Wu Zhaoji (吳兆基, 1908-1997), also known as Xiangquan, was a Chinese musician. Born in

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

, China in 1908, he moved to

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

at the age of four with his family, where he lived for the rest of his life until his death in 1997. Raised in a musical family, he learned the

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 ...

from his father, and in 1921 became a student of Wu Jinyang. From a young age, he enjoyed sports and martial arts. In 1928 he began studying the Yang Style of Tai-chi with Chen Weiming. One year later, he became a student of Li Shangyuan, who is a student of Hao Weizeng a descendant of the Wu (Martial) Style Taichi family. After many years of study he created his own style of tai-chi based on Daoism. Wu Zhaoji is popularly revered as an archetypal "literatus" qin player; his smooth, detached, intellectual, yet vigorous style made him one of the most highly regarded amateur players in the late 20th century. Though a well-known Guqin master, Wu was, by profession, a mathematics professor at Soochow University in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. The "Wu" school of qin playing currently centered in Suzhou takes him as a leading figure; noted players to transmit his style include Wang Duo and Yuan Jung-ping.

References

1908 births 1997 deaths Guqin players People's Republic of China musicians Republic of China musicians Musicians from Hunan 20th-century Chinese musicians {{china-musician-stub

See also

References