Nation, Curriculum, and Identity: School Music Education as Cultural Governance in China and Malaysia

Nation, Curriculum, and Identity: School Music Education as Cultural Governance in China and Malaysia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Nation, Curriculum, and Identity: School Music Education as Cultural Governance in China and Malaysia LIU CHANG This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9439473/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This article examines school music curriculum as a technology of cultural governance in China and Malaysia, analyzing how compulsory education policy shapes the discursive construction of cultural identity in multi-ethnic postcolonial states. Rather than treating curriculum as a neutral conduit for knowledge transmission, the study theorizes music education as a governmental apparatus through which states produce particular forms of cultural citizenship. Drawing on thematic synthesis of 23 peer-reviewed studies—identified through systematic searches in Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, and ERIC—this comparative analysis interrogates four dimensions: governance structures, curriculum content, pedagogical negotiations, and identity discourse. The Chinese system deploys centralized aesthetic education emphasizing traditional music within a unified nationality framework, with 64 percent of approved K–12 textbook repertoire comprising Chinese compositions. The Malaysian system navigates multicultural imperatives through parallel vernacular school structures that simultaneously enable ethnic cultural preservation and reinforce communal segmentation. Both cases reveal a shared Inter-Asian anxiety: the postcolonial imperative to construct authentic national culture while managing the contradictions of ethnic diversity. The study identifies persistent gaps between policy discourse and classroom practice, suggesting that cultural governance through curriculum remains fundamentally contested terrain. This analysis problematizes rather than resolves the question of whether music education can serve both national integration and cultural pluralism, arguing that this tension constitutes the defining problematic of postcolonial music pedagogy in Asia. Music Educational Psychology Music Education Cultural Governance Postcolonialism Curriculum Policy Identity Discourse Inter-Asia Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9439473","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":624389758,"identity":"c44e2dc9-21ab-4a43-8d0b-89c8e38faf12","order_by":0,"name":"LIU CHANG","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA7UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgb+h49/VPyrl+dvPgDkS8gQ1MLGwMNszHDmQILhjGMJIC08xGhhk2ZsO5DAcCDHACRAhBb2s4eNC87cyWNsOPP51Y0aCx4G9sNHN+DVwpOX+HhGxbNidubebdY5x4AO40lLu4FXiwSDsQHPGWbGxoaz24xz2IBaJHjMCGkxk+BtY2ZsOJDzzDjnH1FaeMykedsOJwK1MD/ObSNGC09asuGMM2nGwEA2Y87tk+BhI+QXfvbDBx98qLCRA0bl48853+rkgCLH8GpB8xeIJFY5CDB/IEX1KBgFo2AUjBwAANqSSXWGMF7wAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3162-2358","institution":"Han Dan University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"LIU","middleName":"","lastName":"CHANG","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-16 14:26:54","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9439473/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9439473/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107482171,"identity":"bd00d849-2c7d-475f-be71-e7b74989da87","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-22 02:22:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":542552,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Paper410includeauthor.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9439473/v1_covered_9e593ab6-39fa-4e4a-b537-d33daf067369.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNation, Curriculum, and Identity: School Music Education as Cultural Governance in China and Malaysia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Han Dan University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Music Education, Cultural Governance, Postcolonialism, Curriculum Policy, Identity Discourse, Inter-Asia","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9439473/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9439473/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis article examines school music curriculum as a technology of cultural governance in China and Malaysia, analyzing how compulsory education policy shapes the discursive construction of cultural identity in multi-ethnic postcolonial states. 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