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Music man: spreading love of classical music, spiritual values
By Xu Wenwen |
September 2, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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CHINA is enjoying a cultural renaissance and one charismatic music lover is spreading love of classical music, spiritual values and human harmony. He strikes a chord with Xu Wenwen. Zhang Ming is Hangzhou's music man, a charismatic and inspirational figure who spreads his love of classical music and humanistic values. Zhang, 56, has a long list of achievements, but his goals are boundless.
The Hangzhou native is associate professor of music at Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art; he is believed to have founded the first personal musical library in China and he has organized a migrant workers' chorus.
He popularizes classical music around China and has set the goal of teaching 1 million people to open their ears and hearts to classical music.
His mission is spreading spiritual values.
Zhang Ming Music Library/Cafe, on the West Lake No. 6 Park's Pedestrian Street, features 5,000 CDs, personally chosen by Zhang, as well as books about music, art and humanities.
The two-story building is a gathering place for music lovers and audiophiles, featuring a stage upstairs and a cafe on the ground floor. Every customer receives a free set of top-quality German earphones and can listen to anything he or she chooses. Beverages and snacks are extra.
Visitors can sip coffee, read a book and listen to Vivaldi.
Zhang's interests seem all-encompassing.
He recently climbed Mt Everest in a third attempt and he has an album of photos he has taken since 2005 in the Tibet Autonomous Region. "I consider Tibet the homeland for my soul," says Zhang. "Scaling a mountain is like popularizing music: difficult but worthwhile."
Zhang calls himself the "servant of Mozart" and says: "Mozart was an angel who lived the poorest life at times but produced the best and sweetest music in which pain cannot be heard."
He begins to sob, just thinking of Mozart.
"Unlike Beethoven, Mozart never creates conflict," he says. "Mozart only gives, as a cow eats grass and gives milk and a silkworm eats leaves and gives silk," he was too choked up to continue for a while.
Clearly, Zhang is a sentimental musician and he devotes himself to purifying people's hearts by teaching classical music and doing charitable work.
He teaches music appreciation in several universities and his music library. So far, around 640,000 people have attended his class, but he still aims for a million students.
"If I taught 10,000 people in one year, I still would need 36 years of teaching. Then I could retire at the age of 92. I hope I live that long," he laughs.
Zhang also teaches "music and humanities" to executive MBA students in university. It's a sign of progress, he says, that courses about making money and commerce even make time for music appreciation. Still, it's distressing to him to see rich people spending thousands of yuan on fancy meals and drinking.
"It's my duty to enlighten them - the purpose of collecting money is to distribute money," he says.
His music library is part of his mission.
In 2002 he invested 600,000 yuan (US$87,836) to build up the original library on Zhonghe Road M. to promote refined art. He kept losing money, however, because customers were few. Then, in 2005, the municipal government and local media helped finance his move to the current address.
Zhang and his music library are promoted as a "cultural name card for Hangzhou." In 2006 at the Vocational Academy of Art, he organized a migrant workers' chorus to enrich the lives of migrants and newcomers who felt adrift in an unfamiliar city. Zhang chose nearly 40 workers to receive professional vocal training.
Again, he footed the bill himself.
His good deeds extend to Tibet. He plans a public subscription to build a small school and clinic in the remote region.
Some observers consider Zhang's work as a kind of religion, some call it self-actualization.
He agrees with both interpretations.
"I was born to be a transmitter, I need to share good things with more people."
There's always a gap, however, between ideals and reality.
He barely breaks even on the music library and the labor chorus is unstable because members find it hard to get together for rehearsal.
"More challenges and difficulties make me want to work even harder," says Zhang, "but to do more also leads to more upsets."
Zhang emphasizes: "I aim to learn from Mozart, cultivate universal feelings of common humanity and generate far-reaching actions for the good of humanity.
"I hope those who take my class can spread the word to their family and friends, and I hope my son and future generations will continue my work."
Zhang explains profound classical compositions in a simple way and plans to distribute DVDs of his lectures and publish books.
"China is now in a renaissance," Zhang says. "Chinese traditional culture is booming, and the whole country is embracing the concept of harmony and people-oriented work. This amounts to humanism, the core of the Renaissance in Europe."
