Hither & thither, the majesty of a zither

One of the most impressive students, she says, was an Iranian boy studying saxophone professionally at a local music high school. After an introductory course at the high school he contacted Mi saying he was keen to study yangqin. Even though it was toward the end of the semester she decided to take him in and taught him for a month.

The boy exceeded her expectations and quickly mastered the basic skills. Even though he had no yangqin of his own, he asked Mi to help him book practice rooms, and he would practice for five hours straight each time.

Moved by students like him, Mi says yangqin music, with its pleasant sound, cultural background and the instrument's resemblance to other countries' folk instruments, can attract people from outside China to learn about Chinese folk music.

"The most important thing is that the yangqin represents Chinese folk culture with all its refinement. The music itself is attractive enough, but we need to do more to let people know about it."

For every performance, Mi and her colleagues prepare a repertoire of well-known Chinese pieces, both traditional and contemporary, usually folk music pieces with catchy melodies.