Oral Exam English

Three kingdoms period of China.

Name : Kas Krasniqi
Class : 5H.ENTL4
Teachers name : M.Retei
Date : 10-12-2021

Sources :
www.chinaeducenter.com. (z.d.). History of Three Kingdoms Period - China Education Center.
Copyright 2004 - 2021. www.chinaeducenter.com. All Rights Reserved. Geraadpleegd op 1 december
2021, van https://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/whychina/threekingdoms.php
(The one I am going to read) Cartwright, M. (2021, 29 november). The Early Three Kingdoms Period.
World History Encyclopedia. Geraadpleegd op 1 december 2021, van
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1174/the-early-three-kingdoms-period/
McLean, J. (z.d.). The Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms Period | World Civilization.
Lumenlearning. Geraadpleegd op 1 december 2021, van https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-
hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-fall-of-the-han-and-the-three-kingdoms-period/
The Early Three Kingdoms Period in ancient China, from 184 CE to 190 CE for the
purposes of this article, was one of the most turbulent in China's history. With an ail-
ing Han government unable to control its empire, brutal localised wars, rebellions
and uprisings were rife. The capital would soon fall, followed by the Han dynasty it-
self, split asunder by rival dynastic factions at court, scheming eunuchs, and in-
tractable Confucian literati. The order of the Emperor's rule was replaced by the
chaos of competing warlords, men such as Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, and Cao Cao, all ruth-
less and possessing one ambition: to alone rule all of China.

The period has long captured the public imagination beginning in the Sung Dynasty
(960-1279 CE) and reaching a fever pitch of interest with The Romance of the Three
Kingdoms (Sanguo  yanyi), a historical novel written during the Ming Dynasty, either
in the 14th or 15th century CE. Attributed by some to Luo Guanzhong, the romanti-
cised and much-embroidered version of events has created lasting cultural heroes
and sometimes even figures of worship such as Liu Bei, the Confucianist ruler of the
Shu state, and his general Guan Yu, who became the God of War, Guan Di, as well as
Sun Quan, the founder of Eastern Wu. The novel covers China's history from 168 CE
to 280 CE and remains wildly popular today, inspiring films, theatre, literature, and
computer games.

The Decline of the Han

The Han dynasty had been ruling China since 206 BCE as its most successful dynasty
yet. Still, by the 2nd century CE, the emperors were facing troubled times. The cen-
tral government, dominated by a secretive Inner Court with access to it strictly con-
trolled by the scheming court eunuchs, was ever-more remote from the affairs of the
everyday people in the provinces. Rebellions had already popped up in the 140s CE
when they had been dealt with by sending officials to bribe local strongmen. No
longer commanding an army of significance, the emperor could do little more.

IT WAS THE INDIVIDUAL COMMANDERS IN

THE FIELD WHO EARNED THE RESPECT &
LOYALTY OF THEIR TROOPS - A MIX OF
PROFESSIONALS, CONVICTS, & LOCAL
TRIBESMEN.
The military forces still under a token allegiance to the Han rulers were permanently
stationed on the frontiers, and they had little motivation to remain loyal to their dis-
tant commander-in-chief. The Han decision to change the age-old policy of giving
only temporary commands of armies for specific campaigns and then recalling gener-
als back to the capital before they got any big ideas would be a fateful one.
It was the individual commanders in the field who earned the respect and loyalty of
their troops - a mix of professionals, convicts, and local tribesmen - and not the dis-
tant and never-seen emperor. The fact that they received their pay directly from their
commander, no doubt, had much to do with this transfer of allegiance. As one local
landlord noted:
Orders from the provincial and commandery governments arrive like thunderbolts; imperial
edicts are merely hung upon the wall as decoration. (Lewis, 27)
Meanwhile, the peasantry at large was suffering from the usual and sadly regular
natural disasters that beset China, especially floods and earthquakes, as well as the
ongoing war with the people known as the Xianbi. The Xianbi, north of the Great
Wall, felt threatened by Chinese expansion and, while they valued Chinese luxury
goods through trade and at first welcomed interaction, they came to value their free-
dom more highly. As Xianbi resistance to Chinese encroachment grew, the Chinese
government simply sent more and more military expeditions against them. This pol-
icy contributed greatly to undermining imperial authority because so few gains were
apparent when compared with considerable losses.

