Guan Pinghu (4 March 1897 – 28 March 1967), was a leading player of the '' guqin'' (), a Chinese 7-string bridgeless zither. Born in

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, Guan came from an artistic family, and started to learn the ''guqin'' from his father, Guan Nianci. After the death of his father when he was thirteen, Guan continued with his father's friend Ye Shimeng and Zhang Xiangtao. He also studied with the leading players of three different schools; Yang Zongji (1865–1933), the leading player in Beijing, the Daoist Qin Heming, and the Buddhist monk Wucheng. Before 1949, Guan did some teaching at the

Yenching University Yenching University () was a Private university, private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" come ...

, but had most of his meager income from selling paintings and repairing old musical instruments and furniture. In 1952, he became a teacher and assistant researcher at the ''Zhongyang Yinyue Xueyuan'' (Central Conservatory of Music) and a leading force at the ''Beijing Guqin Yanjiuhui'' (Beijing Guqin Research Institute), both in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. He also recreated and performed many pieces, including ''Guangling San'' (), '' Youlan'' (《碣石調幽蘭》- Secluded Orchid), and '' Hujia Shiba Pai'' (《胡笳十八拍》 – Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute), that only existed as notation through a process known as ''dapu'' ().Dapu
/ref> These pieces have become part of the core repertory of ''guqin'' music. Though he trained few prominent students, Guan's numerous recordings – notable for their austerity, subtlety, and bold presentation – have exerted wide and continuing influence. In 1977, a recording of "Liu Shui" (流水; Stream), as performed by Guan, was chosen to be included in the

Voyager Golden Record The Voyager Golden Records are two identical phonograph records, one of each which were included aboard the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and data to reconstruct raster scan images selected to portray the di ...

, a gold-plated LP recording containing music from around the world, which was sent into outer space by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

on the

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium, interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days afte ...

and

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, as a part of the Voyager program. It was launched on a trajectory towards the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and enabled further encounters with the ice giants (Uranus and ...

spacecraft. It is the second-longest excerpt included on the disc (lasting seven minutes and 37 seconds) and the only excerpt of Chinese music.

References

*''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London, 2001). 1897 births 1967 deaths 20th-century Chinese painters Artists from Suzhou Deaths from cirrhosis Guqin players Musicians from Suzhou 20th-century Chinese musicians Academic staff of Yenching University Educators from Suzhou {{china-musician-stub

See also

References