On March 8, the spring outdoor experience class at the Confucius Academy of Guiyang kicked off amid the performers’low-voiced chanting and dulcet tweedle.

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Deer Bleatsis a classic song in the Book of Songsfor entertaining guests. Depicting a scene of happy interactions between the host and the guests, it was selected as the opening music of the class, which was performed by Wu Ruojie, a renowned guqin expert in Guizhou, and members of the Xishan Guqin Society of the Confucius Academy.

During the one-hour period following the opening song, members of the Xishan Guqin Society performed millennia-old famous music pieces, including The Song of Immortals, Flowing Waters, Drunken Joy, and Farewell to a Friend Traveling to Yang Pass, and Wu Ruojie performed original songs Deer Bleatsand Peach Blossoms Beam, adapted from classic pieces in the Book of Songs. The performances brought a new audio-visual experience to the citizens on the site.

While having a long history, China’s guqin was played by a minority in the past as a musical instrument for the literati’s self-cultivation. Since it was listed as a world intangible cultural heritage in 2003, an increasing number of people have started to become concerned about guqin, and guqin has gradually become more popular.

It is understood that the Xishan Guqin Society of the Confucius Academy holds gatherings on a periodic basis to exchange and study knowledge of guqin. This experience-based class was the society’s first free event open to citizens. Next, the Confucius Academy will enrich the forms of activities and vigorously promote the new Six Arts represented by Guqin.