Liu Mingyuan ( 刘明源, pinyin: Líu Míngyuán; 1931-1996) was a prominent Chinese musician, composer, and teacher. He played the Chinese bowed string instruments '' banhu'', '' zhonghu'', '' gaohu'', '' erhu'', '' jinghu'', and ''

zhuihu The ''zhuihu'' ( 坠胡, pinyin: zhùihú; also called ''zhuiqin'' or ''zhuizixian'') is a two-stringed bowed string instrument from China. In construction, it resembles the ''sanxian'', and likely evolved as a bowed version of that musical ins ...

'', among others, as well as the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Biography

Born in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

, Mingyuan began studying music from his father and eventually learned to play a wide variety of traditional genres including ''pingju'',

Cantonese music ''Cantonese music'' may refer to: *The music of Cantonese-speaking peoples, especially: **Music of Guangdong **Music of Hong Kong ** Music of Macau *Cantonese language music, especially Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop mus ...

, and

Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

. He composed and arranged several popular '' guoyue'' pieces, many of which are based on traditional Chinese melodies. Among his best-known compositions are ''Xi Yang Yang'' (喜洋洋), ''Happy Year'' (幸福年), and ''Ten Elder Sisters'' (十大姐). Among his solos for the ''erhu'' are ''Henan Tune'' (河南小曲). Along with Liu Tianhua and

Abing Abing (; 17 August 1893 – 4 December 1950), born as Hua Yanjun (), was a blind Chinese musician specializing in the ''erhu'' and ''pipa''. Life Abing was born on August 17, 1893, in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi to father Hua Qinghe, w ...

, Liu is considered one of China's three finest traditional instrumentalists of the 20th century.

References

External links

Liu Mingyuan pageTreasures Of Chinese Instrumental Music, Bowed Instruments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Mingyuan 1931 births 1996 deaths Chinese male composers Musicians from Tianjin Erhu players 20th-century composers 20th-century Chinese musicians 20th-century male musicians