Performers › Musicians
Lu Wencheng
Cantonese music performer and composer who turned the erhu into the gaohu in the 1920s and wrote classics such as Bubu gao and Pinghu qiuyue.
Mural of the cultural record “Cantonese Music”, which this person is tied to.
Lu Wencheng (Lui Man-shing), from Zhongshan in Guangdong, moved to Shanghai with his parents as a small child and played erhu, yangqin, violin, piano and other instruments. In 1920s Shanghai he and Situ Mengyan rebuilt the erhu with steel strings and a higher tuning, held between the knees, creating the gaohu that became the lead instrument of Cantonese music. He composed Bubu gao, Pinghu qiuyue, Yuge wanchang and other pieces and recorded Cantonese opera and instrumental music with Xue Juexian and others. He moved to Hong Kong in 1932, where he went on recording and composing until his death in 1981.
Life and times
Dates 1898 CE–1981 CE