Feb 1
It’s been an exciting two weeks on China’s microblog scene. Megablogger, rally racer, and novelist Han Han has been defending himself against science writer Fang Zhouzi’s charges that he didn’t write some of his most famous work.
Nov 25
Scholar Christopher G. Rea is the editor of a new book of translations of Humans, Beasts, and Ghosts: Stories and Essays by Qian Zhongshu.
In an article on The China Beat, Rea says Qian “might be called the best Chinese writer you’ve never heard of”. Read more
Nov 4
Liu Jing (刘京) is a Beijing-born entrepreneur, designer and cartoonist. He recently published Understanding China Through Comics, a book for iPad and Kindle about Chinese history. Read more
Sep 23
Water calligraphy is a poetic activity that you can observe in many Chinese parks: Artists use a large brush to write Chinese characters using water instead of ink. Minutes after the characters are written, they disappear.
Media Artist Nicholas Hanna built a tricycle that writes Chinese characters on the ground as it moves.
His tricycle is part of an exhibition for Beijing Design Week: You can see it at the Northern Electric Relay Factory in Dashilanr, south of Qianmen gate. The exhibition opens 6pm on Saturday September 24, 2011, and runs until October 3.
The video below was shot ands edited by Jonah Kesssel. You can also watch it on Vimeo and on Tudou.
Sep 15
The ruan (阮) or moon guitar is a four-stringed Chinese instrument similar to the pipa. It is also sometimes called the qin pipa (秦琵琶) and ruanxian (阮咸).
The most common ruan is the zhongruan (中阮) or tenor ruan. The bass ruan (大阮) is also fairly common; less frequently heard are the soprano (高音阮), alto (小阮) and contrabass: Diyinruan (低音阮) versions. Read more
Sep 14
Perhaps no musical instrument is more evocative of China than the erhu (二胡), but its origins are in central Asia: The erhu is one of several instruments including gaohu, zhuihu and jinghu that were historically known as “huqin” (barbarian’s fiddle) or “xiqin”.
The erhu became a common accompaniment to opera in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the early 20th Century, compositions for erhu by Hua Yanjun (1893-1950) and Liu Tianhua (1895-1932) gave the instrument a respectable solo repertoire.
In this video Liu Hong introduces the erhu and plays the classic folk tune “Running River” (江河水).
I lived in the far west of China in Xinjiang from 2006 to 2010, and I was captivated by the musical heritage of the Uyghur people. Much of their history and entertainment revolve around gatherings of song and dance, and their most popular instrument is a stringed lute known as the rawap. Read more
Jun 29
Jun 10
‘Playing the pipa behind the back’ is a special kind of Chinese gongfu that expresses flying in heaven at Dunhuang. [See image of pipa player from Mogao caves at Dunhuang]
The road to industrialization with Chinese characteristics was taken by Mao Zedong after imitating the Soviets for 8 years, when he threw away the crutch and stood independently. The most unique aspect of that was the reverse method of strengthening agriculture in order to speed up heavy industry: this an example of ‘playing the pipa behind the back’ studied from life. Read more
Jun 9
The guzheng is a 21-stringed zither that has been played in China – in one form or another – for about two thousand years. Aside from having 21 strings (compared to the guqin‘s 7 strings), the guzheng’s other major difference from the guqin is that there are bridges: This means that the left hand can change pitches by bending the strings up and down, whereas the guqin changes pitches by a horizontal motion like a slide guitar. Read more
Jun 9
This track is Paper Boy, composed and performed on the guzheng by Wu Fei:
You can buy Paper Boy as a single on Amazon and iTunes (for 99 cents).
• See also The guzheng on Danwei.
Jun 8
Here are some videos showing musicians using traditional instruments to play all kinds of new music.
If you cannot watch any of these videos, please complain to your local Internet provider or your government about censorship or slow connection speeds. Read more
Jun 8
Modern Chinese instruments are a lot like modern China: a disparate patchwork of various Parts forcibly cobbled into a Whole that, to hear some tell it, Always Was and Ever Shall Be. Read more
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