Qiantang Xiao Society, hands in hands with Hangzhou Library and Taiyin Guqin Society, held a special concert. It brought together renowned local guqin (Chinese zither) and xiao (a Chinese vertical bamboo flute) musicians and offered a spectacular night-time gala.　　

Two boys - 11-year-old Lü Enyi and 9-year-old Xie Yiyi - began the concert with a melody called “Autumn Wind Song.” The beautiful tones haunting across the hall were on the pulse of the audience. Lü is a student from the Experimental School of Yuhang Cultural Village, while Xie is from Shenglan Experimental Primary School. Xie plays it every Wednesday in her school’s xiao class. She is also a young artist on Qiantang Xiao Society’s Bamboo Flute Program. The concert also saw the presence of gold and silver prize laureates from the inaugural Chuwang Cup last year in the Yangtze River Delta region. In addition to the concert, Taizhou’s Fenghuang Xiao Society and Qiantang Xiao Society have co-hosted two music gatherings each called “Cranes and Plum Groves” at the Solitary Hill’s Fanghe Pavilion and “Purple Clouds in Melodies” at Ziyun Cave on Qixia Ridge. These events are parts of Hangzhou’s “Ten Xiao Parties and Views.”

Shen Yingbiao, chair of Qiantang Xiao Society, president of the Shangtang Subdistrict Federation of Literary and Art Circles in Gongshu District, and a representative heritage guardian for the “Art of Jiangnan Dongxiao,” said he placed a high expectation on this concert. Shen wants more people to understand xiao and even learn it, which, in his eyes, is the right way for a sense of cultural belonging.