The beauty of academic prose:
Let me quote Ralph Locke
"The librettists and Puccini here produce - even without Japanese musical motifs - an unsurpassed scopic and aural emphasis on Oriental (East Asian) feminine beauty and grace. This occurs at the level both of the group and - as the voice of the "happiest girl in Japan" soars above - of the individual. The moment could be regarded as the most oppressive in the work - the most quintessentially Orientalist, in the denigratory sense. All Asian womanhood, practically, is here reduced to a vision of loveliness, as if frozen in time, for the delectation of the Western gazer."
Ralph Locke "A Broader View of Musical Exoticism" in JM 24 no. 4 (2007).
In short, the last sentence give such a sweet perspective... like dolcissimo! The prose matches Locke's idea so well. (As opposed to expressing sweet ideas with prosaic passages). Despite the sweetness, academic authority is by no means lacking :)
Disappointment:
I was researching on Tan Dun's opera, and did some searches on Chinese journal databases... There is a clear sense of conformity, and a lack of questioning. In the case of questioning, a sense of imperialist revenge + newspaper gimmicking comes through. Examples:
1. "The First Emperor "Subverts" Western Opera"(《秦始皇》要“颠覆”西方歌剧)as title of an article (Tan said that, but i don't think he means that.) The article is from the journal Northern Music.
2. Chen Qigang describes music critics who bitterly criticizes Tan Dun as "parasites". (People's Music 12, no. 440 (2002)). (Yes, they don't start from no. 1 again each year.)
I feel, despite being conservative, embarrassing to reveal these to the world. Well, should I?
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