Heartstrings of the Guzheng is a music video series presented in four episodes, featuring four original compositions by guzheng performer Wan Xing.  Music is amalgamated with ceramic art, landscaping, film photography of black-and-white landscapes and calligraphy with the exquisitely minimalist works of art and guided appreciation, the audience enjoys guzheng music and the Oriental concepts of aesthetics with their minimalistic, natural, elegantly muted charm, and finds beauty in everyday life.

Theme of each episode:

Episode 1: Vitality (Guzheng with Ceramic Art)

Episode 2: Anticipation (Guzheng with Landscaping)

Episodes 3: Soundscape (Guzheng with Film Photography of Black-and-White Landscapes)

Episodes 4: Traces (Guzheng with Calligraphy)

The programme does not represent the views of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.  The presenter reserves the right to vary the broadcast time of the programme.

Trailer

Wan Xing graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under the tutelage of the guzheng performers Zhou Wang and Xu Lingzi.  Wan has received numerous awards, including the Best Performance Award 2002 at the First Chinese Folk Instruments Competition organised by the Ministry of Culture, the Gold Award (Young Performers Category) at the Second International Guzheng Competition 2011, and the Best Teacher Award 2013 at the Third International Zheng Contest.  Wan has been actively engaged in various music performances and activities, and has also been invited to conduct demonstrations at local universities.

Artistic Director / Producer / Composer / Guzheng: Wan Xing

Co-producer / Aesthetic Design / Ceramics Design / Floral Design: Kwan Yuen-tung, Shadow (Episode 1 & 2)

Black-and-White Photography: Qiu Yangzi (Episode 3)

Calligraphy: Lai Yat-kiu (Episode 4)

Director / Director of Photography / Editing: Chan Chi-wah, Edward (Episode 1), Cheung Ho-ching, Joshua (Episode 2), Dan Fong (Episode 3 & 4)

Recording Supervisor: Albert Ho (Episode 1 & 2)

Recording / Mixing: Wan Xing (Episode 1 & 2), Chan Pui-ching (Episode 3 & 4)

Graphic Design Concept: Leung Ho-yee

Production: Inner Music Innovative Culture Limited

Vitality is inspired by the line of ceramicware titled Lotus.  The purity of the guzheng’s timbre and rhythm sets off a crystalline, water-like ethereality.

Chit-chat session is conducted in Cantonese.

The calm elegance of the guzheng threads through this piece of music, which opens with ancient literati paintings, followed by the lifestyle activities of the men of letters of ancient China such as playing the qin, savouring tea and relaxing in the fragrance of incense.  The audience is slowly taken through time and space until they come to the present-day.   It is as if the audience has taken a stroll through picturesque sceneries of natural landscapes that demonstrate the velvety, archaistic charms of guzheng music and landscaping as an art.

Chit-chat session is conducted in Cantonese.

In merging guzheng music and black-and-white landscape prints from film photography, multimedia methodology accords a new lease of life to old objects.  This showcases the Oriental ideas of returning to nature, dynamic flow, leaving room for imagination (such as the Chinese art technique of liubai, or ‘leaving patches untouched by colour’), a vision that crosses time and space, and the artists’ insistence in adhering to traditional skills, heritage, the innovative spirit and development.

Chit-chat session is conducted in Putonghua.

With the guzheng forming the core, electronic sound effects are incorporated to augment the timbre and dynamic flow of the music.  On-screen spatiality and three-dimensionality of the calligraphy are enhanced through multimedia digital imaging design.  Using a unique perspective, the musician and her instrument (guzheng) are integrated and interpreted as part of the calligraphic movements.  At the same time, the calligraphy appears as if it is a vivacious music score.

Chit-chat session is conducted in Cantonese.