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hostile rhetoric, they provided no chance for their citizens to know the other country and its people. So, when Nixon made his initiatives to open relations with China, cultural exchanges did receive certain priority, at least as a gesture to break down the fence between the two countries. He lifted restrictions against wanting to travel to China. China, similarly extended to an American table tennis team an invitation to visit China, which was accepted and the trip was made.
Following the Nixon visit, American interest in China soon mounted. American cultural groups began to arrive. Among these visitors, the most important was the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first major Western musical group to tour this country. The Philadelphia Orchestra performed in Beijing and Shanghai, staying in China for ten days from 12-23 September 1973.
In both cities the Philadelphia Orchestra was given a very courteous reception. The then powerful Politburo members in charge of ideology and cultural affairs, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan, attended their performance in Beijing and chatted with leading members of the group afterwards. Meanwhile, the media gave friendly and sufficient coverage of the event. The media even allowed a musician to publish, in a leading newspaper, a review entitled "friendly, enthusiastic and glorious" in which he said that the Chinese people and Chinese art workers were very pleased to have the opportunity to enjoy the performance of this world-renowned American performing group and that China could learn from the American artists. He also expressed his hope for further development of friendship between Chinese and American artists and people.
The tour by the Philadelphia Orchestra took place against the background of the contemporary impoverished Chinese artists scene. Throughout the Cultural Revolution there had been a consistent tendency to eliminate foreign influence in arts and to produce a new "proletarian" culture for the Chinese people. As a result, many musicians, a large number of whom had been trained in the west, were either sent to prisons or to the May 7th Cadres' Schools to receive re-education. At the same time, the surviving musical organizations could hardly perform any symphonic music, due to the political environment and lack of qualified musicians. Under such circumstances the significance of the Philadelphia Orchestra's visit could only be political, not artistic.
By their use of the media and arts as the means for power struggle,
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