Name	Liuqin

The liuqin (; pinyin: liǔqín) is a four-stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. It is small in size, almost a miniature copy of another Chinese plucked musical instrument, the pipa. The range of its voice is much higher than the pipa, and it has its own special place in Chinese music, whether in orchestral music or in solo pieces. This has been the result of a modernization in its usage in recent years, leading to a gradual elevation in status of the liuqin from an accompaniment instrument in folk Chinese opera, narrative music, i.e. Suzhou pingtan, in northern Jiangsu, southern Shandong and Anhui, to an instrument well-appreciated for its unique tonal and acoustic qualities. The position of the instrument is lower than the pipa, being held diagonally like the Chinese ruan and yueqin. Like the ruan and unlike the pipa its strings are elevated by a bridge and the soundboard has two prominent soundholes. Finally, the instrument is played with a pick with similar technique to both ruan and yueqin, whereas the pipa is played with the fingers. Therefore, the liuqin is most commonly played and doubled by those with ruan and yueqin experience. Although, like the larger Chinese pipa, it may look like a lute, in fact, neither pipa nor liuqin have an actual neck, as the soundboard body spans the entire strings to the head of the instrument, making both liuqin and pipa actually handheld zithers.

Historically, the liuqin was commonly made of willow wood, while the professionals used versions constructed with a higher-quality red sandalwood or rosewood. In contemporary versions, however, the front board is made of tong wood (桐木) and for the reverse side, of red sandalwood, as comparable to historical types.

History

The liuqin has gone by various names, firstly the liuyeqin (), meaning willow-leaf-shaped instrument. This was the original term for the liuqin, which is visibly an abbreviation of the term liuyeqin. The other reference to the liuqin is the tu pipa (土琵琶), literally meaning unrefined pipa, because of the aforementioned dimunitive size and resemblance of the liuqin to the pipa.

Throughout its history, the liuqin came in variations ranging from two (which only had and a half octaves) to five strings. However, the earliest precursor of the modern four-stringed version of the instrument appeared and experienced popularity during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907). This version had three strings, and was only used for accompaniment purposes in traditional operas, as mentioned before.

The three-stringed liuqin remained in use for much of dynastic China from the Tang Dynasty until the late 20th century. The tunings used were thus D-G-D and D-A-D. With the modernization of traditional Chinese music in 1970s, the four-stringed liuqin was developed as an improvement to its musical range, and the body of the instrument was enlarged to allow the player to handle the instrument with greater ease. There, however, still remains a five-stringed liuqin, which was developed with a A-D-A-D-A tuning to cater to needs for an alto liuqin in 1975:)

Playing technique, tones and range

Its technique is closer to that of the mandolin than that of the pipa, using a plectrum and frequently using the tremolo technique. Its strings are either tuned in fifths, G-D-A-E (as a mandolin or violin), or else in a mixture of fourths and fifths, as for example G-D-G-D, which is a more common tuning employed by mainstream players of the liuqin. This makes playing of the liuqin exactly the same as the ruan, hence players of either the liuqin or the ruan often double on both instruments.

The modern liuqin has four steel strings. Like the ruan, the number of the liuqin's frets was increased from 7 to 24 over the course of the 20th century. These frets are arranged in half-step intervals. Its refreshing and jubilant tonal quality is more delicate than that of the yueqin.

Note that the frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers never touch the actual body—distinctively different from western fretted instruments. This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult.

Notable players of the liuqin

Wang Hongyi (王红艺), daughter of Wang Huiran

Wang Huiran (王惠然), esteemed "Father of the liuqin"

Mei Han, guzheng who doubles on liuqin

Liuqin repertoire

Works composed/co-composed/adapted by Wang Huiran (王惠然)

Canal of Happiness

Melody on a Moonlit River

Sing a Mountain Song of Love

Spring Comes to River Yi (春到沂河)

The Lark (Yun Que) Romanian Folk Music

Warrior Suite

See also

Traditional Chinese musical instruments

External links

More information

On the instrument

Liuqin photographs (first row)

Liuqin

Liu Qin (a Mp3 recording available here as well)

Information on the liuqin (also includes information on other plucked-string instruments and notational description of instrumental tonal range)

On players of the liuqin

Concert information on Wang Huiran

Press release on Wang Hongyi

Information on Wang Huiran and Wang Hongyi

Audio

Liuqin Mp3s (click headphones to listen to individual tracks)

Liuqin Mp3s on Yahoo! GeoCities

Related Chinese plucked-string instruments

Pipa

Ruan

Category:Chinese musical instruments Category:Necked bowl lutes

Name	Yang Liu
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Instrument	Violin
Genre	Classical
Occupation	Violinist

Yang Liu was born in Tsingtao, China, Liu is a Chinese classical violinist. He made his concert debut at age 10 performing Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo, and also performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in a nationally televised live concert with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, which drew attention of the renowned violin pedagogue Yao-Ji Lin. He began to study with Lin at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and soon afterward, began to concertize as a soloist internationally. His concert tours have led him to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Greece, China, Egypt and America. In pursuit of further musical development, Yang moved to the US in 1998, and continued his studies with Dorothy DeLay and Kurt Sassmannshaus at College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.

