In spite of complexity and hardships during the epoch of ideological turmoil in China, since its origin the popular song has shown a steady growth. One of the leaders of this progress is the activity of the composer Li Jinhui, who raised the popular song to the unprecedented heights. Persecuted, Li Jinhui consequently paid with his life for his music and despite all the disasters, he remained in China’s history of culture as a legendary composer, master of pop culture, the person who gracefully combined the national origins with western styles that dominated in the entertainment industry of that epoch. The paper also considers school songs as a source of new mass singing, characterizing the canto-pop as a pop style with the regional (Guangdong) featuring. The author takes into account the infl uence of Hong Kong culture on the pop culture imported from Shanghai.

Keywords: school songs, mass culture, Chinese popular song, Li Jinhui, jazz, tango, movie songs, Hong Kong’s pop culture.

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