Reviews: Events

Guqin plus Kunqu

A very traditional Chinese performance will be staged at Zhongshan Park, west of the Forbidden City on Saturday night.

Young artist Wu Na (pictured) and her friends will play guqin, a seven-stringed instrument, and stage excerpts from a Kunqu Opera. Both guqin and Kunqu have been listed by the UNESCO as intangible cultural heritages for mankind.

Starting at 8 pm in the wooded courtyard of Laijinyuxuan Teahouse, the show includes solos of guqin and xiao, a vertical bamboo flute. Zhou Haolu, a young Kunqu actress, will sing elegant arias of Seeking Dream and Wandering in the Garden, two of the most enchanting parts in Peony Pavilion.

Wu Na has been playing guqin for 20 years and coaches students at the teahouse, where they also discuss Chinese history, literature and martial arts with scholars.

Wu also collaborates with rock bands on improvisation. Rock stars like Cui Jian and Dou Wei are among those who have praised her talent. In June, Wu will visit Germany for an international music festival held in Cologne.

Liu Jun

Photo symposium

Spring auctions are blooming. Vintage photos and photos associated with contemporary art to be sold in the coming weeks by Beijing-based auction houses have already attracted huge attention from collectors.

To tackle artistic, technical and legal issues about the emerging artistic photo market, an academic symposium on artistic photo collection and auction was held last weekend in Beijing.

Attended by about 60 veteran photographers, art critics, photo gallery owners and legal experts from across China, the symposium was co-organized by Beijing Huachen Auctions and major trade media for the photographic art. Zhu Linyong

(China Daily 04/26/2007 page20)