Lately, China is looming large in people’s minds. It’s a burgeoning political and economic superpower that creeps more and more into our daily lives- whether on the news, on a shelf at a retail store, or in the produce aisle.  And with the Beijing Olympics approaching, China’s environmental and human right practices- with both workers and in Tibet- have raised concerns in the global community.

But China is bigger even than these recent events.  The current coverage has overshadowed thousands of years of rich history and culture, which features some of the most highly regarded cuisine in the world, a philosophical foundation in confuscianism that predates the great minds of Classical Greek, and some of the oldest music still being performed.  It is this music that is the focus of outloud: Haiqiong Deng at Maclay Gardens.

Deng Haiqiong (Deng is the surname, Haiqiong the given) and her husband Lui Nan preserve the traditions of their homeland in Tallahassee, Florida, even as China’s education system moves away from teaching them.  Haiqiong plays the zheng, or gu-zheng (gu means ancient).  The zheng is a long, stringed instrument- a kind of zither - and Haiqiong is one of the world’s best players. She is an instructor of the Chinese Ensemble at the Florida State University College of Music.  Haiqiong also plays a smaller zither called the gu-qin, an instrument too quiet to be played in public performance, yet very important to the traditional Chinese concept of self-cultivation.  She’ll play both instruments on this episode.

Nan is a painter.  Like Haiqiong in her medium, he is proficient in the traditonal Chinese style.  He both paints and writes Chinese calligraphy.  Along with playing the gu-qin and Chinese Chess (the game of Go), painting and calligraphy are two of the four arts that must be mastered by an educated Chinese person.  Nan’s calligraphy graces this episode, providing song titles and names. 

Haiqiong displays both mastery of her instruments and a deep knowledge of a nation that grows in importance with every passing year of the twenty-first century. 

This is a special episode of outloud.  It was taped on location at Alfred B. Maclay Gardens in Tallahassee on a spring day; right after the flowers went into bloom.

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