Introduction

The transmission of the art of qin began in the 1940s and 1950s when a group of literati moved to Hong Kong to escape the unsettling environment caused by wars in the mainland China. Xu Wenjing, Tsar Teh-yun, Yung Sum-yin, Yung Sze-chak, Lo Ka-ping, and Mr and Mrs Wu Zonghan were some of the first qin musician migrants to Hong Kong. At the time, qin musicians would meet and host yaji (gatherings) in which they played music, thus perpetuating the lineage in Hong Kong during the relatively stable political period of the 1950s and 60s. Hong Kong’s first qin musician migrants transmitted the study of qin to the second generation of qin players mainly through family teaching and teacher-student tutelage. As of today, the art of qin in Hong Kong continues to be passed down and to be developed. Indeed, many fourth and fifth generation qin musicians have been nurtured in Hong Kong.