Qin Schools - Regional Styles

Regional Styles

As far as older regional styles, the best-known ones are from Jiangnan and Sichuan. Some have relocated several times, like the Zhucheng/Mei'an style.

Major living Jiangnan lineages include Guangling, Zhe (Xumen) and Wumen. Others, like a "Jinling" style centered in Nanjing, don't really seem to exist anymore — though there's always an old master or two as counterexample.

1. For several generations the major qin lineage in Zhejiang has been surnamed Xu; Yao Bingyan and his tentative "Yaomen" lineage are an off-shoot. One can't really say much about this style; it is not so well known, though several Xumen masters have been very respected.
2. In Suzhou there is the Wumen style, most associated with Wu Zhaoji and his teachers before him. "Wumen" is named after "Wu Place" (吳地, old Chinese name of Suzhou area), and Wu Zhaoji's legacy seems to define the school in large measure.
3. Guangling style is very prominent, mainly because it heavily influenced the "southern conservatory style". Guangling was originally centered in Yangzhou; its two major 20th century masters were Zhang Ziqian and Liu Shaochun. These taught a number of students destined for prominence, and Zhang himself became the de facto leading qin master in Jiangnan during the 1950s and 1960s. Major players today with strong Guangling influence include Gong Yi, Cheng Gongliang, Lin Youren, Mei Yueqiang, and their various students.

Generally (stereotypically), the Jiangnan styles are thought of as rather light and elegant. Guangling is very abstract, even "floating", and today the southern conservatory style is the more "light and elegant" of the conservatory styles. Sichuan, as early as the Tang dynasty, was perceived as having qin play characterized by rushing, tumbling energy. The modern Sichuan/Shu/Chuan school was largely founded by Zhang Kongshan in the late 19th century; his inheritors have been very numerous. As the Sichuan style fanned out into other areas of China (as it seemed to do rather successfully in the early 20th century), it became known as "Fanchuan", whose connotation is something like "Chuan – Everywhere". Today the main representative is Zeng Chengwei, who has a very focused, straightforward style.