Xu Kuanghua

Xu Kuanghua

Xu Kuanghua was born in Haimen, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province in 1917. In the early morning of February 13, 2007, he died of lung infection and choking food in Hangzhou fourth hospital. He was 90 years old. Before his retirement, Xu Kuanghua was a geography teacher in Hangzhou NO.4 middle school. Before he died, he was a Guqin player and executive director of Guqin Professional Committee of Chinese Orchestra Society. He once served as the president of Xihu Piano Club of Zhejiang Musicians Association.

Life of the characters

The Xu family in Haimen is a musical family. His grandfather Xu Yueqiu is a famous folk musician in Taizhou. He is proficient in East China Sea fishing songs and is good at playing pipa, Sanxian and other musical instruments. His father Xu Yuanbai is a famous guqin master at home and abroad. He is the founder of the new Zhejiang Guqin school. He has profound attainments in Guqin performance, creation, teaching and playing. Mother Huang Xuehui. In 1937, Xu Kuanghua was a sophomore in high school when the July 7th incident broke out. He moved to Wuhan and went to Nanchang to study in the third grade of senior high school. Later, he continued to flee to Chongqing and was admitted to Sichuan University. Due to the chaos of war, there was less practice in guqin, which affected the improvement of artistic level and eventually affected Xu Kuanghua's Guqin career. the first year of the University was spent in Chengdu. Later, due to the bombing by Japanese planes, the University moved to Mount Emei. At that time, Xu Kuanghua did not know that a beautiful marriage was waiting for him. Xu Kuanghua's wife, Qin Wenshu, is from Sichuan Province. She was introduced by her classmates in Mount Emei. Married on April 1, 1944. Xu Kuanghua, a university graduate, has started teaching in middle schools. Before the founding of new China, Xu Kuanghua taught in Chongqing and Shanghai. In 1952, Xu Kuanghua returned to Zhejiang and worked as a geography teacher in Hangzhou NO.4 middle school. Because his geography class was very popular with students, he went through retirement procedures in 1979 and was hired back to work for six years. He spent 33 years in Hangzhou NO.4 middle school. Xu Yuanbai, the father of Mr. Xu, once organized the "West Lake monthly meeting" to play the piano and write poems with Ma Yifu, Zhang Daqian, Zhang Zongxiang, Xu Yingpu and other celebrities, which was a grand event in Hangzhou after the Anti Japanese war. In order to uphold and carry forward his father's ambition, after the cultural revolution, Xu Kuanghua actively contacted with the relevant departments of Hangzhou and established the Hangzhou Guqin Research Association in 1979. In 1986, it was renamed Xihu Piano Club of Zhejiang Musicians Association. The venue of the Qin club is in Xu Kuanghua's home, a small alley called goushanli on Nanshan Road. After that, Xu Kuanghua taught young people to play Guqin in the Guqin society, and at the same time, he served as an art director in the Guqin team of Zhejiang University for the aged. in 2001, Zhang Yimou made the film Hero. Xu Kuanghua plays a blind zither player in the film. This made him more famous in the society, and many people went to guqin for advice.

Playing experience

Xu Kuanghua has made great contributions to the promotion of Guqin in the international community. In the 1980s, he often cooperated with song Jinglian, a Xiao performer of Zhejiang song and dance troupe, who is known as "the king of Xiao in Jiangnan". The ensemble of Qin and Xiao has a unique charm. In 1982, the Central People's Radio recorded for them the piano and Flute Ensemble "thinking of the virtuous", which was selected by the Asia Pacific Conference and sent to the United Nations, becoming a well-known international song representing Chinese traditional culture. the score is published by UNESCO and recommended by UNESCO experts to music education institutions all over the world. After that, Xu Kuanghua and Zhejiang song and dance troupe's "Jiangnan Silk and bamboo team" made frequent visits, and then toured in China, starting his real Guqin career.

Popularization of Guqin art

Due to the neglect of Guqin in modern times, Xu Kuanghua has not stopped promoting Guqin for many years. It is understood that guqin, as the "oral and intangible cultural heritage of mankind", has gradually regained its vitality in Hangzhou. In 1986, Mr. Xu initiated the establishment of Xihu piano club. The club has grown from a dozen people to more than 100 people now, of which young people account for half, forming a good echelon. Xu Junyue, the son of Mr. Xu and the current president of Xihu piano club, recalled that the past few years after the production of hero was Xu's happiest time. Almost every day, people come to visit him, but he is most satisfied with the Guqin fever caused by hero, and even many foreigners come to learn Guqin. At that time, Xu always said, "Guqin is saved.". Xu kuanghuazi inherited his father's career and engaged in the popularization of Guqin art. He was very proficient in Guqin playing and guzao. Take carpenter Ma yuesi as his disciple. Since then, Ma yuesi has been fascinated by the making of Guqin. He has assiduously pursued the skill of guqin, studied the knowledge of guqin, analyzed the structure of guqin, and explored the craft of making Guqin. He has been meticulous in every process, including material selection, sawing, planing, grooving, bonding, ash pushing, polishing, and emblem position. He has also been careful in painting, stringing, and tuning. He has successfully made the second Guqin in the true sense A Qin has both form and spirit, and its tone is simple and pure. After that, all the Guqin that Mr. Xu needed for teaching popularization were made by Ma yuesi.

