TAN SHUZHEN
Tan and Director He LuTing.
Post Cultural Revolution and Tan’s Later Life
“The sun will come out. It’s night, but the sun will come out, eventually.” -Tan Shuzhen
Tan and his drawing of celebrated 20th-century violinists.
The model operas catalyzed Jiang’s leap to the top of the political hierarchy. Nevertheless, she perceived a threat from Premier Zhou Enlai.
As China’s relationship with the Soviet Union intensified throughout the 1960s, despite the persistent anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist propaganda of the Cultural Revolution, China’s leadership covertly initiated efforts to enhance its relationship with the West.
Zhou turned to classical music as a means to advance his diplomatic objectives. When Kissinger scheduled a second visit to Beijing in October 1971, Zhou proposed that the Central Philharmonic should perform for him.
Zhou continued to invite American pianists such as Frances and Richard Haden to perform in Beijing; with three foreign orchestras giving public performances in Beijing within a year, Zhou achieved diplomatic success.
By 1975, Mao re-contemplated the path that the Cultural Revolution had gone––he realized that there weren’t enough operas; creative works were severely criticized for the tiniest imperfection. He then publicly claimed that “cultural activities should be expanded so that writers would produce more poems, novels, essays, and critiques.” He even allowed non-model-opera concerts, surprising the Beijing music circles.
Premier Zhou died on January 8th, 1976 from cancer. Holding opposite political stances and always targeting Zhou, Jiang and her colleagues (together known as the Gang of Four) strived to downplay the significance of his death and draw minimal attention. However, millions of mourners expressed their final respect by watching the funeral cortège move through the city, known as the 10-Mile-Long Road Says Farewell to the Premier（十里长街送总理). The people began to resent the Gang of Four, mainly for Zhou’s cursory funeral. Later that year, with Mao’s death, the Gang of Four were put into jail and the Cultural Revolution was finally starting to approach its end.
The Shanghai Conservatory re-opened in 1978, mirroring the Central Conservatory in Beijing, with abundant passionate and talented applicants, and was visited by foreign musicians such as Isaac Stern. However, the re-opening of the Shanghai Conservatory was incredibly challenging due to the number of professors who had passed away during the turmoil. Tan, with many other professors, willingly returned to the Conservatory and was reappointed to his former position as vice president.
Tan visited New York and Columbia University, December 1979.
Tan was involved in multiple cultural conventions with the United States from 1979 forward. In 1982, he received his honorary doctoral degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in Shanghai.
Many years later, when Tan recounted his encounters during the Cultural Revolution, he always did so calmly and peacefully, even humorously referring to himself as the “expert” in repairing water and electricity and flushing toilets in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