China Warlords, 2nd-3rd century CE.

SY (CC BY-SA)

Little was or could be done to improve the lives of the peasants because the state
coffers were emptied by these unsuccessful wars against the Xianbi who, in 177 CE,
led the Chinese army into an ambush in the northern steppes which was so success-
ful that “three quarters of the men failed to return” (De Crespigny, 5). Further, the
fact that tax was all too often avoided or syphoned off by corrupt officials compli-
cated the lives of the peasantry even more.
Regional governors had to find their own way of raising revenue, and there was no
guiding policy handed down from the capital. Locals had only one course of action:
arm oneself as best as possible for self-defence. Landlords with the means to do so
organised their own private armies, recruited from their tenants and local farmers.
Those who could not rely on a rich benefactor fled to the hills or elsewhere - resulting
in large-scale migrations and attendant instability - and sometimes even whole vil-
lages relocated to higher ground where they surrounded themselves with fortifica-
tions and hoped for the best. China was very quickly becoming a free-for-all.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion

In the final two decades of the 2nd century CE, the steady decline of the Han and the
now constant rumblings of provincial discontent suddenly burst out of control with
one of the most serious and long-lasting rebellions ever witnessed by shocked Chi-
nese rulers and quivering local bureaucrats. The Yellow Turban Rebellion exploded
in 184 CE, led by the charismatic Taoist mystic Zhang Jue (died 184 CE), and
wreaked havoc on the land.
A popular religious movement, the Yellow Turban cult was closely associated
with Taoism. Amongst its more appealing principles was the belief that illness came
from sin but, especially good news to a peasantry short on medicines, diseases could
be removed by confession of those sins. The rebellion was so called because the pro-
tagonists wore a turban whose colour represented earth, an element they identified
with and which they hoped would put out the fire element associated with their en-
emy the Han.
Taoist philosophy understood the workings of the universe through the operation of
the principle of Yin-Yang and the interaction of the Five Elements: earth,
wood, metal, fire, and water. Above the five elements was Tian (heaven) which was
represented by the color blue. Taoism was favored by most of the Han emperors and,
when the Han first came to power, they associated their dynasty with heaven/blue
but at some point changed to earth/yellow and, by the time of the Yellow Turban Re-
bellion, claimed rule by the power of fire/red. These changes in association with the
elements may have to do with the focus of the dynasty at different times but this is
unclear.
It is an interesting aspect of the rebellion that, philosophically, the two sides were op-
erating from the same principles of Taoism and the same understanding of what was
right and true. The Han claimed justification for rule based on the same principles
the rebels were espousing to overthrow them but Zhang Jue and the rebels insisted
they were fully justified in that they were identified with the earlier principle of
earth/yellow which they claimed the Han had forsaken and betrayed in favor of fire/
red.

THE YELLOW TURBAN'S POPULARITY BEGAN

IN THE EAST, & IT QUICKLY SPREAD, HELPED
BY A TURN TOWARDS POLITICS & THE
PROMOTION OF AID TO THE POOR.
In this, the rebels were invoking the spiritual concept of  jiazhi  which had to do with
the fundamental value of an individual or action. The  jiazhi (literally “worth” or
“value”) of the earth - represented by the rebels - was claimed by them as inherently
more powerful - and just - than that of their adversaries. By invoking  jiazhi in their
struggle, the rebels hoped to not only justify their cause but attract more support for
the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
The movement's popularity began in the east, and it quickly spread, helped by a turn
towards politics and the promotion of aid to the poor. The movement was vociferous
in its criticism of the discrimination against women and the lower classes, which was
rife in Chinese society. The cult eventually turned into a major military rebellion,
which was rather ironic considering its leader Zhang Jue preached the objective of a
Great Peace. The Yellow Turbans were organised into military units and prepared for
action. Local government offices were targeted and smashed by the rebels across
China. The rebellion seemed to crop up everywhere like cancer - out of control and
fatal for the regime. Sixteen commanderies succumbed to the rebels, imperial armies
were defeated, rulers kidnapped, and cities captured.
The whole of the country was now split into pockets held by rebels, warlords, or re-
gional governors still loyal to the state. The confusion, constant warring, and depri-
vation of the Chinese people were summarised in a poem attributed to the warlord
Cao Cao (c. 155-220 CE), who, like many leaders of the period, had a serious literary
bent.
My armour has been worn so long that lice breed in it,
Myriad lineages have perished.
White bones exposed in the fields,
For a thousand li not even a cock is heard.
Only one out of a hundred survives,
Thinking of it rends my entrails.
(Lewis, 28)
The rebellion was brutally quashed within a year by an army sent by Cao Cao, then
one of the Han emperor Lingdi's (r. 168-189 CE) foremost generals. Cao Cao had
managed to organise a military coalition of the private armies of important nobles at
court, and he moulded them into an efficient professional fighting force. The rebel
leader Zhang Jue was either killed in battle or executed. The rebellion would,
though, rumble on, albeit more quietly, under new leadership in eastern Sichuan
province. The damage had been done, though, and now there was very little differ-
ence between local governors and local warlords right across China. The Han had
dropped the reins of power in the provinces.

