The Chinese Violin

A young Chinese child immigrates to Canada with her father, and their hardship is relieved by the beautiful music of Chinese violins.

A young Chinese child immigrates to Canada with her father, and their hardship is relieved by the beautiful music of Chinese violins.

HOW CHINA'S MOST CELEBRATED VIOLIN PRODIGY BECAME AN ENEMY OF STATE. The King of Violins is the heartbreaking story of China's most celebrated violin prodigy, Ma Sicong, who composed his first concerto at the age of 12. During his career, this gentle, dignified man composed 57 of the world's best-known symphonies and concertos and performed in front of hundreds of sold-out audiences across the globe. Chairman Mao Zedong declared Ma Sicong "a national treasure" and nicknamed him The King of Violins. Soon, Chairman Mao's brutal Cultural Revolution distorted the truth of Ma's life and work. He is forced to wear a dunce cap, and is publicly humiliated and physically abused by cadres of Red Guards as "a vile product of bourgeois thinking." Ma and his family make a breath-taking escape in the darkness to America. After Chairman Mao died in 1976, the real circumstances of Ma's poignant, bittersweet life were buried in the pages of history by an embarrassed Chinese government. Eleven years later, Ma died at the age of 76 in Philadelphia. The King of Violins, written in cooperation with all of Ma's remaining family members, and is the first politically balanced life story about this generous, conflicted musical genius. (Contains 89 rare vintage photographs).

This book will teach you how to play erhu, the Chinese violin, at the advanced level. Various fingering and bowing techniques, the uncommon key signatures, as well as the ways to maintain an erhu will be taught in this book with illustrations and external videos. Likewise, a number of sheet music will be provided for practices. After reading the whole book, you should know more about erhu and can play songs with greater difficulty by yourself.

This book will teach you how to play erhu, the Chinese violin, at the beginner level. No prior knowledge in Chinese music is needed. In addition, you will know the erhu's structure, the ways to choose a good erhu and the numbered music notation. A number of sheet music are also provided for your own practices. After reading the whole book, you should have a basic understanding of the erhu and can play some simple songs by yourself.

Traces the history of the violin, discusses the materials used in violin-making, and offers guidance on the construction of a violin.

"Playing Erhu: Bridging the Gap" was written for English readers who are interested in learning how to play the erhu, but could not find any erhu instruction books in English. The book covers: Assembly of the erhu; Reading staff and jianpu notation; Fingering charts for all common keys; Music symbols, terms, ornamentation; Exercises in staff and jianpu notation for each key; Annotated regional folksongs in staff and jianpu notation for each key; Internet access to recordings of all music found in this book as performed by the author.

An enchanting literary debut—already an international best-seller. At the height of Mao’s infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for “re-education.” The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of Phoenix mountain, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin—as well as, before long, the beautiful daughter of the local tailor. But it is when the two discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation that their re-education takes its most surprising turn. While ingeniously concealing their forbidden treasure, the boys find transit to worlds they had thought lost forever. And after listening to their dangerously seductive retellings of Balzac, even the Little Seamstress will be forever transformed. From within the hopelessness and terror of one of the darkest passages in human history, Dai Sijie has fashioned a beguiling and unexpected story about the resilience of the human spirit, the wonder of romantic awakening and the magical power of storytelling.