On Oct 5th 2pm, I contacted the place where I could buy the "Qin Fu" 琴府 edited by Tang Jian-yuan 唐建垣. I knew this book from an Internet search of "Long Hu Qin Pu" 龍湖琴譜. And found out the publisher's ( Liang Guang 聯貫出版社) information in Taipei. After I hung up the phone with Mr. Yuan who is carrying the Qin Fu, I took the 270 bus to the Ren Ai Road near Jian Guo raised highway. Mr. Yuan's store is located between Ren Ai and Xin Yi Road beside Jian Guo Flower Market, named Gu Yue Xuan 古悅軒. It is an antique and Jade selling store but not the publisher, as the Lian Guan publisher no longer exists. The address of Gu Yue Xuan is:
台北市建國南路一段313號
TEL: (02) 2708-1938
FAX: (02) 2708-1948
Lian Guan publisher was run by Mr. Yuan's father who is very old now. Mr. Yuan and his wife, who also graduated from Shi Jian Home Economic College same as me, are now doing the antique and jade selling business as the publishing business is very tough to maintain nowadays. Mr. Yuan and his wife told me that they don't really want to reprint Qin Fu because they don't know how many people want to buy it. After all, Guqin is such a professional field, not many people know about it. However, once a while, there still are some people was ask them for Qin Fu, like me. So they reprinted 500 volumes in 1981. Mrs. Yuan said that they believe these 500 volumes won't sell out even after they all retire.
The price of the Qin Fu is 5,000NT. I bought one set. It has 3 books. They are heavy like rocks. The book includes rich information about qin hand books, qin history, qin philosophy, qin people... etc,. I am glad I found it and now own it.
Oct. 6th 7pm at Zi Teng Lu tea house 紫藤廬茶藝館, Jung Ping had his moon festival qin conference there. I had posted this info on my yahoo blog and several qin friends who I met on the blog attended this conference. It was a very interesting experience. Jung Ping was wearing his taoist costume as usual and Renee who is now studying at Nan Hua with Jing Ping, also wear a Han style costume that she had someone in Shanghai custom make for her, both of them showed up together at the tea house. Renee even had herself in traditional make up, white face with small red lips. Looks very cute. Renee is JP's qin tong 琴僮 now who carries JP's qin all the time and follows him wherever he goes. This is usually a traditional way of learning from teacher, and usually the student can learn a lot not only the qin skill, but the life style, and the teacher's inner knowledge. Good for Renee.
Jung Ping's performance is good as always. He played 8 pieces total. The first half he played were Shi Shang Liu Quan, Yang Chun, Mei Hua 3 Nong, and Xiao Xian Shui Yun. The next half, he played Pin Sha, Yu Ge, Yang Guan with singing (it was Yi Gu Ren originally but JP changed it) and Yu Lan. JP had his Guqin CD published just a couple days before the conference. Jung Ping gave me one. I had him sign it for me. There were about 50 to 55 people attending this conference. After JP's playing, he invited Miss Sun Yu Han 孫于涵 who is JP's shijei, to perform and Miss Sun played Liu Shui. I like Miss Sun's Liu Shui, very smooth and fluent. Later Mr. Chen Guo Deng 陳國燈 who is JP's shixong also played a piece, Wu Yei Wu Qiu Feng. As JP said, this conference was a kind of reunion of the Sun Yu Qin's students. The famous qin maker Mr. Lin Lizheng 林立正 also attended this conference.
At this conference, I met my blog friends Wenyuan and Bright. My eldest sister Wennie also attend this conference with me. After the conference was finished, several young people decided to go to the Da Ann Forest Park near by to look at the moon and play qin and drink wine. There were 9 people together moved to the park.
There were two young qin makers who also play qin. Mr. Bright, whose name is Liu Shanwei 劉繕惟, had learned making qin with Mr. Chen Huide 程惠德 and Mr. Ling Lizheng and had just finished his first qin a couple months ago that he had spent one year and 4 months to finish. Mr. Zhen Dexuan 鄭德宣 had learned making qin with Mr. Cheng Guoxin 陳國興.
Both Jung Ping and Dexuan brought their qins with them to the park. The sky was clear and the moon was bright. The newspaper says that it was the biggest moon in 9 years. The qin made by Zhen Dexuan has beautiful lacquer work. As for a new qin, the sound quality is not coming out yet.
to be continued...
