This article examines the evolution of the concept of "freedom" in Chinese popular music (C-pop) as a representative phenomenon of mass culture during the period of Reform and Opening-up. Through the analysis of key song lyrics, it traces the trajectory of this concept's transformation – from subordination to collective duty, through the assertion of personal self-determination, to a subsequent synthesis with traditional values. The study demonstrates that popular music acts not as a passive mirror but as an active axiological catalyst, participating in the formation of new value paradigms and the "domestication" of global ideas for the local context. Consequently, the evolution of the musical discourse of freedom serves as a micromodel of the macro-processes of sociocultural transformation in contemporary China.
mass culture; Chinese popular music; concept of freedom; linguocultural analysis; spiritual values; value transformation; song lyrics