Movie hero

When shooting hero, Zhang Yimou needed a famous old Guqin player to play the role, so he asked people to look around. Later, Zhejiang cultural circles recommended Xu Kuanghua. It's not easy for an old man in his 80s to make a movie for the first time, and it's also an important play. It's inevitable to be nervous. Zhang Yimou always tells Xu Kuanghua to relax with a smile. Don't be nervous. Be calm. hard work is first reflected in make-up. It takes an hour or two to make-up every day. White beard and white hair are glued on with adhesive. The speed is very slow, and you have to sit still. Xu Kuanghua's most important shot is playing Guqin. Xu Kuanghua plays all the Guqin music in the movie. He worked very hard and had to shoot many shots five or six times or even more until Zhang Yimou was satisfied. Besides hard work, there are many interesting things in making movies. Xu Kuanghua said that the audience certainly can't see that the Guqin in the movie is a fake. It's shorter than a real guqin, and the strings on it are all nylon threads. When making a movie, when the director calls you "fast", the gesture should be violent and fast, while when he calls you "slow", the gesture should be slow and beautiful. Finally, the string broke, and Jet Li and Donnie Yen's fighting action suddenly stopped. the strings are usually broken one by one, but the movie needs to break one. So when the string is broken, a man specially hides in the corner. When the time comes, he jumps out, takes out a sharp knife, cuts the nylon string quickly, and then hides. And this person can't be seen in a movie.

background information

Xu Kuanghua's father, Xu Yuanbai, followed Dr. Sun Yat sen in the northern expedition at the age of 18. Later, he served as an official in the political and legal departments of Fujian, Sichuan and other places. At the age of 20, Xu Yuanbai learned to play Guqin under the guidance of master Da Xiu, a master of Guqin of Zhejiang School. Later, Xu Yuanbai became an important successor of Zhejiang Guqin. Xu Kuanghua began to learn piano at the age of 13 in junior high school. In terms of Guqin playing skills, it inherits the natural and unrestrained characteristics of "micro, wonderful, round and general" of Zhejiang School, and plays the music with deep charm. Xu Kuanghua's home is near the West Lake. Even in winter, the lack of green west lake will deeply attract him. At the beginning, Xu Kuanghua didn't like Guqin. It was the west lake that changed his interest. A person's life is closely related to his environment as well as his father's generation. When you are ten years old, you can tell him how to appreciate Kuang's music. And said: Guqin describes beautiful landscape, even painting and poetry can be described. At that time, Xu Kuanghua was dubious, so he recited the Guqin and let his father play it in the West Lake in a boat. Only in this way did he gradually become interested. Later, for Xu Kuanghua, playing the piano has always been a hobby in thought, and considered it a traditional cultural and artistic treasure. However, under the rule of the Kuomintang, they did not pay attention to folk music, playing Guqin was not the way out, so they mainly engaged in middle school geography education after graduation. during the cultural revolution, the red guards said that playing the Guqin was not conducive to revolutionary work. When they came to clean up their homes, they threw my Guqin on the bed. Xu Kuanghua was very upset when he didn't play the piano. After the cultural revolution, Xu Kuanghua actively contacted the relevant departments of Hangzhou. In 1979, Hangzhou Guqin Research Association was established. In 1986, it was renamed Xihu Piano Club of Zhejiang Musicians Association. Xu Kuanghua is back in class. The teachers play Guqin. He has been playing Guqin for more than ten years. Every week, Xu Kuanghua has three days to spend with the students. In order to repay the tuition free teacher, the students are also thanking Xu Kuanghua in their own way. when the students are proud of the teacher's participation in the film Hero, Xu Kuanghua is also using his quiet but uneven life to understand the meaning of "hero": hero, there are heroes in all walks of life. You may not be a hero if you fight well, you farm well, and farmers are heroes, but there are many heroes who contribute to the people, I think they're all heroes. Guqin has a long history. It's said that it's more than 3000 years old. It's not easy for it to spread to today. I think it's getting more intimate now. In ancient times, there was a saying that life is 70 years old. I've greatly surpassed it. I hope I can strive to live a few more years. I hope that under my guidance, young students can be quite good. That's what I'm satisfied with.

Chinese PinYin : Xu Kuang Hua