Yue yi = 乐艺
Prepared by Shuang Wang 王双
Online only (2025)

Yue Yi = 樂藝 (RIPM code YYI) was published by Yue Yi Club 樂藝社 of The National Conservatory of Music 國立音樂院樂藝社 in Shanghai, China between April 1930 and July 1931 as a tri-monthly journal. This volume contains six issues, with possibly more released later, as indicated in the issue of July 1931. While the journal invited contributors from around the country to submit, most of the articles included were written by the editor-in-chief, Liao Shangguo 廖尚果, or more known by his many aliases, such as Li Qingzhu 黎青主, Qing Zhu青主, L. T, and Dr. T. Recommended by the renowned music educator, Xiao Youmei 萧友梅, Qing Zhu started teaching as a music professor at the National Conservatory of Music in 1929 while publishing Yue Yi. He published more than 60 original and translated pieces in this journal.
Yue Yi was sponsored by The National Conservatory of Music, or The National College of Music 國立音樂專科學校. The conservatory was the first music college in modern China, founded in November 1927. Throughout the early 20th century, it was the center of distributing music knowledge to Chinese citizens in the pre-1949 semi-colonial Shanghai. Yue Yi was one of the core periodicals to this effort. Each issue comprises a collection of pictures, music scores, and articles. Many of the scores were composed by the conservatory professors, Qing Zhu, Xiao Youmei, Hu Zhoushu’an 胡週淑安, Ellinor Valesby 華麗絲, Wu Bochao 吳伯超, Huang Zi 黄自, and students such as Chen Tianhe 陳田鶴 and Ding Shande 丁善德. Vocal works with piano accompaniment appear most frequently, including famous works A World Shared by All 天下為公, and I Live Where the Yangtze Begins 我住長江頭. At the same time, there are pieces created for Chinese or Western instruments, such as Autumn Grief in Palace 秋宮怨, The Everlasting Regret 長恨曲 for pipa, Autumn Thoughts 秋感 for piano and erhu, Nocturno 秋思 for piano and cello. Moreover, works from prominent Western composers, such as Frederic Chopin and Robert Schumann, and folk music from European nations, are also included.
These six issues of Yue Yi all begin with an introduction to a Western composer with their portraits on the cover page, including Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, Liszt, Verdi, and Handel. Each issue contains an article briefly presenting the composer’s biography, along with a group of articles and poems associated with the composer or the musical genres and periods they represent. Benefiting from editor-in-chief Qing Zhu’s doctoral education experience in Germany, the journal also published direct exchanges with European musicians, such as the pictures and works sent by pianist and music educator Robert Teichmüller and Qing Zhu’s open letter to conductor Mario Paci. Besides Western musicians, the journal introduces Western music theory, aesthetics, and recording technologies to the readers.
In addition, Yue Yi also includes many writings on Chinese music: the history of ancient music, Chinese songs and lyrics, improving and standardizing Chinese instruments, the comparisons of Chinese and Western music, and music education in China. Due to the overlapping publication period with Yin yue za zhi = 音樂襍誌 (Peking, 1928-1932), there were some conversations between these two journals. For instance, Yin yue za zhi printed advertisements for Yue Yi multiple times, Zhao Yuanren = 趙元任 wrote reviews in Yin yue za zhi for scores published in Yue Yi, and Qing Zhu replied to Zhao by publishing an article in Yue Yi. In addition to documenting in detail many debates in the Chinese music academics at that time, the journal also keeps records of the development of the Yue Yi Club, on-campus activities, and music and articles published by the conservatory affiliates.
This RIPM Index was prepared from a copy of the journal held by the Harvard-Yenching Library.