Historiography and sinification : music in Chinese cinema of the 1930s

Sinification, in the sense of rendering Chinese, or indigenizing a foreign medium, has been a dominant discourse in Chinese film historiography. This article analyzes film music in Chinese cinema of the 1930s and argues that sinification should not be taken as a natural or inevitable process but instead should be viewed as a conditional, negotiated practice, subject to intertwined industrial and political mediations. © 2002 by the University of Texas Press.