A Comparative Study if Traditional Music Education in China and Thailand from the Perspective of Cultural Genes

This study takes the theory of cultural ecosystem and music cognitive anthropology as theoretical anchors. Through three years of field investigation and multi-dimensional text analysis, it constructs a comparative research framework of traditional music education in China and Thailand. The traditional music education of the two countries presents the fundamental division of “state-led civilization inheritance” and “religious embedded life practice” in the institutional framework, which forms the path difference of “genealogical orthodox education” and “ritualistic situational learning” in the inheritance mode, and reflects the deep game of “Confucian ritual and music education” and “Buddhist law and aesthetics” in cultural cognition. In the context of the era of globalization and digitalization, traditional music education, as the core carrier of cultural gene inheritance, is facing the deep challenge of modern transformation. The study further reveals that in the educational transformation of digital age, China’s “intangible cultural heritage into campus” project and Thailand’s “temple music school” model represent modern transformation strategies driven by different cultural genes. The analysis model of “Music Education Cultural Gene Map” proposed in this study provides a new methodological tool for cross-cultural music education research, and its conclusions have important theoretical and practical significance for building a traditional music education system with cultural adaptability.

Keywords: China-Thailand, Traditional Culture, Music Education, Cultural Ecology.