In this unique talk, which will feature both a musical performance and a discussion of China's musical tradition, world-renowned musician and ethnomusicologist Bell Yung will examine one of China's traditional instruments, the guqin. China’s guqin music is historically associated with the literati, who left volumes of treatises, essays and poems explicating their philosophical views of music. This talk and performance will explain how music for these individuals was both intellectual and expressive art, shedding new light on the limits of what music can be.

A Reception to follow immediately after the lecture at Zanzibar@The Loft in Price Center.

Speaker:

• Bell Yung, emeritus professor at the University of Pittsburgh; affiliate professor at the University of Washington

Moderator:

• Lei Liang, Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Music, UC San Diego

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This lecture series is organized by the 21st Century China Center at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. For more information on China activities, as well as recordings of previous webinars, please visit china.ucsd.edu.

Bio: 

Bell Yung, an ethnomusicologist specializing in China, is an emeritus professor at the University of Pittsburgh and affiliate professor at the University of Washington. He has published 10 books and more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and reviews in English and in Chinese. His biography of his qin teacher Tsar Teh-yun, "The Last of China’s Literati," was recently published in Chinese. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Ph.D. in musicology from Harvard University and an honorary doctorate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.