2 | Wednesday, July 28, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO

Music students “In my car, I listened to a CD that featured guqin pieces. I was attracted to instantly hooked by the sound, which I had never heard before. It the sounds of made me feel calm and close to the ancient China music, although I didn’t know the name of the piece,” Gao said. “After the guqin is mastered, it By CHEN NAN can help in many ways. I feel [email protected] relaxed when I play it, and I am also reading Chinese poems and n a cool summer evening books about traditional Chinese in 1991, the sun had just culture.” set and a leisurely breeze blew across scenic grass- Star performer Olands. On July 16, renowned pipa reci- Herdsmen completed their day’s talist Zhang Hongyan performed work and gathered round an out- with her students at the Forbidden door stage in Arvingerel, located City Concert Hall, concluding the in the east of the Inner Mongolia pipa summer camp led by Zhang. autonomous region. A professor at the Central Con- They were awaiting the arrival servatory of Music, Zhang played of the Ulan Muqir, or Red Bud pieces adapted from popular Chi- Troupe, in this small town situated nese songs, including Playing My amid the rolling Horqin Grass- Beloved Pipa, a popular number lands in Jalaid Banner, Hinggan written by composer Lyu Qiming League. for the Chinese movie The Railway Ulan Muqir means “red bud” in Guerrillas in 1956. Zhang also per- Mongolian, and the art troupe formed Guests From Afar Please travels from site to site, perform- Stay, a song written by Fan Yu and ing for herdsmen who live in some Mai Ding in 1953. of China’s remotest areas. In 2011, Zhang launched a sum- Surleg first watched an Ulan mer camp as part of the annual Muqir performance when he was festival. Now in its tenth year, the 8. Impressed by the act, which camp attracts more than 120 stu- included singing and dancing, he dents of all ages from around the was intrigued by the sound of the country. morin khuur, a horse-headed fid- Surleg shows 7-year-old Qiuqiu how to hold a morin khuur bow. zou hong / china daily “I am very proud and happy to dle that is a traditional instrument see that so many young Chinese of the ethnic Mongolian group. love to play the pipa. I can see each “When a young man dressed in one of them progressing,” Zhang ethnic clothing sat and started to said. play the morin khuur, I was quickly She added that when the Forbid- captivated by the deep and rough den City Concert Hall invited her sounds he produced. I can’t Traditional instruments to launch the pipa summer camp, remember the pieces he per- it was the first such camp at the formed, but I decided to learn to Gateway to Music festival dedicat- play the instrument,” Surleg said. ed to a traditional Chinese instru- He fulfilled his dream of master- ment. Before this, Western ing the instrument while he was in resonate in the modern age instruments, ballet and vocal middle school, and in 2014, he training dominated the camp pro- traveled to Beijing to continue his grams. In the first year, about 30 music studies for two years. He students joined the camp, with the now teaches morin khuur in the number doubling the following Chinese capital. year. With the summer vacation arriv- Zhang’s students from the Cen- ing, he has a hectic schedule giving tral Conservatory of Music volun- lessons to young students and teer to join the camp to give adults. instruction. This year, two classes One Sunday afternoon, he began were added for advanced pipa stu- a class with Qiuqiu, a 7-year-old dents. boy, who had been learning the Gan Shafei, 14, one of the stu- morin khuur for a few weeks. dents attending this year’s pipa He told his young pupil: “It camp, first took part in the sum- sounds squeaky now, but it’s OK. mer activity when she was 8 and For beginners, it’s not easy to pro- was drawn to the four-stringed duce a good sound, but you will be instrument, which has a history of able to play some beautiful music some 2,000 years. once you’ve reached a certain level Now a student at the middle of proficiency. You just need to school affiliated to the Central practice and not give up.” Conservatory of Music, Gan plans As he was being instructed, the to become a professional pipa boy tried to keep his bow moving player. in a straight line and maintain “I love playing the pipa, as it’s a even pressure on the strings. versatile instrument through which I can express my feelings Vivid pictures about everything,” she said. Qiuqiu’s mother, who is from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Bai ethnic Mongolian group, said: Juyi described the sound of the “The passionate sounds of the pipa as “pearls landing on a jade morin khuur evoke vivid images of plate”. life on the grasslands of Inner Gan added: “That’s just one of Mongolia. I want my son to learn the sounds the pipa can produce. the instrument, as it belongs to our I’d like to play pieces for the ethnic group.” instrument as much as possible The two-stringed morin khuur and also try to compose one day.” features prominently in Mongoli- On the final day of the pipa sum- an nomadic culture. In 2003, it mer camp, Zhang invited a special was recognized by the United guest onto the stage — Chen Jiayi, Nations Educational, Scientific one of her students. The Beijing and Cultural Organization as an native, who is in her early 20s, has intangible cultural heritage. Six aplastic anemia, a rare bone mar- years later, morin khuur music row disorder, and has had to sus- was listed in the first group of pend her schooling. national intangible heritage Zhang said: “Of all