Oral history interview with Luo Nianyi (composer, soldier), 2000

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Title: Oral history interview with Luo Nianyi (composer, soldier), 2000
Abstract: Oral history interview with Luo Nianyi, on his experiences as a soldier in the 18th Corps (shi ba jun) of the 4th Field Army of the People's Liberation Army when it entered Tibet, and his work as a scholar of Tibetan music, and composer. He recounts the sense of wishing to "liberate Tibet," and the importance of building the road from Sichuan to Lhasa, its importance for the army in the 1950s, and building an airport in Ganzi. Describes his experience accompanying Zhang Guohua to go to Kangding (Dartsemdo) and his first experience of Tibetan culture in Kangding (Dartsemdo) which inspired him to become a musician. Luo Nianyi was to perform in the 1959 cultural event to which the Dalai Lama had been invited on the night that fighting broke out most intensely in Lhasa. He describes in detail various events from March 10-17, 1959, and his personal impressions of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, whom he met. He also remarks on current party leadership. Describes being criticized during the Cultural Revolution for writing his songs and how he feels have he has "become Tibetan." The last ten minutes of video footage features Luo NIanyi playing two of his songs on the piano, "The Beautiful Tibet" and "Washing the Clothes", and photos of himself (primarily during the 1950s and 1960s, wearing army gear) from his personal album.
Collection Name: Sino-Tibetan Oral History Project
Subjects: Music, Tibetan; History; Chinese; Composers; Uprising of 1959; Nineteen fifties; Tibet Autonomous Region (China); Garze Zangzu Zizhizhou (China); Sichuan Sheng (China); Luo, Nianyi; China. Zhongguo ren min jie fang jun; Zhang, Guohua, 1914-1972
Format: video recordings; oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 2000
Physical Description: 3 video files (Part 1: 63 minutes; Part 2: 63 minutes; Part 3: 19 minutes)
Note: This interview has been translated and an English transcript is available. Contact the Tibetan Studies Librarian for access.; Content labeled Tape 25, Tape 26, and Tape 27 on original time-coded shotlist.
Note (Language): Interview in Chinese, with some English translation.
Note (Biographical): Luo Nianyi was a Chinese soldier in the 18th Army of the People's Liberation Army when it entered Tibet, and a scholar of Tibetan music, and composer. He experienced the events of March 1959 in Lhasa.
Note (Funding): Digitized with funding by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
Language: English; Chinese
Library Location: C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content
Catalog Record: 7202483
Also In: Tibetan Studies Special Collections at Columbia University
Copyright Status: In Copyright
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-aszd-0149