About Guzheng Alive
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There are thousand of works written about the guzheng in Chinese languages but quality English language sources are hard to find. Let's change that.
It is my desire to make the guzheng accessible to a wider audience. One way to do that is to create a place where people can discover the instrument at their own pace. I work to detail the history of the guzheng, its music, and the people who make up its past and present. Yet, I am only one person. I have and will continue to put my best effort into this, but to truly tell these stories I need and welcome the community's help.
If you have history, stories, or experiences, please send me an email. There's a form at the bottom of every page to do so. If you know of books or publications, tell me about them! Even if you have only your own experiences and a few moments to share your story, please, please do so! I would be happy to speak with you. I alone am incapable of telling this instrument's story but together, through many shared voices, we can make something wonderful.
To keep this undertaking manageable I have two guidelines. 1) I focus on English Language resources. It's easier for me to understand and it prevents me from being overwhelmed with the massive bulk of historic and contemporary writings in Chinese. 2) I am trying not to create teaching material. You can and should learn to play the guzheng! But there are already teachers all over the world who are ready, willing, and able to provide lessons in person or online. I hope this website becomes a reference for knowledge of all sorts, but you will need a true teacher to guide you to understanding.
-JB
Why aren't there more (English) books?
One big issue limiting how many people learn about the guzheng is how rarely the instrument is mentioned in English-language books. So why is that? Well, the first challenge is that the majority of events surrounding the guzheng took place in China. China, my friends, is very big(*). China has many native languages, none of which are English. Writers seeking to describe the history and culture of China need a person (or a team) who can operate in all of them. Even with a team, China is overwhelming in its culture, history, and size. With so much to learn and so much to explain, well, some things fall by the wayside.
But there's a bit more to it. Western “explorers” in the 1800s and early 1900s regarded music from China as an exotic and lesser oddity.(1) Tht’s unfortunate but human. When we encounter something that is different, we tend to believe that the different thing is lesser. We see this wherever cultures encounter each other; it's the negative connotation beneath the word "foreigner". With enough exposure humans do get past the "it's not like mine" and enjoy other culture on their own merits, but it's been difficult for English speakers to gain enough exposure to the history and culture of China to get over that resistance. The writing system is intimidating and translations were problematic.
That is changing.
Modern technology has made mountains of information accessible to people with an internet connection. Travel to China is newly accessible with improved visa agreements and infrastructure, and flights to China can fall to incredibly low prices in the off seasons. Guzheng Alive was not possible 20 years ago. Even 10 years ago this would have been challenging to the point of overwhelming. But today is a different story. Join me on this journey.
Notes
(*): Citation needed.
(1) there are researchers who have acted as exceptions but they prove the point: When you can only point to a handful of respectful, factually accurate works, it highlights just how few exist.
What about Wikipedia and other websites?
There are sources about the guzheng on the internet but most aren't in English, lack depth, contradict each other, or are a combination of all three. You can see it for yourself: type "guzheng" into your favorite search engine and see what turns up. The first ten results are either Wikipedia, digital storefronts selling guzheng, or pages of guzheng musicians. The Wikipedia article is a disappointing ramble that sources very little and confuses more than it informs. All the other pages offer incomplete tidbits that, even taken together, provide inaccurate or imprecise versions of guzheng history. The musicians' pages are usually more interesting and coherent than the storefronts but history is not their priority. That's totally fair but it leaves a massive gap.
Deeper in the search results you'll find enthusiasts' pages extolling the instrument, but they are often beset by the same issues. Such is the challenge: Unless you are selling something or are Wikipedia, primacy in search is a hard nut to crack.
Speaking of Wikipedia, you may wonder why I don't improve that wonderful, terrible, most accessible of resources myself. First, I have, it used to be worse. Second: the limitations. Wikipedia has guidelines which force articles to become boring. Further, Wikipedia is not intended to be a gathering place for communities. It tries to separate facts from people in a way I think harms the conversation around parts of life where the people are so integral.
