Minghui (黎明晖). While for the evolution in Taiwan’s music, top singers like Richie Jen Hsien-chi and girl band, S.H.E debuted songs which accompanied many childhoods even throughout the decades.
In Hong Kong, music was also highly popular in the 1950s. Music in this period has its uniqueness that indicates the improvement of Asian music while most songs from this decade have become the golden treasury of the music industries that had been carried on and popularised globally. Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui were the most influential singers at that period of time.
Mr Cheng Fei giving his talk
Throughout the whole talk, Sr2A’s and Sr2comA’s students bring a lot of fun to the audience as they sing a lot of songs, such as “At Least I’ve got you (至少还有你)”, “Boundless Sea and Sky (海阔天空)”, “Fairytale (童话)” and more.
Students’ singing performance on stage
Students’ band on stage
After the enriching time, the session ended with a large group photo, helping stored the valuable insights and lessons gained by the students.
Group photo