Presented by Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra & Shanxi Drama Vocational School Co-presented by Culture Promotion Committee, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Ms Dou Mingsheng of the Cultural Bureau of Shanxi, Ms Chang Xigang of the Shanxi Drama Vocational Training School and Mr Jing Jianshu, Concert Artistic Director, visited Hong Kong to meet with our Artistic Director, Mr Yan Huichang and our Executive Director, Ms Celina Chin, to discuss details regarding the commissioned recording of the symphony, Roots of the Chinese, by the HKCO and to meet with the media. A concert series is scheduled for March 30^th, 2005, at the Jockey Club Auditorium of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  

Roots of the Chinese is a symphony written for the Chinese orchestra. Taking the five thousand years of Chinese civilization and developments as the backdrop, and Shanxi as the most important cultural hub of ancient China that boasts a long list of outstanding personages down the ages, it traces the historical and cultural wealth of Shanxi through a synchronized presentation of music and image. The symphony is in seven sections, written by five of the best composers in China today – Jing Jianshu, Han Lankui, Zhang Jian, Cheng Dazhao and Zhao Jiping. 

The overture, The Days of Yao and Shun, gives us a glimpse of life in China more than four thousand years ago through musical images of the artifacts excavated in the Tao Temple of Shanxi, such as the longpan (dragon dish) and the tuo drum (drums made of Chinese alligator skin) (Picture 1). The time was that of Yao and Shu, two legendary sages and rulers in pre-historic China. It is followed by Picture of Workers around the Salt Pond. The music is inspired by a stone carving of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) now in the collection of the Yuncheng Museum. It draws our attention to the importance of salt in Chinese civilization. A Stately Appearance of the Jin Dynasty is an interesting juxtaposition of battle scenes and people’s longing for a happily contented life in peace at a time when different states were struggling for power during the Spring and Autumn Period (722 – 481 B.C.). Impression of Yungang Grottoes is inspired by the grottoes at Yungang and presents the prosperous times of Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D.386-534), when people of different races lived in harmony and enjoyed cultural exchange. Feelings of Merchants in Jin Dynasty uses Shanxi Opera as the inspiring strain, and adds to it the ‘bargaining’ segments between a percussion instrument made of bamboo called ‘four bamboos’ (Picture 2) and the orchestra. The gamut of human emotions and the rise and fall of Shanxi merchants are all captured in the music. Then the mood changes to the next section, Follow the Pagoda Tree to Get the Root of Our Ancestors when a wanderer is struck by nostalgia and longs to go home. There is wistful longing as well as joy expressed through music. The coda, Free Imagination about the Yellow River is a Chinese painting scroll that gives a panoramic view of the meandering river. As it rushes to the east together with the Wheel of Time, the Chinese story unfolds. The music ends with promises for an even more glorious future. 


     four bamboos

The symphony is a tour de force in Chinese music because it presents the history of Shanxi in a vivid, revelatory and systematic way. The creative process has an epoch-making significance from the very first conceptualization up to completion. As Jing Jianshu said, “We were deeply moved as we went all over the region to gather material and to ‘live the life’ of the people there in order to write our music. We believe that whoever you are, whatever background you came from, you would find your own interpretation in the music and a warm feeling that you have come home.”