Living Heritage: Guqin
1 year, 6 months ago

Living Heritage: Guqin

China Daily  

Wandering sounds, irregular rhythms and a carrier of gentle emotions. This is the musical language of guqin, a plucked seven string instrument created in ancient China. The earliest piece of guqin in China, unearthed in Hubei province in 2016, dates back to the Zhou Dynasty. As he played his guqin in the mountains, a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi heard the music and understood exactly what Yu wanted to express. The piece has been passed down through generations and is considered one of the most famous and important compositions in Chinese guqin music.

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History of this topic

Elevating the guzheng's legacy
5 months ago

Elevating the guzheng's legacy

China Daily  

Ji Wei, a renowned guzheng artist, enhances the traditional Chinese instrument's appeal and global presence through cultural outreach. "The sound of the guzheng can convey both melancholic and cheerful emotions: its lower range exudes solemn and dignified music, its middle range displays great tenderness, and its high notes can be incredibly majestic," Ji explained. "It was then that I realized …

Elevating the guzheng's legacy
5 months ago

Elevating the guzheng's legacy

China Daily  

Ji Wei, a renowned guzheng artist, enhances the traditional Chinese instrument's appeal and global presence through cultural outreach. "The sound of the guzheng can convey both melancholic and cheerful emotions: its lower range exudes solemn and dignified music, its middle range displays great tenderness, and its high notes can be incredibly majestic," Ji explained. "It was then that I realized …

Guqin players show their style
9 months ago

Guqin players show their style

China Daily  

Concerts gathering guqin masters from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland were staged in Beijing on Friday and Saturday. Guqin masters, including Sou Si-tai, Tse Chun-yan and young performers, including Maggie Lai and Karman Li, shared the stage with guqin artists, Li Fengyun, Zhang Zisheng as well as instrumentalists, such as Cheng Chai-man. "Guqin artists from Hong Kong have been …

Guqin players show their style
9 months ago

Guqin players show their style

China Daily  

Concerts gathering guqin masters from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland were staged in Beijing on Friday and Saturday. Guqin masters, including Sou Si-tai, Tse Chun-yan and young performers, including Maggie Lai and Karman Li, shared the stage with guqin artists, Li Fengyun, Zhang Zisheng as well as instrumentalists, such as Cheng Chai-man. "Guqin artists from Hong Kong have been …

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart
1 year, 6 months ago

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart

China Daily  

Editor's note: There are 43 items inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists that not only bear witness to the past glories of Chinese civilization, but also continue to shine today. In this installment, we discover why guqin, a musical instrument with a history spanning three millennia, still strikes a chord with Chinese music lovers. Zide Guqin Studio uses modern …

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart
1 year, 6 months ago

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart

China Daily  

Sun Haopeng plays virtuoso. WANG JING/CHINA DAILY Family tradition Wu, born in Changshu, Jiangsu province, learned to play the guqin with his father, Wu Jinglue, who was also a guqin master and founded the guqin music school of the Wu family. I am the second generation of my family keeping on the tradition of playing and promoting the instrument and …

An instrument of knowledge
1 year, 6 months ago

An instrument of knowledge

China Daily  

The Zide Guqin Studio is most notable as a folk music ensemble that incorporates guqin and other musical instruments. CHINA DAILY Apart from learning and working, they also formed an NGO that organizes guqin gatherings for fellow enthusiasts, resembling the traditional salons frequented by scholars and literati in ancient China. Listed as "the four friends of literati", alongside chess, calligraphy …

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart
1 year, 6 months ago

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart

China Daily  

Editor's note: There are 43 items inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists that not only bear witness to the past glories of Chinese civilization, but also continue to shine today. In this installment, we discover why guqin, a musical instrument with a history spanning three millennia, still strikes a chord with Chinese music lovers. Zide Guqin Studio uses modern …

An instrument of knowledge
1 year, 6 months ago

An instrument of knowledge

China Daily  

Tang Bin is a founding member and the artistic director of the Zide Guqin Studio. CHINA DAILY When ancient Chinese mentioned qin, a word that now refers to a range of instruments, it would be likely that they were only talking about one instrument — guqin, the seven-stringed zither. The ethereal timbre and elegant appearance of guqin have long elevated …

