Denmark | Sound, Noise and the Everyday: Soundscapes in China | conference

The CHIME International Meeting conference will be held at Aarhus University, Denmark 21-24 August on the theme 'Sound, Noise and the Everyday: Soundscapes in China'. Registration for the conference is open until 1st June. Aarhus University and CHIME invite scholars from all disciplines to explore 'sounds & noise' in China. This conference (featuring for CHIME as its 18th International Meeting) does not focus on any particular historical period or research methodology, but seeks for the first time to bring scholars together who share an interest in aspects related to sound. China is filled with sounds; indeed, some people would say that it is a noisy place. Some sounds immediately come to mind, for example those of music, radio and TV broadcasts, along with blaring loudspeakers, public announcements and street conversations, or speech/language and communication more generally. Some types or notions of sound may be difficult to grasp or to categorize, for example the sound of a city, sounds of progress, sounds of revolution or sounds of change. Sounds may be deliberately produced (and manipulated), or may be brought forth unintentionally, and they can be direct and physical or indirect and abstract (or both at the same time). To all events, sounds appear everywhere, with a variety of different intentions and meanings; the same can be said for noise and silence. Can we identify a specific Chinese sound? If so, where are the roots to be found, and how did this sound achieve its current form? Sound production, associations and entanglements, meanings and (listening) effects as well as issues of promotion, manipulation and elimination will be discussed in relation to Chinese history, culture, society and politics. The broader aim of this conference is to establish 'sound' as an analytical category that provides us with new perspectives on and a new understanding of China.