my students, approved by the State Council, she is very special. She has been China’s Cabinet. Top left: Students perform at the summer camp for flute players. Top right: A performance is given by pipa students after the summer struggling with her illness, but it Most of Surleg’s students come camp. Left: Zhang Hongyan, left, a pipa teacher, invites student Chen Jiayi to take the stage on the last day of the camp. Right: Gao Ge, a has not stopped her playing the from ethnic Mongolian families. white-collar worker who has learned the guqin for five years, makes her stage debut at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. pipa. I am her teacher, and at the There are also students, ranging photos provided to china daily same time, she inspires me. Her from young adults to seniors, who passion for the instrument have traveled to Inner Mongolia empowers me.” and been impressed by perform- in Beijing to attend two summer the festival has included instruc- ing poetry or practicing tradition- Chen was not keen on playing ances given by morin khuur instru- camps for instruction in the guqin tion in the guqin, xiao and xun. al Chinese ink painting, but we the pipa when her father first sug- mentalists. (a seven-stringed zither), the xiao “We were worried whether these want to show how these instru- gested she study the instrument. “Although the instrument is We were worried (a bamboo flute) and the xun (an traditional instruments would be ments work against the backdrop She was about 10 at the time and learned by only a small number of egg-shaped wind instrument sufficiently popular to attract peo- of the contemporary world.” had spent two years learning to people, I am happy to see that whether these made from pottery clay). ple. However, when applications For absolute beginners, Li first play piano. Although she never some schools in Beijing have traditional As part of the ongoing annual opened, we were quickly relieved, designed courses to acquaint them expected to enjoy the pipa, she included it as part of their art edu- Gateway to Arts 2021 Summer Fes- as within 10 minutes all these with the guqin, which dates back joined a traditional Chinese folk cation,” said Surleg, who teaches instruments tival, the two camps attracted stu- courses had been booked,” Xu said. thousands of years. The students music troupe at her primary students at Yu Quan Primary would be dents of all ages, with or without “It proves that more and more then listened to the instrument school and became one its best School, which is affiliated to the musical backgrounds. people appreciate traditional Chi- being used to play various tunes at performers, later continuing her Chinese Academy of Sciences. sufficiently nese music. They want to try different tempos, before Li let musical studies at summer camp. Since 2015, the school has offered popular to attract Young students something new — yet old — in them pluck it. When she was 14, Chen saw morin khuur classes, and now One of Beijing’s biggest arts such instrumental music.” “The guqin is a very quiet instru- Zhang Hongyan performing on more than 20 students, age 7 to 12, people. However, events for children during the Guqin player Li Fengyun, a pro- ment. A player needs to be patient television, and quickly became a are being instructed by Surleg. when applications summer vacation since 1995, the fessor at the Tianjin Conservatory and concentrate while playing it,” fan. She wrote to Zhang, and they With music programs being Gateway to Arts Summer Festival of Music, and musicologist Wang she said. became friends. offered at the vast majority of opened, we were opened this year at the Forbidden Jianxin, who is also a professor at Li added that she joined the Chen said: “Whether I am happy schools, students have access to a quickly relieved, City Concert Hall on July 4 and the conservatory, are two leading Gateway to Arts festival last year or sad, I love playing the pipa. wide range of instruments. as within 10 runs until Aug 31. teachers at the summer camps and launched an online course in Since I suspended my schooling, I Some of these, such as the morin The event includes 10 mini sum- giving instruction on wind instru- guqin instruction, which received have studied at home alone. I am khuur, are considered to appeal to minutes all these mer camps teaching children ments such as the flute and xiao. warm feedback from students. now reading books about musicol- minority tastes, but are attracting courses had been Western classical music, tradition- Li said, “We started by playing Gao Ge, a white-collar worker in ogy, music therapy and psycholo- an increasing number of students al Chinese operas and long-estab- most classical pieces with our Beijing, is one of the students tak- gy. to classes during the summer vaca- booked.” lished Chinese instruments, along instruments, showcasing their ing Li’s online classes. She started “I try my best to play the instru- tion. with 69 live performances and 10 beauty. These instruments are to learn the guqin five years ago, ment and I am still hoping that Xu Jian, general manager of On July 17, more than 60 people the Forbidden City Concert public lectures. very old and are usually associated and after three days of instruction one day I can study at the Central from across the country gathered Hall Xu Jian, general manager of the with images of people from from Li, she made her stage debut Conservatory of Music, where at the Forbidden City Concert Hall concert hall, said it is the first time ancient China in long robes writ- at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. Zhang teaches.”