Yunqing

Introduction

Grew out of one section of the percussion suite Luogu Sihe; printed in the 1919 Guosheng Ji.

Yunqing, also called Qingyun Ban or Jingxing Qingyun, is one of the Eight Great Pieces of Jiangnan sizhu. The sizhu master Jin Zuli explained that it began as one section of the percussion-and-strings suite Luogu Sihe and later became an independent piece; another account traces it to the Yunqing Guang passage within that suite. Its original score was printed in the Guosheng Ji compiled by Zhou Shiseng in 1919. The piece runs through slow, moderate and fast sections and is light, graceful and finely paced, evoking the canal towns south of the Yangtze. It is often played at festivals and celebrations, and around 1941 it was one of the eight signboard titles of Shanghai sizhu entertainments.