The North American Guqin Association (; often abbreviated to NAGA) is a guqin society based in the State of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, which serves ''

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...

'' players on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

. Of the three major qin societies of the West (the other two being the

London Youlan Qin Society The London Youlan Qin Society (; often abbreviated to LYQS) is a London-based qin society serving guqin players in the UK. Of the three major qin societies of the West (the other two being the North American Guqin Association and the New York Qin ...

and the

New York Qin Society The New York Qin Society (; sometimes abbreviated as NYQS) is a guqin society based in New York, New York in America, serving guqin players on the East Coast of the United States. Of the three major qin societies in the West (the other two being t ...

), this society was the world's largest English speaking online community for the ''guqin'' (before the advent of other social media platforms) and has the most connections and scope of activities.

History

NAGA was founded by the qin player Wang Fei in 1997 who is the current director of the society. As of 2006, the society is recognized as a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

. NAGA is the only society outside China to be instrumental in instigating an official 'Guqin Day' in the city of

Milpitas Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Marí ...

in 2007. The day was set on 7 November.City of Milpitas Sets the First Guqin Day
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Activities

NAGA organises regular yajis as well as excursions and events. This also includes classes for guqin and sometimes a qin master is invited over from China to teach for a few days. It is also represented by some members when they attend conferences and events in China. It has also introduced an innovation called a ''yalon'' (an amalgamation of ''yaji'' and the French ''salon'') as a gathering of Eastern and Western musical traditions.

Membership

Membership, which essentially is a subscription to a mailing list, is open to all who have an interest in qin music and only requires an online registration. The society comprises 3 officers, several board members, consultants and numerous ordinary members. Members have the benefit of attending meetings and (informal gatherings of qin enthusiasts) as well as special events which can take place in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. There are no membership fees or requirements.

Notes

References

External links

NAGA's official site
(inactive since 2017) Guqin Guqin organizations {{china-music-stub