Cao Cao
Cao Cao had started his career as a commandant and police chief at the Han capi-
tal Luoyang during the 170s CE. He early-on established a reputation for being a
stickler for the law and was not afraid to challenge the rich and powerful. Cao Cao is
portrayed as a deliciously Machiavellian villain in later literature, and Chinese op-
eras, too, cast him as a thoroughly nasty piece of work, with actors portraying the
dictator usually wearing a snarling white mask with sinister eyebrows. Indicative of
the dubious reputation of the warlord, his name lives on in the Chinese expression
“Speak of Cao Cao and he appears” which is broadly equivalent to “Speak of the
devil” in English.

There were many other military leaders besides Cao Cao, though, as an unfortunate
consequence of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was that several local warlords had
been backed by the emperor to raise their own armies and deal with the Yellow Tur-
bans in their particular region. When the rebels were dealt with, these armies then
clashed with each other and there followed a sustained period of civil war during
which the capital at Luoyang was sacked by one Dong Zhuo (189-192 CE).

Dong Zhuo
Dong Zhuo, aka Zhongying, was a frontier general turned warlord based in the
northwest of China. He had a long military career, working up the ranks from his
starting point as a member of the imperial guards; Zhuo's unit was the elite corps,
the Gentlemen of the Feathered Forest, whose members were composed of sons and
grandsons who had lost their fathers in battle. Zhuo was exactly the kind of Han gen-
eral described above - permanently stationed on the frontiers for a decade and left to
his own devices.
He was recalled to court in 189 CE but refused on the grounds that his men not only
needed him but had forcibly pulled back his carriage and would not let him go. He
was fully aware of their loyalties to him alone, as he stated in the following extract
from a letter to the court:
My soldiers both great and small have grown familiar with me over a long time, and cherish-
ing my sustaining bounty they will lay down their lives for me. (Lewis, 262)
In 189 CE, taking full advantage of the chaos and responding to the call for assistance
by the court's “Grand General” He Jin, half-brother of He, the Empress Dowager,
Zhuo moved to within 110 km (70 miles) of Luoyang. At the imperial court, high-
ranking officials and military leaders, tired of the ineptitude of government and
dominance of the eunuchs, were forced into action when He Jin was murdered in
the palace. They thus conspired to assassinate all 2000 of the eunuchs who had been
pulling the strings of power for so long.

Chinese Terracotta Warrior

glancs (CC BY)

The perpetrators of the coup then made the monumental miscalculation of inviting
Zhuo into the city, which then had a population of around 500,000. This the warlord
did with relish, burning the capital's wooden buildings to the ground (including the
library and state archives), and kidnapping the young emperor Shaodi. Zhuo was far
from his base in the west, though, and so he withdrew, emperor in tow, back
to Chang'an. The former Han capital, surrounded by mountains, was a much more
easily defendable headquarters. It would take a long time before Luoyang rose again,
its sad abandonment noted here a century after Zhuo's attack by the poet Cao Zhi:
Luoyang, how lonesome and still!
Palaces and houses all burnt to ashes.
Walls and fences all broken and gaping.
Thorns and brambles rising to the sky.
(Lewis, 101)
Dong Zhuo, meanwhile, enjoyed his success. A thorough scoundrel, if later sources
are to be believed, Zhuo would go down in history as a mad despot, as this oft-
quoted passage from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms  reveals:
On one occasion Dong Zhuo spread a great feast for all those assembled to witness his depar-
ture; and while it was in progress, there arrived a large number of rebels from the north who
had voluntarily surrendered. The tyrant had them brought before him as he sat at table and
meted out to them wanton cruelties. The hands of this one were lopped off, the feet of that;
one had his eyes gouged out; another lost his tongue. Some were boiled to death. Shrieks of
agony arose to the very heavens, and the courtiers were faint with terror. But the author of the
misery ate and drank, chatted and smiled as if nothing was going on. (167)

