The Zheng - An Ancient Musical Instrument yet to Scale New Heights

This concert is a showcase of the best of zheng, a musical instrument that has 3,000 years’ history in China, with its close cousins found in Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia and Southeast Asia. Owing to its strong musicality of expression, many have compared its status in Chinese music to that of the piano in Western music.

But the zheng cannot change its key as readily as the piano. Despite concerted efforts to improve the instrument – in 1980 the State Science and Technology Commission, then still under the Ministry of Culture, called a nationwide conference in Beijing for instrument reform workers in the country to make improvements to the instrument, where the experts proposed 17 reform plans, with a butterfly-shaped zheng to follow – to date the zheng which is widely used is still the one that adheres to the traditional form, except with more or fewer strings.

The piano is hailed as the “king of instruments” in Western music, while the traditional zheng is the favourite Chinese traditional instrument for learners due to its mellifluous and bright tones and relative ease of mastery in the early stages. Perhaps more importantly, the playing techniques for the zheng have changed with the times, enabling it to garner an ever bigger audience to become a hugely popular instrument.

The northern and southern schools of the zheng and their characteristics

With China’s expansive terrain and variety of scenic as well as local cultural differences, the zheng differs in form and structure depending on their provenance of manufacture. Traditional playing techniques of different regions have also evolved into different schools with their respective distinct styles and notable repertoire. These constitute the wealth of information related to this instrument, some of which may well be regarded as a ‘primer’ to the appreciation of a zheng performance.

The Shandong school of the north is characterized by powerful strings with a decisive masculinity and resonating metalic sounds. The Henan school features fast playing with the thumb, a heroic and carefree style which is nonetheless witty. The Zhejiang “wulin” style incorporates the fingering used in the sanxian, yangqin and pipa, which is characterized by a simple and elegant tone, and is more subtle and restrained. The Qin zheng has a long history distinguished by its intricate finesse, at once emotional and passionate, yet reserved and melancholy.

In the south, the Hakka zheng has a quaint charm with its orthodox, graceful style. Chaozhou zheng features an extensive use of embellishments, its tone complementing its sounds, thus exuding a gentle elegance and a graceful nuance. As to the style of the Lingnan zheng, since most of its tunes originated from Cantonese music, Cantonese tunes and Cantonese Opera, its style is lively and charming, akin to these music genres strong in local colour.

Contemporary zheng – No longer bound by schools and styles

With modern developments, it has become a trend for Chinese culture and music to incorporate strengths and features from all over the world and from different times. Musical instrument factories all over China are turning out all forms and manner of zhengs. There are those made with the more mellow-sounding traditional silk strings, and others with steel strings which produce a more sonorous, brighter timbre. The trend for performance techniques is to incorporate features from various schools: modern fingering using both hands incorporates the best from both East and West; and simultaneous playing with eight fingers to create eight tone chords is nothing new.

Apart from incorporating playing techniques and styles from various schools, contemporary masters of the zheng have also sourced from the playing techniques of koto court music of Japan, the gayageum music of Korea, and the dan tranh of Vietnam in their attempt to trace its ancient origin. When listening to their music, one is treated to a lively depiction of the sounds of wind, water, galloping horses, even gunshots. One can feel the emotional gamut of joy or lament, solemnity or gaiety, magnificence and grandeur, all depicted with a distinct flair.

It is true that we no longer have to stick to any one particular school in the appreciation of zheng music, but rather we follow the music to where it leads us with the optimal means and effects. So, be ready to scale new heights in your musical experience. Come with a clean aural slate, and perceive the amazing world of zheng music!

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