1 The Development
of CCCM
1.1
Origin in mainland China
The contextualization of Chinese hymn was long discussed
and practiced and the CCCM develops from this trend. Although written Chinese
has been unified since Qin Dynasty (秦朝), there are huge differences
people’s dialects. Nowadays in China, there are eight systems of dialects and
Cantonese is one of the dialects used in south-east China, especially in Hong
Kong. Therefore in 1807, since Robert Morrison from London missionary launched
the first Protestant mission to China[1],
the hymns imported by missionaries were set in different dialects.
The first Chinese hymn book, “Yang Xin Shen Shi” (養心神詩) was published in 1818, which was translated from the
English hymn book to Chinese (mandarin)[2].
Other than that, many different dialect hymn books were written. For example,
the “Gospel Hymns” (福音聖詩，1903) written in Cantonese published
by China Baptist Publication Society the “Sacred Songs with Tunes” (聖詩樂譜，1906) written in Fuzhou dialect published by the American
Board of Missions[3].
Setting hymns in different dialects was common in this period.
However, due to the unification and modernization of China,
the Mandarin movement was launched in the early 20th century. The
dialect hymns started to decline. Hymn books in mandarin like Hymns of Praise
to the Lord (頌主聖詩, 1915),Hymns of universal Praises (普天頌讚 1922) and Heavenly People Choruses (天人短歌, 1937), were published and used by major
churches. The church in Hong Kong seemed to follow the trend although people in
Hong Kong speak different dialects like Cantonese, Fujian (福建話), Kejia (客家) under the colonial rule. For
convenience, those churches like TsungTsin Mission (崇真會) of Hong Kong (Also known as Basal
Mission, 巴色會) whose
major language used to be Kejia[4],
and the Methodist Church whose major language is Cantonese[5],
sang the hymns with Mandarin texts in their own dialects.[6] Other than
traditional hymn book, in Christian secondary schools, many of the students
sang in English.[7]
There is no great awareness for Christian composers and lyricists to fit
Cantonese into Christian choral music.
1.2
Development of CCCM in Hong Kong
In late 1970s, Cantonese folk hymns started to spread in churches
because of the Hong Kong popularity of Cantonese songs. However there was not
any publication on CCCM.
The first cassette on Cantonese Christian music “How can it be forgotten” was
produced by Dr. Alvin Yee-shing Chan (陳以誠) and Wong Ming-chiu (黃明照) in 1980. In 1982 Hong Kong Association of Christian Music
Ministry (ACM) was established and published “齊唱新歌”. It includes CCCM sung by Hong Kong Baptist University Christian Choir.
Since then, many organizations involved in CCCM like Hong Kong
Sacred Music Service (香港聖樂服務社). In 1990s Chinese Christian
Literature Council (文藝出版社) started
publishing a series of anthems “A Selection of Anthems”. In 2000s, Hosanna
Chanters (浩聲讚祂詠團) and
Musicall (教會樂圃樂圃) under
the support of Hong Kong Sacred Music Service were established. They translate,
compose, published and perform CCCM frequently in Hong Kong.
Despite of the need of the churches, there is growing awareness of
the CCCM as there are more and more people are willing to perform CCCM. It is a
landmark that Intervarsity Music Ministry was
launched in Hong Kong Baptist University ten years ago. Now there are over 400
university students in nine University Christian Choirs in each year[8].
Their repertoire is mainly CCCM. They aim at serving the community and
preaching in Hong Kong, so CCCM is an easier way to access to the community. It
is a huge motivation for the translation, composition of CCCM. There are many
Christian music groups established in Hong Kong nowadays but there are only a
few Christian organization compose and translate CCCM.
[1] Although Christianity
had reached China since Tang, its influence declined after the ban of Christianity
by Kangxi. Missionaries were not permitted to preach in China.
[2] 盛宣恩：《盛宣恩論文集 – 中國基督教會聖詩史》，（香港，浸信會出版社，2010年），頁6。David
Sheng, A collection of Sheng Xuanen’s
essay – History of Christian Hymns of China, (Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist Press,
2010), p6.
[3] Ditto, p.69-72.
[4] Website of TsungTsin
Mission of Hong Kong, http://www.ttm.org.hk/
(accessed in 31st March, 2011).
[5] Web site of Methodist
Church of Hong Kong, http://www.methodist.org.hk/about/
(accessed in 31st March, 2011).
[7] Interview of Timothy
Lam (林國璋), CantonCM Web site, http://video.neighbouronline.com/person/allensit/public_html/CantoCM-03.wmv,
(accessed on 24th April, 2011)
[8] Internal Statistics
from the Intervarsity Music Ministy Concert in 2011.
