Guqin master releases Tang Dynasty music

Guqin master Li Xiangting is releasing a 10-CD set of newly recorded Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) music, using an instrument from that period. The set includes both impromptu and classic arias including the Plum Blossom Melody and Lisao (The Lament). Many have been released for the first time. Li, also a professor with the Central Conservatory of Music, has been playing guqin, a plucked seven-string musical instrument, for 50 years. The instrument he used for the album was made in the year 756 for a throne-ascending ceremony. Three books by Li on the art of guqin have been published by China Renmin University Press.

Charity provides financial aid to schools

China Children and Teenager's Fund and Ping An Life Insurance Company of China, recently jointly initiated a charity program to provide schooling necessities and scholarships for children in povertystricken areas. In September, about 7,000 students in Guizhou province benefited from the program, getting 7,000 sets of schooling supplies, books and financial aid that amounted to 50,000 yuan ($8,200). The program also plans to provide more than 5,000 sets of school supplies and 50,000 yuan of financial aid to students in Chongqing this month.

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