A Broken China
The destruction of Luoyang was another serious blow to the already toppling Han
government. Men like Cao Cao and Zhou would continue to battle for control of
China and the right to pull the strings of the puppet emperor who remained so nec-
essary for whoever wished to claim a legitimate right to rule. The chaotic Three King-
doms period witnessed the total break up of China and the country would not be re-
unified for another three centuries.
(The one I am going to read) Cartwright, M. (2021, 29 november). The Early Three Kingdoms Period.
World History Encyclopedia. Geraadpleegd op 1 december 2021, van
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1174/the-early-three-kingdoms-period/
History of Three Kingdoms Period 220–280; Jin Dynasty, 265–420;
Northern and Southern Dynasties, 304–589; Sui Dynasty 581-617

At the end of Han Dynasty, it was divided into three kingdoms headed by leaders
Cao Cao who controlled the north of the Yangtze River known as Cao Wei; Liu Bei
who controlled southwestern region known as Shu Han and Sun Quan who con-
trolled the southeastern region known as Dong Wu. The Three Kingdoms period is
one of the bloodiest periods in history of China. A population census in late Eastern
Han Dynasty reported a population of approximately 56 million, while a population
census in early Western Jin Dynasty (after Jin reunified China) reported a population
of approximately 16 million. Even taking into account the inaccuracies of these cen -
sus reports, it's safe to assume that a large percentage of the population was wiped
out during the constant wars waged during this period.
Three Kingdoms Period

The history of the Three Kingdoms Period was written in a novel - The Romance of
Three Kingdoms, written by the Ming author Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, was
based partly on the historical record. The novel is a very popular and exciting book
for children and adults alike. It is a book of strategies, in war and in love affairs.
Jin Dynasty
One of the kingdoms finally won, after many interesting turns of events. The Jin Dy-
nasty was established, lasting from 265–420 AD. The first of the two periods, the
Western Jin Dynasty (265-316), was founded by Emperor Wu. Although providing a
brief period of unity after conquering the Kingdom of Wu in AD 280, the Jin could not
contain the invasion and uprising of nomadic peoples after the devastating War of the
Eight Princes. The capital was Luoyang until 311 when Emperor Huai was captured
by the forces of Han Zhao. Successive reign of Emperor Min lasted four years in
Changan until its conquest by Former Zhao in 316.
Meanwhile remnants of the Jin court fled from the north to the south and reestab-
lished the Jin court at Jiankang, which was located south-eastward of Luoyang and
Changan and near modern-day Nanjing, under Prince of Longya. Prominent local
families of Zhu, Gan, Lu, Gu and Zhou supported the proclamation of Prince of
Longya as Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) when the news of the
fall of Changan reached the south.
Southern and Northern Dynasties
The Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589) was the age of civil wars and dis -
unity in history of China. Many northern Chinese also immigrated to the south. Be -
cause of the invasions of the nomadic people from the north, the country became
fragmented. In spite of the political disunity, or perhaps because of the wars, there
was progress in technology, including the invention of the gunpowder and the wheel-
barrow and the improvement of Chinese medicine during the later of this period.
Sui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty (581-617), was founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian, held its
capital at Changan. It was marked by the reunification of Southern and Northern
China and the construction of the Grand Canal, though it was a relatively short Chi-
nese dynasty. It saw various reforms by Emperors Wen and Yang: the land equaliza-
tion system, initiated to reduce the rich-poor social gap, resulted in enhanced agricul-
tural productivity; governmental power was centralized, and coinage was standard-
ized and unified; defense was improved, and the Great Wall was expanded. Bud -
dhism was also spread and encouraged throughout the empire, uniting the varied
people and cultures of China.
List of Sui Dynasty Emperors
Yang Jian, the Wen Emperor (581-604)
Yang Guang, the Yang Emperor (604-617)
Yang You, the Gong Emperor (617-618)
Yang Tong, the Gong Emperor (618-619)
www.chinaeducenter.com. (z.d.). History of Three Kingdoms Period - China Education Center.
Copyright 2004 - 2021. www.chinaeducenter.com. All Rights Reserved. Geraadpleegd op 1 december
2021, van https://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/whychina/threekingdoms.php
After the death of Emperor Zhang (of the Eastern Han period’s Rule of Ming and
Zhang) in 88 CE, corrupt officials increasingly gained control of the state, while family
feuds tore the dynasty apart. As the power of the emperor weakened, military com-
manders acted more independently and tried to secure power for themselves.

