Chou Wen-Chung Distinguished Lecture on Chinese Culture

21st Century China Center named this lecture after the esteemed Chinese-American composer, teacher and cultural ambassador, Chou Wen-Chung (1923-2019). Chou was the first Chinese composer to achieve international recognition. His ground-breaking works defy cultural categories and inspired generations of composers. UC San Diego Music Department is the recipient of several dozen historically significant percussion instruments from the Chou Wen-Chung estate.

Chou Wen-Chung Distinguished Lecture on Chinese Culture presents scholars and artists with the belief that arts and culture are important to promoting mutual understanding between China and the U.S., a belief that was shared by Chou Wen-Chung who established the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange at Columbia University in 1978.

Celebrating the Soundscape of Music and Calligraphy in Chinese Culture

Mar 07, 2025 | Reception, 5–5:30 p.m.

Lecture in English, 4–5 p.m. Register here
Lecture in Chinese, 5:30–6:30 p.m. Register here

Speaker: Zaixin Hong, Professor of Art History, University of Puget Sound
主讲人：洪再新，普吉湾大学艺术与艺术史系教授

Zaixin Hong is professor of art history at the University of Puget Sound. He received Ph.D. in Art History at China Art Academy and did research at the University of California, Berkeley (1992) and the Harvard Center for the Studies of World Religion (1998–1999). His research interest focuses on ancient and modern Chinese art from an interdisciplinary approach.

He has published widely on the subjects related to various media, including audiovisual dynamics. In addition, he authored an award-winning Chinese college textbook, “A History of Chinese Art” (China Art Academy Press, 2000, 2013 and 2024 revised and expanded version). He edited “Essays on Chinese Painting by Overseas Scholars (1950-1987)” (1992) and “Chinese Painting Studies from A Global Art Historical Perspective (1988-2024)” (2024). A 2005–2006 ACLS and NEH fellow, he is working on a new book, “Shaking Hands with the Future: The Transformation of Chinese Painting through Overseas Collecting.”

Celebrating the Soundscape of Music and Calligraphy in Chinese Culture (Lecture in English)

The soundscape of calligraphy and music is a hallmark of Chinese civilization. This lecture explores their intricate connections and shared purpose, exemplified by Professor Lei Liang’s award-winning “A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams,” and delves into Chou Wen-chung’s question, “When is a line not a line?”

From Confucius’ “Six Arts” to modern masters like Huang Binhong, Pan Tianshou, Zao Wou-ki and Wang Dongling, the connections across centuries between music and calligraphy have bridged tradition and contemporary expression. In the age of AI, celebrating this human spirit becomes more vital than ever.

The lecture will feature a special presentation of Huang Binhong’s masterpiece “Landscapes,” shown in stunning 4K projection with original music composed by Liang. Kuiyi Shen, professor of Asian art history, theory and criticism from UC San Diego, will provide a short commentary.

"境界层上，一步一重天”: 黄宾虹、潘天寿的书画天地与梁雷的声景世界 （中文讲座）

中国艺术的精神存在于历代从事创作、研究与热爱音乐、书法和绘画者的终极关怀，其现实性和重要性在AI时代尤为突出。作曲家梁雷的音乐作品里所呈现的声景世界，将其所包容的大千宇宙，和现代书画大师的天地彼此贯通，融为一体。在此，洪教授以梁雷所钟爱的两位现代大师黄宾虹与潘天寿为例，从艺术史的角度探讨音乐和金石书画的内在关联，解析为什么“艺术之高下，终在境界；境界层上，一步一重天”，展示中国艺术精神的博大精深。

讲座开始前将特别呈现黄宾虹的杰作《山水册页》，通过4K投影展示，并配以梁雷教授的原创音乐，UCSD亚洲艺术史教授沈揆一将作点评。

2023

Face to Face with Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man

Oct. 24, 2023 | Video

Speaker:
Wu Man, pipa virtuoso

Wu Man is recognized as the world’s foremost pipa virtuoso and leading ambassador of Chinese music. She has carved out a career as a soloist, educator, and composer giving her lute-like instrument — which has a history of over 2,000 years in China — a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. In this conversation, Wu Man will focus on how she found new inspiration in her fruitful collaborations that led to the creation of new musical works.

The discussion was in English, moderated by composer Lei Liang, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Music, and percussionist Steven Schick, Distinguished Professor of Music. The event featured a performance of vis-à-vis, a duo composed by Lei Liang for Wu Man and Steven Schick.

