Sam Spade's San Francisco

The guqin, a seven-stringed zither, is China's oldest stringed instrument, with a history of some 3000 years. Chinese music has a long history, and its essence is best expressed on the guqin. Historically, the guqin has been viewed as a symbol of Chinese high culture and the instrument most expressive of the essence of Chinese music. More than 100 harmonics can be played on the guqin, which probably is the largest number of harmonics of any instrument. In Imperial China, a well educated scholar was expected to be skilled in four arts:

· Qin (the guqin),
· Qi (the Life Force),
· Shu (calligraphy) and
· Hua (painting).

By the way, a rough pronunciation of the word guqin is "ku-ch'in".

Internationally renowned guqin soloist and first string performer with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, Gong Yi will perform guqin music compositions dating back to the Three Kingdoms period (770 BCE).

Collaborating with Gong Yi will be Professor Yiming Li, performing compositions from the Tang, Soong, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties. Gong Yi has written more than thirty papers and numerous books, and has reconstructed more than twenty pieces of early guqin music.

The performance will be preceded by a brief overview of the guqin instrument and its deeply rooted relationship to Chinese history and culture. With a history of over 3000 years, guqin music was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO IN 2003.