The Fall Of The Han Dynasty

In 184 CE, two major Daoist rebellions—the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five
Pecks of Rice Rebellion—broke out. In order to fight these rebellions Emperor Ling
gave military commanders control over their own provinces, but this gave way to a
long power struggle. In 189 CE, Emperor Ling died and was succeeded by his 13
year old son, Liu Bian, known as Emperor Shao. Empress Dowager He was regent,
and her older brother, General-in-Chief He Jin, became the most powerful official in
the court. He Jin wanted to exterminate the Ten Attendants, a group of influential eu-
nuch officials. He summoned General Dong Zhuo to march on the city. The plot was
discovered by the eunuchs, and He Jin was killed. In response the Emperor ordered
indiscriminate killing of the eunuchs. The survivors kidnapped the Emperor and fled,
only to later commit suicide upon General Dong Zhuo’s arrival. The General would
then replace Emperor Shao with the Prince of Cheniliu, known as Emperor Xian.
Xian would be the last emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Portrait of Dong Zhuo. This portrait of Dong Zhuo dates from a Qing Dynasty edition of the Romance of the
Three Kingdoms.
Dong Zhuo was eventually assassinated and was succeeded by another warlord,
Cao Cao, who wanted to reunite the Han Empire by defeating the rebellious war-
lords. He nearly succeeded but was defeated in 208 CE at the Battle of Red Cliffs, a
memorable turning point in history. With this defeat, most of the hope that the Han
Empire would be reunited disappeared. When Cao Cao died in 220 CE, Emperor
Xian abdicated the throne, claiming that he had failed to keep the Mandate of
Heaven. China splintered into three kingdoms ruled by warlords; this marks the be-
ginning of the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history.

The Three Kingdoms Period

When the Han Dynasty collapsed in 220 CE, no one was powerful enough to reunify
China under a single emperor. The result was the period of the Three Kingdoms,
which lasted until 280 CE, when the Jin Dynasty took over. These three kingdoms,
Wei, Shu, and Wu, battled for control in a long series of wars. This was one of the
bloodiest times in Chinese history—according to census data, the population de-
creased from 50 million to 16 million—but it also has long been romanticized in East
Asian cultures and remembered as a time of chivalry and honor. It has been cele-
brated and popularized in operas, folk stories, and novels, and in more recent times,
films, television, and video games.

The Three Kingdoms. The Three Kingdoms in 262 CE after the fall of the Han dynasty.
Technology advanced significantly during this period. Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang in-
vented the wooden ox, suggested to be an early form of the wheelbarrow, and im-
proved on the repeating crossbow. Wei mechanical engineer, Ma Jun, invented a hy-
draulic-powered, mechanical puppet theatre designed for his emperor. He also in-
vented a new irrigation device, the south-pointing chariot, and a non-magnetic direc-
tional compass.
McLean, J. (z.d.). The Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms Period | World Civilization.
Lumenlearning. Geraadpleegd op 1 december 2021, van https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-
hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-fall-of-the-han-and-the-three-kingdoms-period/

