It is 100 years since the Shanghai Victor record company produced Peking Opera master Sun Juxian's "Catching and Releasing Cao" (Zhuo Fang Cao) in 1904. China's record industry has gone through much since spreading the sound of music to the masses, and has played a big part of witnessing and recording the nation's history.

Early development

"There are many stories behind every record," said Chang Zhaoxin, a collector of Chinese records. "I collect records. But I also collect history."

The 57-year-old, a former railway worker at the Nancang station in Tianjin, Chang has spent most of his life collecting records.

The wall of his living room is decorated with various 80 rpm (revs per minute), 78 rpm, 45rpm, 33rpm and 16 rpm records -- each accounting for the development of the industry.

Chang's interest in records was influenced by his grandfather, who liked to listen to records of Peking Opera. Even before Chang began to read, he was able to recognize different record labels.

He bought his first record with his pocket money savings at 10. He has been collecting records for nearly half a century. Among nearly 3,000 pieces that he collected, there are records of traditional operas, quyi (narrative folk performance of local flavor), instrumental music, songs and speeches.

From single-sided to double-sided, from 16rpm to 78rpm, from foreign labels to Chinese labels, his collection provides an introduction to the history of records in China.

In the 1890s, records were imported into China and given the Chinese name "chang pian," which literally means "singing disc."

This period was dominated by foreign recording companies and their artists. The record labels began recording Chinese music here, but manufactured the records abroad before shipping them back for sale in China. The early Peking Opera records of Sun were produced this way.

Around 1910, the French Pathe and English HMV became the first companies to set up record factories in China. Since the trademark of Pathe was a rooster and HMV a dog, the press jokingly referred to the competition between the two companies as a "competition between the rooster and dog."

Besides Pathe and HMV, various foreign record companies flocked to China in the 1920s, including Odeon, Beka, Regal and Corcha. During this time, Chinese record companies also began to appear.

The Great China Record Company became the first company to be exclusively Chinese owned in 1927. New Moon and Great Wall were two other influential companies, the former well-known for film music and the latter for Peking Opera.

After the founding of New China in 1949, the various private record companies were combined to form the China Records Company.

Rare finds

With samples from almost all the recording companies, Chang's collection includes many valuable items, like Sun's Peking Opera "Story of the Black Basin" (Wupen Ji) released by the J.Ullmann company in 1906, and a 1915 Victor record of Suzhou folk music "A Big Chain of Nine Rings" (Da Jiulianhuan).

He has also collected rare records of the guitar played by composer Nie Er (1912-35) and a violin solo played by famous jinghu (two-stringed spike fiddle used in Peking Opera) master Yang Baozhong.

Songs are Chang's favorite genre of music. About 60 per cent of all his records are devoted to singers, with a special focus on Shanghai's pop songs during the 1930s and 1940s. He has collected records by some 90 singers of that time, including stars like Zhou Xuan, Yao Li and Li Xianglan.

Zhou Xuan (1919-1957), taking up roles in 40-some films made in the 1930s and 1940s, was as famous in China as Vivien Leigh, the female protagonist in the Hollywood film "Gone with the Wind."

"Old songs are like old, good wine," said Chang. "They teach you how to appreciate life."

Looking through Chang's collection in a way is like scanning the history of 20th century China. You can find records made in Northeast China when it was occupied by the Japanese, records of speeches by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, songs about the land reform after the founding of New China, songs about the friendship between China and former Soviet Union, and songs during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

The sound quality of the records varies, some are coarse or scratched. However, each is testament to their era.

Chang has a record titled "Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman -- 10 Revolutionary Songs of China."

High price

Released by China Record Company in 1970, this record consists of songs performed in English by the Shanghai Chorus, including "Long Live Chairman Mao," "From Peking's Golden Hill," "We Are Marching on a Great Road" and "The East Is Red."

This English rendition of "The East Is Red" (Dongfang Hong) is a unique among Chang's 13 versions of the song, which was adapted from a Shaanxi folk song and dedicated to Mao Zedong.

When he bought the song's first recording of 1946 by chance, he was so excited that he stopped his bicycle twice to look at it on his way home.

Another time, he did not buy a record of the song because the price was too high. But he regretted this so much afterwards that he traveled 150 kilometers to buy it from the seller's home.

The place that Chang frequents the most is the Shenyang Road second-hand market in Tianjin, where he often finds unexpected records, especially from farmers selling their collection. Though records are a production of urban civilization, they were often better kept in the countryside where there were less turbulence.

During the "cultural revolution," most of the 2,000 records of Chang's family were destroyed, except some 20 of Chang's favorites which he took great risks to keep hidden secretly away. Through the years he has bought second-hand copies of some of his family's lost records, but is still looking for some missing titles, especially by his much loved Zhou Xuan.

The production of records gradually stopped in the late 1980s as tapes and CDs took over.

Though he also listens to some CDs, mostly songs from the 1930s and 1940s, most of the time he still prefers the records, which he believes, sound more natural.

"I can not live without records," said Chang. "I feel most peaceful and satisfied when I listen to them. I have spent my life collecting them, and they represent my existence. They hold many dear memories and bring happiness."

(China Daily January 19, 2005)