Mo Jiapei

In 1956, Mo Jiapei served as a key editor and composer for the Wuhan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Wuhan Branch of the Chinese Musicians’ Association, and Songs of the Yangtze.

In 1971, he worked as a composer, arranger, and conductor for the Wuhan Yu Opera Troupe.

From 1980 to 1998, he was a composer, arranger, and conductor at the Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theater.

From 1986 to 2019, Mo Jiapei laid a solid foundation for piano education for teenagers during China’s reform and opening-up period.

From 1950 to 1957, Mo Jiapei created over 200 vocal and instrumental works. At the age of 17, he published his piece New Year’s Joy, followed by a large number of musical works published in Songs of the Lijiang, Guangxi Literature and Art, Guilin Daily, Songs of the Yangtze, and various newspapers and magazines in Shanghai, Sichuan, and other regions. Examples include songs such as Youth of New China, In Praise of Workers, Rapid Literacy Method, Singing for National Day, Double Flower Crown, and the piano piece Dragon Lantern.

In 1956, Mo Jiapei’s symphonic suite Four Seasons stunned the music world at the time. The piece successfully incorporated the unique folk instrument banhu, enhancing its expressiveness and vividly portraying the brilliance of youth and the abundance of life, leaving audiences with a deep and beautiful impression. The four movements—Spring: Splendid Rivers and Mountains; Summer: Pioneer Camping; Autumn: On the Road to Harvest; Winter: Long Rainbow—each had distinct characteristics, with Autumn being particularly outstanding and later recorded and broadcast by Central Radio. Mo Jiapei was the first young composer to use the banhu in symphonic music, marking his entry into the Chinese music scene at the age of 21.

In 1956, after graduating from a music academy, Mo Jiapei was transferred to the Musicians’ Association of the Wuhan Federation of Literary and Art Circles. He composed and published a large number of vocal and instrumental works, including the female solo pieces River Flowing Before My Door and Girl Standing in the Wheat Field, duets Red Sun Over the Prairie and Sing One More Song, and a six-piece children’s suite: Mountain Climbing, I Have a Little Peach Tree, Camping Song, Three Little Fishermen, Catching Crickets, and We Wave Goodbye to the Sunset, among others. His Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, conceived over three years, consists of four movements expressing his hopes and aspirations for a thriving nation.

In early October 1956, Comrade Cheng Yun from the Wuhan Musicians’ Association appointed Mo Jiapei as the team leader to select performance programs in Enshi, Lichuan, Hefeng, and other areas for a provincial showcase. During this time, he had the privilege of being the first to document Dragon Boat Tune, now popular nationwide, along with other folk tunes such as Shouting Tune, Mountain Climbing Tune, Planting Cherries Along the Road, and Crab Tune. In 1957, his transcriptions of Planting Cherries Along the Road and Crab Tune were published with piano accompaniment in the January issue of Songs of the Yangtze in standard musical notation.

After enduring a decade of upheaval, Mo Jiapei’s creative passion was fully ignited!

In 1971, he joined the Wuhan Yu Opera Troupe, where he participated in composing and conducting the Yu operas Water Village Guerrillas and The Trial of Love, which were performed over a hundred times.

Later, he was invited to various provincial and municipal theater troupes as a composer, arranger, and conductor. His works included the dance dramas Banana Fan and Torrent, the song The Sea, the Han opera The Guitar Girl, arrangements for Heart in Flames and Emperor Wen Kills His Uncle, the Nanyang Oilfield dance drama Oil Romance, the song and arrangement Please Don’t Ask Me, the Huagu opera Flower Soul of the Ancient Tomb, and the Yu opera The Romantic Woman.

In 1980, his musical dance piece Ah! Tomorrow, which he composed and conducted, won the Third Prize for Music at the First National Music and Dance Competition, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, and the First Prize from the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture.

In 1982, the dance drama Banana Fan won the Second Prize for Music at the Hubei Provincial Theater Exhibition.

In 1985, the Han opera The Guitar Girl received the National Outstanding Arrangement Award, the Hubei Music Design Silver Award, the Drama Innovation Award, and the Third Prize for TV Drama in the Central-South Region.

In 1988, the Huagu opera Flower Soul of the Ancient Tomb and the Yu opera The Romantic Woman, both of which he led composition for, won Excellence Awards from the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture.

The Guitar Girl, Flower Soul of the Ancient Tomb, and The Romantic Woman were all featured in Hubei’s National Day theater exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Romantic Woman was also recommended for the Second National Drama Festival in 1990.

In 1990, his large-scale folk orchestra and multi-part choral work The Great River Flows East (lyrics by Su Shi) premiered at the Art Theater in Wuhan. Accompanied primarily by folk instruments, the piece is grand and evocative, with lead and choral singing showcasing exceptional musical skill, fully embodying the indomitable spirit of the Chinese nation.

In 1997, his re-commissioned large-scale ethnic dance drama Ode to the Lotus won the Wen Hua Award for Theater Creation from the Ministry of Culture. Due to its pronounced ethnic musical characteristics, Mo Jiapei personally received the Wen Hua Award, China’s highest professional art accolade, from the Ministry of Culture.

From 2017 to 2022, Mo Jiapei, together with his daughter Mo Shumei (a young composer), was invited by the Thailand Chinese Cultural Promotion Association to compose the large-scale symphonic poem China-Thailand Family for the “Belt and Road” project.

His biography has been included in works such as Dictionary of World Cultural Celebrities, Who’s Who in World Chinese Literature and Arts, Pride of Jingchu, and Chinese Literary Yearbook, and he has received the “World Cultural Celebrity Achievement Award.”