50 Hard English word and their Dutch meaning

English Dutch
1 Daoist Taoïst
2 rebellion Rebellie
3 Pecks Groepen
4 Broke out Uitgevallen
5 Commanders commadanten
6 Commandery Provinicie
7 Eunuch Eunuch
8 Exterminate Vernietigen
9 Kidnapped Ontvoerd
10 Discovered Onthuld
11 Summoned Opgeropeen
12 Attendants Bedienden
13 To Struggle with Worstelen met
14 march Loop
15 Province Provincie
16 Influential Invloedrijk
17 Fled Gevlucht
18 Survivor Overlevende
19 Empress Dowager Kiezerin weduwe
20 General-In-Chief Opperbevelhebber
21 Ordered Bevellen
22 Indiscriminate Willekeurig
23 Commit suicide Zelfmoord plegen
24 Assassinated Vermoord
25 Eventually Ten slotte
26 Succeeded Opvolgde
27 Warlord Krijgsheer
28 Defeating Verslagen
29 Rebellious Rebels
30 History Geschiedenis
31 Nearly Bijna
32 reunite Herenigen
33 Disappeared verdwijnen
34 Splintered Uitelkaar vallen
35 Memorable Gedenkwaardig
36 Popularized Gepopulariseerd
37 Series Reeks
38 Remembered Herinnert
39 East Asian cultures Oost Aziatische Cultuur
40 Celebrated Gevierd
41 Folk stories Volk verhalen
42 Chancellor Kanselier
43 Crossbow kruisboog
44 Directional Richting
45 Invented Uitgevonden
46 Romanticized Geromantiseerd
47 Decreased Verminderd
48 Census data Volkstellingsgegevens
49 Lasted Duurde
50 Result Resultaat
Safanjo’s sources :

Article 1:
Musicians of the United Kingdom
(2000s & 2010s)
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 2000s continued to expand
and develop new subgenres and fusions. While talent show contestants
were one of the major forces in pop music, British soul maintained and
even extended its high profile with figures like Joss Stone, Estelle, Duffy
and Adele, while a new group of singer/songwriters led by Amy Wine-
house achieved international success. New forms of dance music
emerged, including grime and dubstep. There was also a revival of garage
rock and post punk, which when mixed with electronic music produced
new rave.

Pop
In the 2000s, new girl groups managed to enjoy sustained
success, including the Sugababes and Girls Aloud, the last of
the these the most successful British product of the many
Popstars format programmes, which began to have a major
impact in the charts from the beginning of the 2000s. The Sat-
urdays were the next girl group to sustain success in the late
2000s. The most successful solo winner Leona Lewis enjoyed
a number one album in 2008 and her début single "Bleeding
Love" was the first number one single in the U.S charts by a
British solo female artist since Kim Wilde in 1987. The 2000s
also saw the reunion of Take That, who went on to achieve
new stardom by the end of the decade. In the early 2010s,
the British boy and girl bands, The Wanted, One Direction,
and Little Mix have experienced worldwide success, charting highly in Britain as well as North Amer-
ica.

Article 2:
Why has the UK stopped
producing pop superstars?
Three years ago British artists made
up half the global top 10. Now the
biggest new stars barely make a mark
overseas. What is behind this sea
change – and is there a way back?

Has the UK music business lost its magic

touch for creating pop superstars? The UK
music industry will celebrate the inaugural
National Album Day on Saturday, but top-
selling new albums by British pop artists
are few and far between in 2018.

It’s not that there is a dearth of new music

in the UK: albums by Paul McCartney, Years & Years, Florence + the Machine, James Bay and hyped
new artists Anne-Marie and Jorja Smith have all made it into the top five. But none of them have sold
well enough to make the Official Charts Company’s Top 10 releases of the year so far.

Only two UK albums released in 2018 made the list: Staying at Tamara’s by George Ezra and Tranquil-
ity Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys. Soundtracks, US artists and albums released before 2018
populate the rest of the list.

It is a similar story in the US. Ed Sheeran – who last released an album in 2017 – is the most popular
UK artist in Billboard’s Artist 100 chart, which ranks artists by sales. He came in at No 13. The next en-
try from a Brit is breakout R&B star Ella Mai at No 21, followed by Dua Lipa at No 56. There are no
British albums in the Top 20 of the American album chart.

