I gradually stopped playing these melodies after going to Hong Kong and changing my focus to the reconstruction of early melodies. The modern versions of numbers 6, 13 and 16 are melodically unrelated to the earliest surviving tablature having that title. Numbers 1 and 15 date only from 20th century tablature. Follow the links for further information.

1. Changmen Yuan (Lament at Changmen Palace
2. Gui Qu Lai Ci (Come Away Home)
3. Liangxiao Yin (Peaceful Evening Prelude)
4. Liu Shui (Flowing Streams)
5. Meihua Sannong (Three Repetitions of Plum Blossom)
6. Ou Lu Wang Ji (Amongst Seagulls, No Ulterior Motives)
7. Pingsha Luo Yan (Wild Geese Settle on a Sandbank
8. Pu An Zhou (Incantation of Pu'an)
9. Xiangjiang Yuan (Lament of the Xiang River Concubines)
10. Xianweng Cao (Transcendent Venerable One)
11. Xiao Xiang Shui Yun (Clouds over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers)
12. Yangguan Sandie (Thrice [Parting for] Yangguan)
13. Yi Guren (Thinking of an Old Friend
14. Wuye Wu Qiufeng (Wu Leaves Dance in the Autumn Breeze)
15. Yu Lou Chun Xiao (Spring Dawn at Jade Tower)
16. Yu Qiao Wenda (Dialogue between a Fisherman and Woodcutter)
17. Zui Yu Chang Wan (A Drunken Fisherman Sings in the Evening)

Sun Yü-Ch'in¹ was born in 1915 in Tangshan, Hebei province. In 1930 he began studying a variety of music instruments, including the xiao and di flutes, the yueqin moon lute and the huqin two-string fiddle. In 1936 he began studying guqin with Tian Shounong² of Tianjin, learning over 20 melodies from him. Sun graduated in politics and economics from Chinese College in Beijing, then joined the army in the war against the Japanese invasion. He went to Taiwan with the army in 1950 but was unable to play qin again until 1955, at which time his Chan (Zen) Buddhism master introduced him to Chang Chih-Sun.³ Sun revised his playing style when studying with Chang, later also learning melodies from recordings he was able to get from the Mainland. Due to the difficulty in getting qins in Taiwan he learned to make them himself, though his main achievement in this regard was teaching Ye Shih-Ch'iang⁴ to make them. In 1989 the government selected Mr. Sun as one of its first Living National Cultural Treasures.⁵ On the CD made in his honor in 1991 (now out of print) he speaks about the qin, then plays Xiangjiang Yuan, Xiao Xiang Shui Yun, Yu Qiao Wenda and Ao Ai.

 
Footnotes (Numbers refer to entries in Zhongwen Dacidian)

1. 孫毓芹 Sun Yü-Ch'in (Sun Yuqin). (Return)

2. 田壽農 Tian Shounong. No further information (Return)

3. Chang Chih-Sun (章志蓀 Zhang Zhisun, 1885-197?)
, from Anhui province, originally studied qin with 李緝熙 Li Jixi, later studying with 陳壽臣 Chen Shouchen. He was an avid collector of qins and qin handbooks, though most of these were lost before he moved to Taiwan. (Return)

4. Yeh Shih-Ch'iang (葉世強 Ye Shiqiang; online articles #1 and #2)
Mr. Ye's qins were in the style of the Tang dynasty qin pictured in R.H. van Gulik's Lore of the Chinese Lute (see the color plate facing page 192). My first qin was made by Mr. Ye. After it was damaged in a fire Mr. Sun said the sound was improved, and so on the back he carved the words 焚餘 Fen Yu, Survived the Fire. (Return)

5. National Living Cultural Treasure: 國家國寶 Guojia guobao. (Return)

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