An instrument of knowledge
1 year, 6 months ago

An instrument of knowledge

China Daily  

Tang Bin is a founding member and the artistic director of the Zide Guqin Studio. CHINA DAILY When ancient Chinese mentioned qin, a word that now refers to a range of instruments, it would be likely that they were only talking about one instrument — guqin, the seven-stringed zither. The ethereal timbre and elegant appearance of guqin have long elevated …

An instrument of knowledge
1 year, 6 months ago

An instrument of knowledge

China Daily  

Tang Bin is a founding member and the artistic director of the Zide Guqin Studio. CHINA DAILY When ancient Chinese mentioned qin, a word that now refers to a range of instruments, it would be likely that they were only talking about one instrument — guqin, the seven-stringed zither. The ethereal timbre and elegant appearance of guqin have long elevated …

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart
1 year, 6 months ago

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart

China Daily  

Sun Haopeng plays virtuoso. WANG JING/CHINA DAILY Family tradition Wu, born in Changshu, Jiangsu province, learned to play the guqin with his father, Wu Jinglue, who was also a guqin master and founded the guqin music school of the Wu family. I am the second generation of my family keeping on the tradition of playing and promoting the instrument and …

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart
1 year, 6 months ago

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart

China Daily  

Editor's note: There are 43 items inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists that not only bear witness to the past glories of Chinese civilization, but also continue to shine today. In this installment, we discover why guqin, a musical instrument with a history spanning three millennia, still strikes a chord with Chinese music lovers. Zide Guqin Studio uses modern …

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart
1 year, 6 months ago

Plucking at the strings of the nation's heart

China Daily  

Editor's note: There are 43 items inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists that not only bear witness to the past glories of Chinese civilization, but also continue to shine today. In this installment, we discover why guqin, a musical instrument with a history spanning three millennia, still strikes a chord with Chinese music lovers. Zide Guqin Studio uses modern …

An instrument of knowledge
1 year, 6 months ago

An instrument of knowledge

China Daily  

Tang Bin is a founding member and the artistic director of the Zide Guqin Studio. CHINA DAILY When ancient Chinese mentioned qin, a word that now refers to a range of instruments, it would be likely that they were only talking about one instrument — guqin, the seven-stringed zither. The ethereal timbre and elegant appearance of guqin have long elevated …

Living Heritage: Guqin
1 year, 6 months ago

Living Heritage: Guqin

China Daily  

Wandering sounds, irregular rhythms and a carrier of gentle emotions. This is the musical language of guqin, a plucked seven string instrument created in ancient China. The earliest piece of guqin in China, unearthed in Hubei province in 2016, dates back to the Zhou Dynasty. As he played his guqin in the mountains, a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi heard the …

Sound of the past, note for the future
1 year, 7 months ago

Sound of the past, note for the future

China Daily  

Xiao musician Shen Yingbiao plays the traditional Chinese musical instrument with another performer playing guqin at a concert in Shanghai last year. Often accompanying the guqin, a zither-like seven-stringed traditional musical instrument, the xiao, a traditional vertical bamboo flute with a relatively light sound, was often viewed as a foil. Shen was infatuated with the instrument after he bought a …

Sound of the past, note for the future
1 year, 7 months ago

Sound of the past, note for the future

China Daily  

Xiao musician Shen Yingbiao plays the traditional Chinese musical instrument with another performer playing guqin at a concert in Shanghai last year. Often accompanying the guqin, a zither-like seven-stringed traditional musical instrument, the xiao, a traditional vertical bamboo flute with a relatively light sound, was often viewed as a foil. Shen was infatuated with the instrument after he bought a …

Sound of the past, note for the future
1 year, 7 months ago

Sound of the past, note for the future

China Daily  

Xiao musician Shen Yingbiao plays the traditional Chinese musical instrument with another performer playing guqin at a concert in Shanghai last year. Often accompanying the guqin, a zither-like seven-stringed traditional musical instrument, the xiao, a traditional vertical bamboo flute with a relatively light sound, was often viewed as a foil. Shen was infatuated with the instrument after he bought a …