The figures make for a stark contrast with the UK music industry’s global performance of recent
years, which peaked in 2015 when Adele, Sheeran, One Direction, Coldplay and Sam Smith appeared
in the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s annual list of the top 10 global record-
ing artists. In 2017, Sheeran was the only British act on the list, at No 1.
Industry experts suggest a variety of reasons for this downturn in fortunes, from the dominance of
streaming services to the demise of traditional marketing strategies.

Since 2013, streaming services have overtaken CDs and downloads as the most popular way of con-
suming music, with subscription services rising from a 9.9% share of UK recorded music revenues to
48% in 2017.

Streaming services are song-focused rather than artist-focused, which makes it harder for artists
working in album formats to break through, says Hannah Neaves, who leads marketing and artist de-
velopment at Tap, a management company whose clients include Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding and Lana
Del Rey.

“Previously, you could burn through two singles quite quickly and there was also a big physical story
to tell,” says Neaves. Breaking artists through Spotify takes longer, she says, “because it’s quite face-
less” and is focused on editorial playlists. A song’s placement on a popular playlist, such as Rap
Caviar, Today’s Top Hits or Viva Latino, can determine its success.

“You have to be prepared to spend three years getting to a position that previously would have taken
you nine months,” says Neaves. “All the biggest playlists are American and it’s very difficult to get
British acts on them, which can make a massive difference to your campaign.”

Artists who arrived prior to streaming’s dominance could capitalise quickly on an initial success:
Adele’s debut single arrived three months before the release of her debut album in 2008. The same
was true of Sheeran in 2011. Dua Lipa is the closest thing to a new British pop superstar: released in
2017, her self-titled debut album has sold 3m copies globally and arrived 19 months after her debut
single.

Hip-hop is the most popular genre on both sides of the Atlantic, and the UK’s offering has not histori-
cally translated well overseas. Despite the international nature of streaming, Columbia Records UK
president Ferdy Unger-Hamilton has noticed an increased demand for domestic music and particu-
larly domestic urban music.

“You are now making money out of records only in the UK and streaming numbers are big enough
that people can do well,” he says. “Every country has found their own language of the oppressed in
domestic rap or urban music: the US has 21 Savage and we have Dave. That genre is very self-con-
tained, so when we are trying to sell someone overseas, it’s very hard to compete with what already
grabbing the attention.”

Popjustice editor Peter Robinson says the way pop stars are marketed first to a “tastemaker” audi-
ence of gatekeepers and listeners who pride themselves on their left-field taste, and then to the
wider market, could be another obstacle to success.

“The notion of cool often gets in the way,” he says. “The early 2000s and the Myspace era introduced
a way of launching bait-and-switch pop artists who seemed very credible and authentic to start with,
but eventually turned out to be pop stars after a series of softly-softly, tastemaker-friendly releases.
That leads to a situation where big pop stars pretend not to be [pop stars], and potential smashes
gather dust while marketing teams faff around for 12 months with low-key ‘buzz’ releases.”

What Robinson describes as a “long, boring, expensive process” can work – it did for Dua Lipa, Ellie
Goulding and Lana Del Rey – “but for every Dua there are countless artists who fall by the wayside
before people even get to hear their decent songs,” he says.
The music industry is now in its key pre-Christmas fourth quarter, traditionally a time for high-profile
releases. A “super-deluxe” edition of Dua Lipa’s debut arrives and new albums by leading acts Jess
Glynne, Muse, Mumford and Sons, Rita Ora and the 1975 could shift the UK’s waning fortunes.

Peter Edge, head of RCA Records, suggests a simpler explanation. “The climate has changed in the
last three years, but that’s down to the artists. Every artist has a different story to tell – if the right
one came along then global success can happen.”

Article 3:
Why bands are disappearing: 'Young people
aren’t excited by them'
But hurt feelings aside, Levine was broadly correct.
When Maroon 5 broke through in the 00s, there were
new bands forming all the time, many of which quickly
proceeded to go platinum and headline arenas. In the
realm of pure pop, meanwhile, talent shows such as The
X Factor became a reliable incubator of girl groups and
boybands, from Girls Aloud to One Direction. No longer.
Popular music’s centre of gravity has undeniably moved
towards solo artists, at least when it comes to serious
commercial success. This paradigm shift has been obvi-
ous for a while now (“What happened to all the bands?”
asked Rostam Batmanglij after leaving Vampire Week-
end in 2016. “Is it just that bands are corny now?”) and has accelerated across genres.

