Cao Dongfu

Also known as Called the 'Sage of Quzi' · Called the 'King of Strings'

Cao Dongfu was born in 1898 in Dengxian (now Dengzhou), Henan, into a family of ballad singers; his father made a living singing daqu quzi. He learned singing and the yangqin, sanxian, zheng and pipa from a number of folk musicians, and by about 1927 the Cao style of daqu singing he created was widely sung in Henan. In the 1930s and 1940s he was famous across Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi and was called the 'Sage of Quzi'. In 1948 he founded a daqu study society in Dengxian. At the first national folk music and dance festival in 1953 he won prizes for the instrumental preludes of daqu, and from 1954 he taught zheng in Henan, at the Central Conservatory of Music and at the Sichuan Conservatory, bringing the Henan zheng style into the conservatories. His repertoire includes High Mountains and Flowing Water and Su Wu Longs for Home, and his arrangements include Lantern Festival. He died in Dengxian in 1970.