Yangzhou Huaxia Guqin and Guzheng Art Museum

Yangzhou Huaxia Guqin and Guzheng Art Museum

The Yangzhou Huaxia Guqin and Guzheng Art Museum is located in the Huaixi Industrial Park on Suizhou East Road, six kilometers north of the Slender West Lake Road. It was established by Yangzhou Huayun Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. The museum has a total construction area of 1,500 square meters, with an exhibition area of 720 square meters. It was completed and opened to the public in November 2006, making it the first privately-run guqin and guzheng art museum in the city.

As early as 1976, Tian Bogao, then head of the Little Red Flowers Propaganda Troupe in Yangzhou, was making violins and bass guitars for students when he and his colleagues developed the first generation of guzhengs in Yangzhou. Later, he organized craftsmen to make dozens of guzhengs for young learners. In 1980, Tian Bogao was transferred to the Youth Palace to oversee the development of guzhengs and guqins. With a municipal grant of 1,500 yuan, he began researching guqins and producing small batches of guzhengs. In 1982, the first children’s guzheng classes were launched at the Youth Palace. In 1986, Tian Bogao borrowed 5,000 yuan from the Youth Palace to establish the first national musical instrument factory within the national youth palace system. Through research and innovation, he achieved over ten industry-leading breakthroughs in the world of guqin and guzheng. Tian Bogao and his son Tian Quan, while developing and teaching guqin and guzheng, conceived the idea of founding a guqin and guzheng museum. Using several million yuan in borrowed funds, after two years of effort and preparation, they built a new factory and simultaneously established China’s first guqin and guzheng art museum.

The Huaxia Guqin and Guzheng Art Museum is divided into a Guqin Hall and a Guzheng Hall, primarily showcasing high-end replicas of intangible cultural heritage traditional guqins and guzhengs. The plaque of the Guqin Hall reads “Glorifying the Way of the Qin,” featuring dozens of replicated ancient guqins such as the ten-stringed qin from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, including the priceless “Pine and Stone in Harmony” guqin and the bottomless banana-leaf guqin. There are also five replicated qins by Yanzi, twelve replicated Confucius-style (Zhongni-style) guqins, and ten replicated guqins by Yan Tianchi, the pioneer of modern guqin. The esteemed guqin connoisseur from the Palace Museum, Mr. Zheng Minzhong, inscribed the name “Hundred Qin Hall,” stating that this was the first such collection since Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty.

The Guzheng Hall’s plaque reads “Guzheng Resounds Across the Four Seas,” which is fully reflected in the displayed collections. The exhibits include replicas ranging from the 2,500-year-old “five-string zheng” (from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng) and ancient se, to the twelve-stringed guzheng unearthed in Suzhou’s Wuqiao, to the thirteen-stringed guzheng that spread to Japan during the Tang Dynasty, as well as the Silla zheng that spread to the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla, the “yatogoto” that spread to Mongolia, and the hyeonjeong and gayageum still used today in Korea and North Korea. These displays leave visitors in awe.

Although located in a remote area, the Yangzhou Huaxia Guqin and Guzheng Art Museum has welcomed tens of thousands of visitors over the past decade, especially a large number of domestic and international guqin and guzheng experts and enthusiasts, including Yangzhou Mayor Zhu Minyang, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association Zhu Xiangyuan, and many music-loving audiences. Yangzhou New Oriental Middle School has even hung a plaque designating the museum as a moral education base, regularly bringing teachers and students to receive education in traditional music culture. The museum has made significant contributions to promoting guqin and guzheng culture, popularizing knowledge about these instruments, and advancing the culture of appreciating true musical companionship.