© The London Youlan Qin Society 2003-2010



Meeting 30 May, 2011



Introduction

This, the 52nd meeting of the London Youlan Qin Society, was held in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. It was a part of the Chinese Four Arts Summer School, and we were honoured and delighted to be joined by Professor Li Xiangting.

Professor Li began by making a short speech. He thanked us for all our efforts. He said the summer school been a great success, and that he was very proud and happy to see that traditional Chinese music, especially qin music, is being appreciated and can flourish in a very important city like London. He hoped it will continue.

After LYQS members had played a piece each, there was a discussion to decide on a topic for Professor Li to improvise on. Three were asked for, and four were suggested:

  1. Chasing dreams
  2. A man was waiting for a friend to come and play Go (weiqi) with him. His friend was late, and a candle was lit. Then he was playing weiqi.
  3. Zhu Bajie, a character in the Chinese novel “Journey to the West” (who had been turned into a pig), carrying a bride. The "bride" was in fact a metamorphosis of the Monkey King.
  4. A man climbed up a mountain to chop wood. He came upon people playing weiqi, and stopped to watch the game. When he returned to his village, he found that the handle of his axe had rotted because he had been away for several hundred years watching the game.

Music

The following music was played:

  1. Zui Yu Chang Wan 醉渔场晚 (Evening Song of the Drunken Fishermen), played by Jiang Cheng
  2. Pei Lan 佩兰 (Admiring the Orchid), played by Charles Tsua
  3. Shui 水 (Water), played by Julian Joseph
  4. Bi Jian Liu Quan 碧涧流泉 (A Spring Flowing through a Green Valley), played by Ashley Guan
  5. Guan Shan Yue 关山月 (Moon over the Mountain Pass), played by Marnix Wells
  6. Liang Xiao Yin 良 宵引 (Prelude for a Pleasant Evening), played by Cai Xia
  7. Jiu Kuang 酒狂 (Drunken Ecstasy), played by Shu Jun
  8. Improvisation on the theme of Zhu Bajie, played by Li Xiangting

The London Youlan Qin Society would like to thank the Department of Music at SOAS for allowing us to hold our meeting there.