Biography:
Wu Man, acclaimed as the world's foremost pipa virtuoso and a prominent advocate for Chinese music, revolutionizes her ancient instrument's role in both traditional and contemporary contexts. With over 2,000 years of history, the pipa gains new life through her solo performances, educational endeavors, and compositions. Wu Man also pioneers multimedia projects, preserving and promoting China's rich musical heritage. Her works have garnered her international recognition, receiving accolades such as Musical America’s 2013 “Instrumentalist of the Year” and the “National Heritage Fellow” in 2023. Wu Man's expertise spans classical and contemporary pipa music, collaborating with eminent composers worldwide.

Thanks for the generous support of Spiralis Music Trust to make this distinguished lecture possible.

2022

Redefining Music: Traditional Guqin Music in Performance and Scholarship

May 2, 2023 | Video
Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UC San Diego Music Department

Speaker: Bell Yung, emeritus professor at the University of Pittsburgh; affiliate professor at the University of Washington
Moderator: Lei Liang, Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Music at UC San Diego

In this unique talk, which featured both a musical performance and a discussion of China's musical tradition, Bell Yung, professor at the University of Washington, examined one of China's traditional instruments, the guqin. China’s guqin music is historically associated with the literati, who left volumes of treatises, essays and poems explicating their philosophical views of music. This talk and performance explained how music for these individuals was both intellectual and expressive art, shedding new light on the limits of what music can be.

Bell Yung, an ethnomusicologist specializing in China, is an emeritus professor at the University of Pittsburgh and affiliate professor at the University of Washington. He has published 10 books and more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and reviews in English and in Chinese. His most recent publications are “The Scholar and the Courtesan: songs on the Pearl River’s Flower Boats” and “From humble beginnings to qin master: the remarkable cross-fertilization of folk and elite cultures in Yao Bingyan’s dapu music." His biography of his qin teacher Tsar Teh-yun, "The Last of China’s Literati," was recently published in Chinese. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Ph.D. in musicology from Harvard University and an honorary doctorate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Sounds and Images: Rediscovering Chinese Art via Music

The inaugural Chou Wen-Chung Distinguished Lecture on Chinese Culture (Register) on May 17 will feature two distinguished scholars of Chinese music: Lei Liang, composer and Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Music from UC San Diego will present his work on Chinese landscape paintings at Qualcomm Institute, and Joseph Lam, ethnomusicologist from the University of Michigan, will deliver a lecture that interprets the paintings in the contexts of late Ming court culture and with theories of iconography and ethnomusicology, offering answers on the ways the paintings visually capture and preserve state processional music, a performance and discourse of Chinese emperorship and being.

Speakers:

Joseph Lam, Professor of Musicology, University of Michigan
Lei Liang, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Music, UC San Diego

The Chou Wen-Chung Distinguished Lecture is part of a two-day event celebrating the works of an esteemed Chinese-American composer, teacher and cultural ambassador, Chou Wen-chung (1923-2019). On May 18, UC San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Concert Hall will present the world premiere of a percussion concerto inspired by the invaluable collection of percussion instruments donated by the Chou Wen-Chung Estate. Distinguished Professor of Music Steven Schick will lead a performance of Chou Wen-chung's classic percussion quartet, Echoes from the Gorge, as well as Lei Liang's double bass concerto Luminous, featuring internationally renowned bassist Mark Dresser. This is a free event and open to the public. You may RSVP for the May 18 performance here.

This Chou Wen-Chung Distinguished Lecture on Chinese Culture is organized by the 21st Century China Center at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. For more information on China activities, as well as recordings of previous webinars, please visit china.ucsd.edu.

Bios

Joseph S.C. Lam is a professor of musicology at the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at the University of Michigan. A musicologist and sinologist, Lam specializes in the music and cultures of Southern Song (1127-1279), Ming (1368-1644) and modern China (1900 to present). Lam’s recent publications include chapters and articles in “Senses of the City,” Yinyue yishu/Musical Art, “The Ming World,” “Oxford Handbook of Music and Queerness” and “How to Read Chinese Drama.” Lam’s “Kunqu, A Classical Opera of Contemporary China” will be published by the Hong Kong University Press in late 2022.

Lei Liang is a Chinese-born American composer whose work has received accolades from academia and music critics. Liang is the winner of the 2011 Rome Prize and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland Award, a Koussevitzky Foundation Commission, a Creative Capital Award and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His concerto for saxophone and orchestra, Xiaoxiang, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2015. His orchestral work A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams won the prestigious 2021 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Liang leads an annual collaborative program on Chinese art and music between the 21st Century China Center and the Music Department.