Article ID: CBB729484710

From Sonic Models to Sonic Hooligans: Magnetic Tape and the Unraveling of the Mao-Era Sound Regime, 1958–1983 (September 2019)

unapi

Xu, Chuan (Author)


East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Volume: 13
Issue: 3
Pages: 391-412


Publication Date: September 2019
Edition Details: Themed articles on technology in the People's Republic of China
Language: English

This article examines the roles of magnetic recording in China’s sound governance. Through analyses of archival documents and personal accounts, this article argues that in the early 1980s, the magnetic recording infrastructure and its common usage underwent dramatic transformations. In the 1960s and 1970s, state officials and language educators configured the magnetic recording infrastructure to propagandize authoritative and normative sounds while maintaining strict hierarchical distinctions between those who recorded and those who listened. In the early 1980s, with the rapid popularization of compact cassettes and recorders, these distinctions dissolved as millions of people began to produce and exchange dubbed cassettes. Widespread home dubbing created a decentralized network of sound production and circulation that not only defied government regulation, but also fueled the anxieties that moral, social, and ideological catastrophes would soon descend on the country. Through this media history of magnetic tape, this article shows how the governance of sound infrastructure and protocols was integral to the governance of people.

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Associated with

Article Mellors, Sarah (September 2019) Less Reproduction, More Production: Birth Control in the Early People’s Republic of China, 1949–1958. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 367-389). unapi

Article Ghosh, Arunabh (September 2019) Commentary: New Directions in the Study of PRC-Era Science. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 443-448). unapi

Article Fu, Jia-Chen (September 2019) Practice and the History of Science in the PRC: A Historiographic Reflection. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 449-463). unapi

Article Schmalzer, Sigrid (September 2019) Layer upon Layer: Mao-Era History and the Construction of China’s Agricultural Heritage. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 413-441). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB729484710/

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Authors & Contributors
Sean Williams
Jan Fairley
Xiao, Shao
En-Chieh Chao
Patteson, Thomas
Magnusson, Thor
Concepts
Music
Sound reproduction
Sound
Technology and music
Technology and art
Technology and culture
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
Modern
Ancient
19th century
Places
China
Shaanxi Province
Singapore
United States
Greece
Vietnam
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