Chinese Music Students Aim to Forge Careers in the West

Xiao Wu, a former researcher, performer and teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, came to the United States as a graduate student in ethnomusicology at UCLA last fall. She does not intend to go back.

“After June 4 (and the Tian An Men Square massacre), I wouldn’t want to return,” she said in Mandarin in an interview.

Preparing to spend five or six years to earn a Ph.D, she hopes to get a job in music research after graduation, which will enable her to stay in this country.

But she is worried that her goals may not be easy to attain because jobs are scarce in her field. “Music students here are worried about starving to death,” Wu noted, facetiously.

Not so in China. “Music graduates from reputable schools do not have to worry about getting a job, although their salary will be much lower because of the standard of living,” she said.

The Chinese government allowed Wu to leave despite knowing she most likely will not return. She is not alone, she said: “Four out of seven in my graduating class (at the Shanghai institute) are in the United States. A fifth is in Germany.” Wu left at her own expense--her family helped to pay for her trip and a UCLA fellowship covers the cost of her studies.

Studying English and doing independent research since her arrival on the UCLA campus in October, Wu, 29, was impressed with the university’s resources and facilities for music research.

Wu plays the pipa , a 2,000-year-old Chinese classical instrument. The pear-shaped, four-string pipa is comparable to the Western lute. Instead of using a bow, she will play two solos by attaching a fingernail-like substance to the fingertips of her right hand.

She and three other Chinese classical musicians will perform in two free, outdoor concerts that the Los Angeles Festival is sponsoring in the Descanso Gardens from 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Wu will play “The Ambush,” a 2,000-year-old piece about how Emperor Liu Pung defeated his enemies, and “Gan-Hua-Huei” (“Flower Festival”), a Sichuan folk song.

Erhu player Huaqi Han, 25, who was a principal performer on the sound track of the movie “The Last Emperor,” will perform “Jian-He-Sui” (“Raging Waters”), in which a war widow tells her grief and anger to a river. “Many people cried while I played this piece in San Francisco a few years ago,” he said.

With its sharp, sad tone, the 800-year-old, two-string erhu is particularly effective in expressing sorrow, said Han, a native of Beijing. The instrument’s popularity and importance is comparable to the violin in Western music. But unlike the violin that is played while held in a horizontal position, the erhu is played upright with a bow.

Butterfly harp player Zhi-ming Han, 35, who is completing a master’s degree in Western composition at UCLA, will play two pieces: “I Love Taiwan Island,” which he composed, and “Butterfly Loves,” a traditional piece that he arranged.

The first piece originated from a popular love song in Taiwan in the 1960s. “Although I’ve used some developmental ideas from sonatas, the composition has retained its Chinese folk music ecstatics,” he said. The second piece is a love song between a young scholar and someone who he thought was his sidekick, but was actually a woman who dressed in men’s clothes to get into school.

A native of Shanghai who has been in the United States for four years, Zhi-ming Han said he was was pleasantly surprised by the immense popularity of his butterfly harp, or Yang-qin, in Southern California.

He has been asked to play the 600-year-old, 2-by-4-foot instrument in concerts, festivals, museums, art galleries, college classes, community functions, hotels and restaurants every week. “Although most Americans are not familiar with Chinese classical music, they like the sweet, melodious sound of butterfly harp that is similar to a harpsichord’s,” he said.

His career goal is to become a film music composer in the United States, as he was in China for five years. “I want to be a Western composer with a unique Chinese style, to introduce the Chinese heritage to Western instrumental music.”

A versatile musician, he will also play a bamboo flute solo, “Mongolia Melody,” at the concerts.

Zheng player Hsin-Mei Hsiang, 25, a UCLA ethnomusicology graduate student from Taiwan, will perform “Melody of Qin-San” and “Dance of the Yi Nationality” on the 21-string, 2,500-year-old instrument.

The ensemble will also be heard in duet, trio and quartet, playing such lighthearted tunes as “Happiness in the New Year,” “Bubukao,” “Purple Bamboo,” and “Spring River and Flower in the Moon Night”--a 20-minute ancient Chinese melody that describes breathtaking scenery by the waters.