HE Luting

Born in Shaoyangong, Hunan, July 20, 1903
Died April 27, 1999

Note: He is the composer’s surname and Luting is his given name.

A guide for pronouncing Chinese names

• He Luting was one of the most influential classical musicians and educators in 20th-century China.¹
• He directed the Shanghai Conservatory from 1949 to 1984, with an interruption during the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong, when the government suppressed what were deemed Western influences, including Western classical music.²
  • Like many Chinese intellectuals, He was persecuted by the government during the Cultural Revolution. He was particularly targeted for his defense of the music of Debussy. He Luting was the only person who was subjected to a “struggle session” (torture and interrogation) on live public television. He came to be seen as hero for intellectual freedom in China.³
• He Luting’s compositions include patriotic works, film scores, operas, and orchestral works. He frequently combined Chinese folk melodies with Western harmonization.⁴

1. Frank Kouwenhoven, “He Luting,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 7, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000049472.
2. Ibid.
3. Sarah Specer Rawley, “He Luting: Musical defiance in Maoist China,” (2010) Diss., Rice University, https://hdl.handle.net/1911/62068.
4. Kouwenhoven, “He Luting,” Grove Music Online.