In 2002, Yang Liu made his North American debut with the Atlanta Symphony orchestra, earning three nights of standing ovations for his performance of Paganini’s First Violin Concerto. This success is followed by performances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Spano; the Hagen Symphony Orchestra, Germany; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; Oregon East Symphony; TsingTao Symphony Orchestra and Jinan Symphony Orchestra, China. Repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque period to the most contemporary of works.

Yang Liu has been a frequent soloist at the Aspen Music Festival with conductor and with the Cincinnati-based Starling Chamber Orchestra, with which he toured China twice. He also was a featured performer in Starling’s Emmy Award-winning educational video, Classical Quest. His debut recording, "Song of Nostalgia" was released to critical acclaim. The disc represents his broad interest in music, including some of the most difficult repertoire written for the violin and traditional Chinese music. This recording, along with many of his live performances are frequently heard on National Public Radio.

Since making Chicago his home in 2004, Yang Liu has performed as soloist with Highland Park Strings and in recitals in live broadcast Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, has given interviews and live performances on WFMT and New Life Radio, as well as giving an opening concert at the America Film Festival. Recent activities include recitals, masterclasses, and concert appearances at the Kenney Center, Ravinia, Roosevelt University, Northeastern Illinois University, Musicorda Music Festival in Massachusetts, International Music Festival in Brazil, BeiJing Great Wall International Music Festival, and with Wisconsin Chamber orchestra.

Mr. Liu currently plays Antonio Stradivari's "Lady Tennant" made in 1699 on a generous loan from Stradivary Society and Bein and Fushi Rare Violins. In addition to his busy performance schedule, Yang Liu joined the faculty members of College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University in Chicago. He is also one of the founders of an upcoming chamber group Momento Virtuosi.

http://www.yangliu.org/contents/biography/index.html

Category:Living people Category:People's Republic of China musicians

Qin Song was a official serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Han Dynasty era of Chinese history. He was from Guangling and joined Sun Ce with Zhang Hong, also from Guangling.

See also

List of people of the Three Kingdoms

References

"Qin Song", Romance of the Three Kingdoms encyclopedia.

Category:Sun Ce and associates

Cui Dan (崔鄲) was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Wenzong and Emperor Wenzong's brother Emperor Wuzong.

Background

It is not known when Cui Dan was born. He was from the "Lesser Branch" of the prominent Cui clan of Qinghe (清河, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), and his ancestors originally claimed ancestry from the ruling house of the Spring and Autumn Period state Qi. Cui Dan's traceable ancestry included officials of Han Dynasty (including Cui Yan), Liu Song, Northern Wei, and Tang Dynasty. His grandfather Cui Ji (崔佶) served as a staff member for a crown prince, while his father Cui Chui (崔陲) served as a deputy chief imperial censor.

Cui Dan had at least seven brothers — older brothers Cui Bin (崔邠), Cui Feng (崔鄷), Cui Yan (崔郾), Cui Xun (崔郇), Cui Han (崔邯), and Cui Shan (崔鄯), and younger brother Cui Fu (崔鄜). Six of the brothers would eventually reach high level positions within the Tang government. After that, Cui was recalled to the capital Chang'an to serve as the deputy minister of public works (工部侍郎, Gongbu Shilang), and an imperial scholar at Jixian Hall (集賢殿) He thereafter was also made Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎), the deputy head of the legislative bureau, and given the honorary title Yinqing Guanglu Daifu (銀青光祿大夫). After Emperor Wenzong died in 840 and was succeeded by his brother Emperor Wuzong, although Cui's colleagues Yang Sifu and Li Jue were removed from their posts, and Li Deyu became the leading chancellor, Cui remained chancellor. (It was said that this was because Li Deyu and the Cui brothers had long had friendly relations.) In 841, when Emperor Wuzong came to believe in allegations that Yang and Li Jue had supported other candidates to succeed Emperor Wenzong rather than him and wanted to put Yang and Li Jue to death, Li Deyu, at the advice of Du Cong, interceded, along with Cui and their other chancellor colleagues Chen Yixing and Cui Gong, and Emperor Wuzong spared Yang and Li Jue's lives, although exiling them far away from the capital.

Career after chancellorship

Late in 841, Cui Dan was sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Xichuan Circuit. Early in the subsequent reign of Emperor Wuzong's uncle Emperor Xuānzong, Cui was made the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), carrying the title of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi as an honorary title. He died while still serving at Huainan, but the time is not known.

Notes and references

Book of Tang, vol. 155.

New Book of Tang, vol. 163.

Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 246.

Category:9th-century deaths Category:Chancellors under Emperor Wenzong of Tang Category:Chancellors under Emperor Wuzong of Tang Category:Tang Dynasty Jiedushi of Xichuan Circuit Category:Tang Dynasty Jiedushi of Huainan Circuit