Wikipedia discourages or outright prohibits referencing graduate theses, offering speculations, or reporting original work. Those are reasonable standards for a global encyclopedia, however the most informative English-language guzheng sources are theses. And I do enjoy me some speculation, so Wikipedia and I would clash. Further, there is the specter of editors with conflicts of interest coming in and distorting information to their gain, which is part of the reason why the Wikipedia article has historically been a mess. I don't want this effort to be at the mercy of anonymous promoters.
Lastly, the existence of Guzheng Alive means I have a conflict of interest. While I try to be mindful of that when editing topics I care about, any third party should be skeptical - I am, after all, a representative with a vested interest modifying a global record. Rather than cause trouble, I generally abstain. I will, however, push against other editors who seek to make that article worse.
All that said: Since about 2009 the English Wikipedia Guzheng page has averaged upwards of 300 views a day, and currently sits at about 10k+ user views per month. It serves as an introduction to a wide range of people. If you have the time and interest, please do work on improving it.
About the Author, JB:
I am an enthusiast, a non-professional player who took my first lessons and purchased my first guzheng in 2016. This website started because I couldn’t find the answers to my questions, neither on Wikipedia nor from my teachers. I looked farther afield and started to find them. If I wanted to know, surely others would as well? So I made a blog post. And then a page. And then a VERY long page. And then I admitted defeat, took down a personal website I had held for a while, and replaced with with Guzheng Alive.
Why me? Because I have the mix of skills perfect for this: websites, writing, photography, technology, and a refusal to believe it’s not possible. But of course, that wouldn’t get me anywhere without the support and encouragement of others (and a good deal of luck).
It has been my good fortune to find or be given the work of brilliant scholars from around the world.
Let me dispel some preconceptions:
My Chinese languages skills are rudimentary. This is a barrier - but I use technology and translation techniques to go farther. We work with the skills we have.
I am not an expert musician.
I am Definitely not a teacher.
My skills are at finding and displaying information which, (perfectly) is what you need for a website! The real experts are the amazing scholars and performers who have invested their whole lives in the music, history, and culture. They, like Doctors Mei Han and Te-yuan Cheng; Liang Tsai-Ping, Cao Zheng, Zhao YuZhai, and the many store runners like Carol Chang and others who have given their time to me and other community members deserve the utmost respect. I owe each and every one of them a heartfelt thank you. You can find out more about them on the Experts and Timelines pages.
Join me in this adventure! Music is about community, about sharing knowledge and insight across generations. In today's age it's also about sharing across cultures and continents. I would love this story to include more perspectives. Please correct any wrongs you find, offer insight, or ask questions of your own through the form at the bottom of this and every page. You can use it to send me an email! Thank you for all that you offer.
On Affiliation and Support:
This project and the author are not affiliated with any of the entities mentioned on this site. I do not receive any financial or in-kind support from any of the people, places, or organizations I mention with one notable exception: in 2020: I did receive an unrequested but very generous donation from a musician whom I mention on the site; I put that and all other donations received from readers in a separate account as an emergency fund for website hosting costs. As of June 2023 I have yet to spend any of those funds. You can read more on the Financial Disclosure page.
I pursue projects and maintain this site at my own expense. The businesses I link to are included because of either the information they share, or as a directory for readers. I mention Carol Chang and ChineseZither.net extensively because she was the most extensive, accessible, and current source of publicly available information during the first years of this project. I’ve come to know other store runners and professionals in the guzheng community since and am glad for it, but it can’t obscure the truth that Carol Chang remains one of the largest contributors to the continuation of guzheng learning and music in the United States.
The potential conflict of interest is real; she runs a business, and I’ve purchased from it on several occasions. All the information I have shared on this site that came from her has been corroborated by other sources or stood tall on its own deductions, logic, and supporting facts. From a commercial side, her business is the best-established guzheng retailer in the United States, and sets a standard I evaluate other storefronts by. That is not to say any aspect is perfect, but these facts must be recognized.
I am sure there are guzheng stores with wonderful professionals who will share knowledge to whoever asks, and I know of domestic storefronts based in California, New York, Washington D.C., and Canada that have positive reputations, but their knowledge is less visible and accessible. Carol Chang's work was once accessible (for the decade or more that she ran the original guzhengforum) and for that I owe her a debt of gratitude for the work and care she puts into what she does.
Let’s add to the list! Send me other wholesome sources and we’ll celebrate them too!