Abstract: The article describes the generation of Chinese composers of the period of «Opening up and Reform», who are usually called the «Class of 1978». This historical moment, which determined the turn of Chinese new music into the possibility of interaction with the European avant-garde, is described from the perspective of the most prominent composers of the generation: Chen Yi, Tang Dun, Guo Wenjing. The article defines the trajectories of new music, which Chinese composers then follow, their musical reference points, initial reliance on the classical-romantic European tradition, following new trajectories in the development of compositional technique, reliance on folklorism and orientation to the work of Bela Bartok. Among the leaders who determined the face of new Chinese music, Alexander Goer and Zhou Wenchun are described, and their influence on young composers, which determined the creative fate of the latter, is also emphasized. The purpose of the study is to determine the features of the development of new music in China after the Cultural Revolution. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the history of the composer generation «Class of 1978» is carried out. New facts are presented from the biographies of Tang Dun, Guo Wenjing and Chen Ying. This allows us to take a fresh look at the work of Chinese composers of the 1980s and their interactions with European art. As a result of the study, it was proven that the period of «Opening up and Reform» became an era of musical innovation, and the compositional individuals generated by this era surpassed their predecessors and teachers, both in terms of new concepts and in terms of mastery of compositional technique and brought Chinese music into the world artistic space.