Moving the strings (弦) of the nation's heart
When talking about the history of the guqin, Wu Wenguang, a famous performer of the ancient zither (古筝), likes to tell a folk story about the sincere friendship between a musician and his biggest fan.
D the Spring and Autumn period, there was a musician named Yu Boya. He lived alone in a forest where he often played the guqin. One day, a passing woodcutter, Zhong Ziqi, was attracted by the sounds of the ancient zither and stopped to l. It was the best that he once heard. Yu's playing created different p in Zhong's mind, such as clouds flowing and waterfalls falling. They became good friends. After many years, when Zhong Ziqi passed away, Yu decided never to play the guqin again because he knew that he wouldn't have anyone e like Zhong to so truly understand his music.
"With the power to e the deepest feeling, the guqin becomes the connection between performing and listening," says Wu. "Today when we talk about t Chinese culture, the ancient zither, which was played by many famous people on literature, is surely in the center of the ancient culture."
Indeed, the guqin, a p musical instrument of ancient China's educated group, was also the favorite instrument of Confucius (孔子). In 2008, it was a to the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
In April, when President Xi Jinping m with French President Emmanuel Macron, a classic guqin piece, High Mountain and Flowing Water, was played to celebrate the friendship between the two c. The instrument not only shows the past greatness of Chinese civilization (文明), but also continues to shine today.
