Ah Bing, known as "China's Beethoven", is still widely praised for his famous erhu song "Erquan Reflecting the Moon". His career has been full of writing and performing, and he has composed and performed more than 270 folk songs.
Unfortunately, only six have survived.
In 1893, Ah Bing was born in the "Yihe Mountain House" near the Leizun Hall in Wuxi, formerly known as Hua Yanjun, who was the illegitimate son of the Taoist priest Hua Qinghe, and depended on his mother.
When he was four years old, his mother couldn't bear the pressure of the world and chose to commit suicide, and Ah Bing was adopted by his aunt of the same clan. In 1901, he returned to his father and called him "**, became a small Taoist priest of the Lei Zun Hall of the Taoist Temple of the Sanqing Palace, and began private school education.
Because his father was very proficient in various musical instruments, Ah Bing began to learn drums, flutes, erhu and other musical instruments from his father. His father was very strict with his training, and when he learned the flute, he not only had to play it at the tuyere, but his father also hung an iron ring at the end of the flute to strengthen his wrist, and later even changed it to a weighing stone.
Under the guidance of his father, 12-year-old Ah Bing can already play a variety of musical instruments, and often participates in activities such as chanting and playing music.
A Bing, the "little heavenly master" in the Taoist world, caused a lot of shock in Wuxi with his talent and good voice. His talent benefits from several years of hard work, he performs, while absorbing the tunes of the folk **, and strives for perfection in Taoism.
However, fate was not fair to him. At the age of 25, his father died, and he inherited the position of the head of the Lei Zun Temple. This position was supposed to improve his life, but his father, on his deathbed, told him that he was an illegitimate child, which hit him very hard.
Unfortunately, due to careless friendships, he contracted opium, prostitution, and syphilis, which left him blind and lost control of the Taoist temple.
The twists and turns of fate did not make Ah Bing succumb, but stimulated his enthusiasm for creation. Blind and unable to participate in the work, he made a living as a street performer, and at the same time became a creative folk artist under the name of "Blind Ah Bing".
In such a life, he created the touching "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon". In 1929, Ah Ping and Dong Caidi got married and faced the challenges of life together.
With the fall of Wuxi, they returned to their hometown in Jiangyin, and soon moved to Shanghai, where they worked as a pianist in the Kunqu Opera Ban Xianni Society, playing the three strings. Ah Bing's erhu solo "Listening to Song" expresses his strong patriotic feelings, showing his perseverance and national spirit.
Ah Bing is a blind ** family who cares about national affairs very much, he listens to others tell the news in the teahouse, and then goes home to create**. He sang in front of the Chong'an Temple teahouse every day and played erhu on the street at night.
Although life is difficult, his ** talent has been recognized and respected by people. In 1947, he suffered from lung disease and was unable to perform on the streets, so he had to repair the huqin at home, making his life even more difficult.
However, on April 23, 1949, Wuxi was liberated, and his ** works "Erquan Reflecting the Moon" were reborn. In the summer of the following year, the teachers and students of ** college recorded his ** works for him, including 3 erhu songs "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", "Listening to Song" and "Cold Spring Wind Song", as well as 3 pipa songs "Big Waves and Sand", "Dragon Boat" and "Zhaojun Out of the Plug".
Ah Bing's life was full of ups and downs, but he died of illness at the age of 57 and failed to win the flowers and applause of the world. He finally rested in the tomb of the Taoist priest of "Yihe Mountain House" at the foot of Canshan Mountain in the western suburbs of Wuxi.