Whichever metric you use, the picture is clear. Right now, there are only nine groups in the UK Top
100 singles, and only one in the Top 40. Two are the Killers and Fleetwood Mac, with songs 17 and 44
years old respectively, while the others are the last UK pop group standing (Little Mix), two four-man
bands (Glass Animals, Kings of Leon), two dance groups (Rudimental, Clean Bandit) and two rap units
(D-Block Europe, Bad Boy Chiller Crew). There are duos and trios, but made up of solo artists guesting
with each other. In Spotify’s Top 50 most-played songs globally right now, there are only three
groups (BTS, the Neighbourhood, and the Internet Money rap collective), and only six of the 42
artists on the latest Radio 1 playlist are bands: Wolf Alice, Haim, Royal Blood, Architects, London
Grammar and the Snuts.

Rock and pop now exist in different spheres – even the biggest bands struggle to crack the streaming-
driven Top 20 – but bands are on the back foot within alternative music itself. One theory is that ma-
jor labels avoid bands because solo artists are cheaper and easier to handle. Not so, says Jamie
Oborne, whose Dirty Hit label has found success with bands (the 1975, Wolf Alice) and solo artists
(Beabadoobee, Rina Sawayama). “We’re actively trying to sign bands,” he says. “I’m desperate to find
a really young band that I can help develop.”
The problem is, he says, there aren’t that many around. “It’s more likely now that a kid will make mu-
sic in isolation because of technology. When I first met the 1975, they were all friends meeting in a
room to make noise. So much is done in bedrooms these days, so you’re more likely to be by your-
self.”

Mortimer, who started out in A&R in 2001 and has signed bands including Haim and Years & Years,
says that Polydor are still launching young bands, including Dublin’s Inhaler, while sister label Island
has Easy Life and Sports Team, but there are fewer contenders than there were a decade ago. “The
majority of young people aren’t excited by band music in the traditional sense: groups of lads with
guitars. And that’s reflected in the number of streams these bands receive. That then impacts on
what talented young musicians go on to create. If they’ve grown up obsessing over rap music with
their friends, they’re more likely to start creating rap music.”

Social media is built for individual self-expression. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Twitter –
and even the portrait orientation of a smartphone screen – give an advantage to single voices and
faces while making group celebrity less legible. Even within indie-rock, the most band-friendly genre
apart from metal, the cult of the individual is stronger than ever, which has the advantage of en-
abling more women to rise to the fore. “Phoebe Bridgers, Soccer Mommy, Waxahatchee and other
solo rock acts are essentially leading the genre now,” says Ewens. “Phoebe Bridgers, who is ex-
tremely online and very savvy about using Instagram and Twitter in a way that Gen Z finds relatable
and funny, has attracted pop levels of idolatry.”

Perhaps, too, there is less of an appetite for the interpersonal drama of a group. In the time before
reality shows, bands offered insights into group dynamics (if we’re being highfalutin) or voyeuristic
entertainment (if we’re not). Even now, new generations of fans enjoy finding out exactly what Paul
or John said in 1969, or which messy divorce inspired which Fleetwood Mac song, or how Noel and
Liam came to hate each other’s guts. On one level, every band is a psychological experiment in which
disparate personalities are crammed into close proximity and thrust into the spotlight. You don’t
need bands for that experience now that it is the cornerstone format of reality television. The great
tea-spilling, click-attracting feuds in modern pop are between solo artists, not within bands.

In Asia, though, it’s an entirely different story. “Idol” groups, painstakingly assembled, trained, styled
and choreographed for maximum appeal, have been at the forefront of Japanese and Korean pop for
decades. K-Pop stars BTS are the world’s biggest pop group. “Strategically, this system has more to
offer to the fans than a solo artist,” says Shin Cho, head of K-Pop and J-Pop at Warner Music Asia. “In-
dividual fans have their own favourite members but also appreciate the chemistry in a group. There
can also be sub-group projects that offer something different. The group format is viewed as more
dynamic because there is simply more to do and show compared to a solo artist.”