Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s2.t10.9

v2.c11.s2.t10.9

During the concerts and seminars held in China, Ravi Shankar directly connected with the Chinese music culture. He was delighted and pleased by the Chinese’s extensive and profound traditional culture, and admired Chinese musicians and wished to communicate with them. Chen Ziming issued an article called “Ravi Shankar—Music Envoy from India” on the 1ˢᵗ issue (1984) of *People’s Music*, which introduced Ravi Shankar’s travel in China; besides the performances and lectures, he also participated in a get-together party held for him by the Chinese Musicians Association, and appreciated the Chinese traditional instrumental music, the vocal music and the Indian dance performed by Chinese artistes. The Chinese musical instruments which he was most interested in were the seven-stringed plucked instrument (Guchin), the 4-stringed Chinese lute (Pipa), the 21-or 25-stringed plucked instrument (Guzheng) and the ancient plucked stringed instrument (Konghou). He said that he had succeeded in the musical creation “East Meets West” by the eastern and western music instruments. Therefore, he thought it would be also interesting for the musical creation “East Meets East” by Sitar and Pipa or Guzhenge. He hoped this would come true, so he could use the sitar to cooperate with Chinese musical instruments in the near future, so as to promote the combination of the two eastern music, namely, Indian music and Chinese music.