Address: No. 7, Shengtang Scenic Spot
How to get there: K81, K7, Y9, Y3, K27, K16 to No. 6 Park stop.
Lecture: Every Friday, 7-9pm (various professors); Every Saturday, 7-9pm, (professor Zhang Ming)
The Hangzhou native is associate professor of music at Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art; he is believed to have founded the first personal musical library in China and he has organized a migrant workers' chorus.
He popularizes classical music around China and has set the goal of teaching 1 million people to open their ears and hearts to classical music.
His mission is spreading spiritual values.
Zhang Ming Music Library/Cafe, on the West Lake No. 6 Park's Pedestrian Street, features 5,000 CDs, personally chosen by Zhang, as well as books about music, art and humanities.
The two-story building is a gathering place for music lovers and audiophiles, featuring a stage upstairs and a cafe on the ground floor. Every customer receives a free set of top-quality German earphones and can listen to anything he or she chooses. Beverages and snacks are extra.
Visitors can sip coffee, read a book and listen to Vivaldi.
Zhang's interests seem all-encompassing.
He recently climbed Mt Everest in a third attempt and he has an album of photos he has taken since 2005 in the Tibet Autonomous Region. "I consider Tibet the homeland for my soul," says Zhang. "Scaling a mountain is like popularizing music: difficult but worthwhile."
Zhang calls himself the "servant of Mozart" and says: "Mozart was an angel who lived the poorest life at times but produced the best and sweetest music in which pain cannot be heard."
He begins to sob, just thinking of Mozart.
"Unlike Beethoven, Mozart never creates conflict," he says. "Mozart only gives, as a cow eats grass and gives milk and a silkworm eats leaves and gives silk," he was too choked up to continue for a while.
Clearly, Zhang is a sentimental musician and he devotes himself to purifying people's hearts by teaching classical music and doing charitable work.
He teaches music appreciation in several universities and his music library. So far, around 640,000 people have attended his class, but he still aims for a million students.
"If I taught 10,000 people in one year, I still would need 36 years of teaching. Then I could retire at the age of 92. I hope I live that long," he laughs.
Zhang also teaches "music and humanities" to executive MBA students in university. It's a sign of progress, he says, that courses about making money and commerce even make time for music appreciation. Still, it's distressing to him to see rich people spending thousands of yuan on fancy meals and drinking.
"It's my duty to enlighten them - the purpose of collecting money is to distribute money," he says.
His music library is part of his mission.
In 2002 he invested 600,000 yuan (US$87,836) to build up the original library on Zhonghe Road M. to promote refined art. He kept losing money, however, because customers were few. Then, in 2005, the municipal government and local media helped finance his move to the current address.
Zhang and his music library are promoted as a "cultural name card for Hangzhou." In 2006 at the Vocational Academy of Art, he organized a migrant workers' chorus to enrich the lives of migrants and newcomers who felt adrift in an unfamiliar city. Zhang chose nearly 40 workers to receive professional vocal training.
Again, he footed the bill himself.
His good deeds extend to Tibet. He plans a public subscription to build a small school and clinic in the remote region.
Some observers consider Zhang's work as a kind of religion, some call it self-actualization.
He agrees with both interpretations.
"I was born to be a transmitter, I need to share good things with more people."
There's always a gap, however, between ideals and reality.
He barely breaks even on the music library and the labor chorus is unstable because members find it hard to get together for rehearsal.
"More challenges and difficulties make me want to work even harder," says Zhang, "but to do more also leads to more upsets."
Zhang emphasizes: "I aim to learn from Mozart, cultivate universal feelings of common humanity and generate far-reaching actions for the good of humanity.
"I hope those who take my class can spread the word to their family and friends, and I hope my son and future generations will continue my work."
Zhang explains profound classical compositions in a simple way and plans to distribute DVDs of his lectures and publish books.
"China is now in a renaissance," Zhang says. "Chinese traditional culture is booming, and the whole country is embracing the concept of harmony and people-oriented work. This amounts to humanism, the core of the Renaissance in Europe."
Address: No. 7, Shengtang Scenic Spot
How to get there: K81, K7, Y9, Y3, K27, K16 to No. 6 Park stop.
Lecture: Every Friday, 7-9pm (various professors); Every Saturday, 7-9pm, (professor Zhang Ming)
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