Concerts gathering guqin masters from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland were staged in Beijing on Friday and Saturday. A concert was also staged in Tianjin on Sunday.
Guqin masters, including Sou Si-tai, Tse Chun-yan and young performers, including Maggie Lai and Karman Li, shared the stage with guqin artists, Li Fengyun, Zhang Zisheng as well as instrumentalists, such as Cheng Chai-man.
The guqin is an ancient Chinese musical instrument with seven strings. As an essential musical instrument of ancient China's educated elite, the instrument was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2008.
"Guqin artists from Hong Kong have been playing an important role of keeping this Chinese instrument alive and have been reviving the old instrument with new works. We want these concerts to further promote communication among guqin artists from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland," says Amy Yuen, deputy director of the Beijing Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the organizer of the concerts.
The concerts were part of the first Art March 2024, a series of events to showcase local and Hong Kong arts and culture.