American guqin player infuses ancient Chinese instrument with modern spirit
1 year, 8 months ago

American guqin player infuses ancient Chinese instrument with modern spirit

China Daily  

Jacob Charles plays the guqin. Jacob Charles is a Mexican-American intermedia artist, composer and guqin player. Charles hopes to popularize this traditional Chinese instrument, and enlighten more people about the fascinating nature of Chinese culture. Charles said he has dedicated himself to creating a new musical language, one that conveys both a sense of tranquility and the plurality of combining …

American guqin player infuses ancient Chinese instrument with modern spirit
1 year, 8 months ago

American guqin player infuses ancient Chinese instrument with modern spirit

China Daily  

Jacob Charles plays the guqin. Jacob Charles is a Mexican-American intermedia artist, composer and guqin player. Charles hopes to popularize this traditional Chinese instrument, and enlighten more people about the fascinating nature of Chinese culture. Charles said he has dedicated himself to creating a new musical language, one that conveys both a sense of tranquility and the plurality of combining …

On a string and a prayer
2 years, 7 months ago

On a string and a prayer

China Daily  

Guqin player and craftsman Yang Lan plays the instrument during a gathering with friends in Nantong, Jiangsu province, in 2021. After taking a risk by dropping out of school at the age of 16, two decades later, Yang Lan has crafted a comfortable life by playing, teaching and making guqin, Wang Ru reports. When Yang Lan first became attracted to …

On a string and a prayer
2 years, 7 months ago

On a string and a prayer

China Daily  

Yang's new book, Qinren, introduces his experience with the instrument. Probably because of the freedom allowed in playing old pieces of music, guqin players don't often create new ones, but prefer practicing the older compositions in different styles, Yang Lan suggests. Luckily, after moving to Hangzhou, Zhejiang, in 2011, he was introduced to modern guqin master Cheng Gongliang, who corrected …

On a string and a prayer
2 years, 7 months ago

On a string and a prayer

China Daily  

Guqin player and craftsman Yang Lan plays the instrument during a gathering with friends in Nantong, Jiangsu province, in 2021. After taking a risk by dropping out of school at the age of 16, two decades later, Yang Lan has crafted a comfortable life by playing, teaching and making guqin, Wang Ru reports. When Yang Lan first became attracted to …

On a string and a prayer
2 years, 7 months ago

On a string and a prayer

China Daily  

Guqin player and craftsman Yang Lan plays the instrument during a gathering with friends in Nantong, Jiangsu province, in 2021. After taking a risk by dropping out of school at the age of 16, two decades later, Yang Lan has crafted a comfortable life by playing, teaching and making guqin, Wang Ru reports. When Yang Lan first became attracted to …

Guqin and its music
4 years ago

Guqin and its music

China Daily  

Chen Zilai, a 7-year-old student in Shimei Primary School in Changshu, Jiangsu province, performs in a guqin concert on Aug 29. 2008，Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity The Chinese zither, called guqin, has existed for over 3,000 years and represents China’s foremost solo musical instrument tradition. San is played with the right hand and involves plucking open …

Guqin and its music
4 years ago

Guqin and its music

China Daily  

Chen Zilai, a 7-year-old student in Shimei Primary School in Changshu, Jiangsu province, performs in a guqin concert on Aug 29. 2008，Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity The Chinese zither, called guqin, has existed for over 3,000 years and represents China’s foremost solo musical instrument tradition. San is played with the right hand and involves plucking open …

Ancient instrument strikes enchanting chord of opportunity in Xinjiang
4 years, 1 month ago

Ancient instrument strikes enchanting chord of opportunity in Xinjiang

China Daily  

A visitor looks at konghou exhibits on display at the National Museum of China in August. For 15-year-old Gulzeper Muhtar in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, it is the sound of konghou, an ancient plucked string instrument. Konghou, which is shaped like a harp, is said to have been introduced into the Chinese hinterland via Xinjiang during the prime …

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