Calafati, Sou-Chong, Lang Lang, and Li Wei: Two Hundred Years of “the Chinese” in Austrian Music, Drama, and Film

Since Marco Polo’s reports about China began to circulate among Europeans during the thirteenth century and since the growth of trade between Asian peoples and Europe expanded during the seventeenth, Chinese products have been important for Western lifestyles. China has also inspired the creation and distribution of attractive exoticisms (chinoiseries) in Western music as well as the visual arts. From a different point of view, the European attitude toward China has often been described as colonial, not only in matters of religion and commerce, but also in transferring to China certain aspects of Western musical culture, ideology, and opinions. This