South China Morning Post
   Monday  February 22  1999

   Guangzhou's quest for cultural refinement set back after night of
   musical chairs

   NOTES ON CHINA by Oliver Chou

   The recent Guangzhou debut concert of the American Julliard String
   Quartet turned out to be what the local media euphemistically called
   "an incident".

   All three major Guangzhou newspapers - the Guangzhou Daily, Yangcheng
   Evening News and Nanfang Daily - expressed grave concern as to who
   was responsible for the "impropriety" and what should be done to
   prevent future embarrassment.

   The incident was the fourth in recent months in Guangzhou involving
   chamber concerts.  What the press called "chaos" also erupted at the
   performances of the Borodin Quartet and pianists Fu Cong and Kong
   Xiangdong, the Yangcheng Evening News said.

   At the Julliard event, latecomers forced their way into the Xinghai
   Concert Hall and hopped over seats, trying to reach the best ones.

   The musicians stopped playing more than four times.  They argued
   among themselves as to whether the concert should go on when the
   entire audience dispersed after their first work, interpreting the
   brief break as an intermission.

   During the second half of the programme, Smetana's From My Life
   quartet, the performance was halted by a beeper in the audience.
   The musicians were willing to finish only after order was restored.

   "We are very sorry to the Julliard and we are afraid of losing face
   again," said a local organiser after cancelling the next chamber
   music concert.

   "Shame, shame" was the headline of a commentary in the Yangcheng
   Evening News.  Its article raised the issue to the level of public
   morals, which were deemed deplorable.

   "Although our country has long been known as the land of etiquette
   and propriety, some people know nothing about politeness, manners
   and respect for others.  They are self-centered and have no sense
   of public orderliness and morality," the paper said.

   Others sympathised with the audience and placed the blame elsewhere.

   "How unjust it is to spank only the audience," said the Nanfang Daily,
   the mouthpiece of the provincial Communist Party.  "Shouldn't the
   concert hall management staff be responsible for maintaining order?

   "The audience need not take the blame as they were not told about
   the practice of a brief break between works.  Besides, the programme
   guide did say there was an intermission period."

   The municipal Guangzhou Daily asked for understanding and forgiveness
   for the crowd, "whose knowledge of the music was inadequate".

   "Some among the audience should be criticised, like those who came
   in late and changed seats during the performance.  That was
   unforgivable," it said.

   "But we should not be over-demanding to those who lack music
   appreciation and, as an example, applauded between movements."

   The paper suggested organisers could remind audiences to switch off
   mobile telephones and pagers, and enforce policies of no entry for
   latecomers.

   The incident drew the attention of Guangdong Vice-Governor Li Lanfang,
   who suggested the programme guide should specify the number of
   movements for each work.

   A leading Guangzhou music figure backed the suggestion.  The audience's
   inexperience with chamber works was the prime reason for their applause
   between movements, said Yu Qikeng, concertmaster of Guangzhou Symphony
   Orchestra.

   "Chamber music is rather new to our Guangzhou audience," said Yu.
   "They are quite innocent of the charge of lacking proper concert hall
   manner, such as clapping between movements, because they simply don't
   have a history of appreciation for chamber works."

   An official of the Beijing Concert Hall, who travelled with the
   Julliard to Guangzhou, said:  "Audiences in Beijing and Shanghai are
   very quiet and know how to enjoy the echo of the end note.  Guangzhou
   concert-goers, on the other hand, cannot wait to move around once
   the music stops."

   The Yangcheng Evening News agreed. "From what happened at the Julliard
   concert, perhaps Guangdong at present does not have a place among the
   audience for chamber music," the paper said.

   The incident might be viewed as a slap in the face to officials trying
   to promote western classical music in Guangzhou.  Despite financial
   constraints, the recent Guangdong People's Congress allocated 40
   million yuan (HK$37.2 million) to renovate the Xinghai Hall this
   year.

Rachel Lee