Modern media significantly contributes to the construction of place, identity, and national unity. This research focuses on music, exploring its role in conveying a 'sense of place' within the context of China's dynamic social and political landscape from 1912 to 2019. While novels and films effectively portray place characteristics, music offers a unique lens, expressing personal emotions and ideas, and reflecting historical and social contexts. Songs about places create strong images and convey profound emotions, fostering empathy and emotional responses. Further, music mirrors social values, political factors, economic development, and cultural shifts. Analyzing place references in Chinese music allows us to understand the evolving relationship between people and places, shaped by socio-cultural processes and ideologies. The regional context is crucial as the connection between music and place varies based on the social background. China's vast territory and rich history, coupled with its rapid economic and social transformation during the study period, make it an ideal setting to investigate this relationship. This study, therefore, aims to explore the connotation and meaning of place in Chinese songs against the backdrop of historical and social changes, focusing on how variations in the sense of place are conveyed and analyzing shifts in regional characteristics within music.

The concept of 'sense of place' involves symbolic meanings, attachment, and affection associated with a particular setting, developed through long-term interactions. Constructivism emphasizes that place meanings are built over time, shaped by both individual and collective experiences, reflecting the cultural and social background. Collective memory, as proposed by Halbwachs, plays a significant role in shaping individual experiences of place. Music, as an expressive art form, conveys individual and collective feelings, triggering memories and shared emotions. Electronic media further amplifies the public sharing of these emotional connections to a place. The sense of place is determined by social interactions, physical settings, and psychological processes, with long-term engagement leading to strong place attachment and rootedness. While individual experiences shape the unique sense of place, dominant characteristics may emerge due to government influence or mainstream culture. The literature review also explores the evolving field of music geography, highlighting different perspectives in American and British scholarship—the former focusing on spatial patterns and music diffusion, the latter on spaces, networks, and performance contexts. Prior research on music in China, while limited, suggests a focus on regional music characteristics and place attachment. Existing research also highlights the political and cultural roles of music, its ability to inspire social change, and its function in national identity building and political movements.

This research employed a mixed-methods approach, using content and geographic analysis. The primary data source consisted of Chinese song titles containing place names, supplemented by songs explicitly expressing a sense of place. Data for the period 1912-1979 were gathered from books like *The History of Modern Music* and *90 Years of Songs*. Contemporary music (1980-2019) was sourced from NetEase Cloud Music and QQ Music, China's leading music platforms. A manual search was conducted using the names of China's 293 prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefectures, and regions. The study accounted for copyright restrictions and censorship. Various music genres in both Mandarin and dialects (like Cantonese) were included. The study divided the data into four time periods (1912-1949, 1950-1979, 1980-2009, and 2010-2019) based on major socio-political events. Data were not evenly distributed across periods, reflecting the varying availability of music from different eras. Data collection concluded on March 29, 2019, resulting in a dataset of 3758 song titles (see Table 1 for distribution). Spatial distribution and agglomeration of sense of place were analyzed using ArcGIS and kernel density estimation. Kernel density estimation was used to create probability density maps, showing the concentration of place references. The tf*idf (term frequency-inverse document frequency) method was used to analyze song titles, identifying high-frequency keywords and their significance across the different periods. The tf*idf analysis was conducted on a corpus of 76 works from the Ministry of Education’s Language and Character Application Research Institute, using keywords like economics, politics, sports, etc. The results of the tf*idf analysis are displayed in Tables 2-5.

The kernel density analysis revealed distinct spatial patterns of place references across the four periods. From 1912 to 1949, two main clusters emerged: the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Delta region, reflecting patriotic themes and the impact of war. Keywords included 'Yellow River', 'defend', 'Shanghai', and 'Yangtze'. Songs from this period often expressed strong attachment to homelands, emphasizing the importance of land and resistance against invasion. From 1950 to 1979, the focus shifted to Beijing, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces. Keywords like 'Beijing', 'Dazhai', 'Jinggangshan', and 'Yan'an' highlighted the significance of historical revolutionary sites and the promotion of socialist ideals. The 'send-down' movement to the countryside also influenced song themes. From 1980 to 2009, the kernel density analysis showed clusters in Beijing, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Lhasa. Keywords including 'Beijing', 'Taipei', 'Hong Kong', 'Shanghai', and 'Lhasa' reflected market influences and increasing regional diversity. This era showcased more focus on aesthetic characteristics of places and the impacts of modernization. Finally, from 2010 to 2019, denser clusters emerged in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, Yangtze River Delta, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Chongqing regions, highlighting the growing influence of urban agglomeration and increasing personal experiences. Keywords included 'Beijing', 'Chongqing', 'Nanjing', and many others, emphasizing a more diverse and individualistic sense of place.

The findings demonstrate a significant shift from collective to individualistic expressions of sense of place over time. The patriotic and socialist periods (1912-1979) prioritized collective memory and national identity, with songs celebrating significant historical places and promoting national unity. The market-driven and individualistic eras (1980-2019) witnessed a transition to personal narratives, reflecting the changing social and economic landscape. This transition from collective to individual expression reflects the broader societal shift from a collectivist to individualistic value system in China. The increasing diversity of places mentioned in song titles also speaks to growing mobility and changing relationships with both familiar and new places. The emergence of themes related to placelessness reflects the homogenization of spaces and the impact of modernization on traditional place attachments. However, the study also shows that even in modern urban settings, individuals create a sense of place through repeated interactions with specific locations.

This research highlights the dynamic relationship between music, place, and social change in China. The evolution of sense of place, from primarily patriotic and socialist themes to more individualistic and diverse expressions, mirrors broader societal transformations. The study demonstrates the utility of analyzing music titles as a means of understanding place attachment and its transformation across different socio-political contexts. Future research could focus on specific musical genres, the visual imagery associated with places in songs, and a comparative analysis across different nations.

This study primarily focused on place references in song titles, potentially overlooking songs where place is conveyed through lyrics but not explicitly mentioned in the title. The impact of political censorship on the available data also needs to be considered. While the study included various genres and dialects, further research could explore specific musical styles in more depth. Furthermore, the study could benefit from a more nuanced understanding of the complex interaction between local and global cultural influences in shaping the sense of place.