Discover Chinese Classical Music

Guqin has been frequently referred to as the preferred instrument of the sages and literati. For instance, Confucius (551 – 479 BC) was a great master of this instrument. Another notable great master is Ji Kong (223–262) who is one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove".Qin is seven-stringed zither without bridges, the most classical Chinese instrument with over 3000 years of history. It is literally called qin yet commonly known as "guqin" (, where "gu" stands for ancient), whereas the qin has become a generic name for all string instruments today. 

Guqin has the most well-documented history and best preserved repertoire among all the intruments from China. There are a lot of literatures around guqin, and the information about the guqin is plenty.

To learn to play qin used to be regarded as a very important element for education for the purpose of enriching the heart and elevating human spirit or spirituel communication (to associate with the values and attitude of the past sages). In Imperial China’s past, monks, scholars and ladies of the elite society were supposed to master the four traditional arts, namely, qin, qi, shu and hua. 

Being on top of the four traditional arts, the guqin has historically been regarded as one of the most important symbols of Chinese high culture. Unfortunately only small number of people in China could play the instrument, because classical musical education of this kind has never really reached general public. The situation for today has not been improved much until recently.

Due to this reason, a lot of ancient repertoire was lost with the pass-away of masters or the written scores were burned or destroyed in war or social turmoil. The situation for the Chinese lute pipa was similar. However, the guqin repertoire has been much better preserved than all other instruments. Since November 2003, Guqin has been registered as one of the master pieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of the humanity by the United Nations' Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO).

There's a lot of talk these days about reinventing Chinese classical music. Or maybe just reinventing its marketing, but in any case doing something to make it come alive.

There's been some action, too. TheFoundation will be holding on Dec. 12 an English lecture on Chinese classical music, featuring a short introduction to the history of Chinese music, a classical ensemble performance, a Q&A session and a demonstration on how to play traditional Chinese instruments. 

The concert is an annual activity of the Nancy Huang Foundation established in 1992 by Nancy Yu Huang and her husband Y. P. Huang — the founders of The China Post.