Ａ Ｌｉｆｅｌｏｎｇ Ｐａｓｓｉｏｎ ｆｏｒ Ｍｕｓｉｃ

Ｘｕ　Ｚｈｏｎｇｙｏｕ

Li Lanqing, a standing member of politburo, vice premier of the State Council in charge of countrys scientific, cultural and educational undertakings, retired in 2003 to a life of music and books, his lifelong passions.

Formative Years Shaped by Music

Born into a family of intellectuals in May, 1932, Li Lanqing grew up with his maternal grandparents. A maternal uncle, a graduate of civil engineering from University of Communications, was an amateur pianist and violinist. The family had a Mozart piano and the boy took piano lessons from the uncle and practiced. Mozart became his first music icon. A textbook in his primary school years introduced him to Beethoven. Curiosity led him to read more about the German composer. The reading exposed him to a world of music and led him to other great names. Li Lanqing found himself have a passion for music and began to sing seriously. In his middle school days, he had a high profile in schools after-class cultural activities. When he was a student of business management at Fudan University in Shanghai, he was a vice president of the student union in charge of cultural undertakings. He was part of a student singing group that won many awards.

As a vice director of planning department at the First Auto Works, he was sent to two automobile factories in the Soviet Union for further studies. His stay there in 1956 and 1957 turned him into a lover of Russian music. He learned to sing many songs of the Soviet Union and traced the musical tradition of Russia into the 19th century.

Music More Important than Melodies

In 1983, Li Lanqing transferred to work in Tianjin Municipality as a vice mayor from his directorship of the Foreign Investment Administration under the Ministry of Economics and Business. In the club for officials of the city government, Li found a piano pushed back in a corner of the club. Apparently nobody had touched it for a long while. He cleaned the piano and played it. From then on he frequently played the piano there.

Li visited foreign countries frequently after he became a vice premier. Many of his visits were important missions. Music helped him accomplish his missions. Headed by Li, a Chinese delegation arrived in Moscow in July, 2001 to attend the 112th session of the International Olympic Committee, ready to vote which candidate city to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Beijing wished to win the honor. Li invited Moscow Mayor to a reception before the 112th session so as to create a favorable atmosphere for the Chinese delegation to better promote its cause. At the reception, Li and the mayor sang Moscow Nights in Russian together. In the 1950s, the popular song originally had four stanzas of lyrics. But the later version omitted one or two stanzas. It turned out that Li and the mayor were able to sing all the four stanzas to the end. The mayor was greatly impressed and pleased, saying that he and Li were probably the only two people in the world who could sing all the four original stanzas. The friendship between the four deepened and the mayor helped the Chinese delegation.

During Lis every visit to France, he and French President Chirac managed to find time for chatting about culture. President Chirac was very familiar with the history of Chinese culture. His knowledge of the bronze ware of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1066-771 BC) even amazed Chinese experts. During one of these chats about culture, President Chirac said that he had been writing a film script in his spare time on Li Bai, an all-time Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Li Lanqings favorite topics with President Chirac varied from French writers such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas Senior and Dumas junior, Balzac, great composers of France and the rest of Europe since 19th century, and best known French and European musical works.

Li Lanqing found a comradeship with a vice premier of Norway during his visit to the Scandinavian country. At the reception in his honor, Li mentioned his appreciation of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), the greatest Norwegian composer. The vice Norwegian premier was pleased to respond in her following address at the reception that two monumental figures enjoy unconditional worship in Norway: Ibsen and Grieg. The atmosphere of the reception became very much alive when the Chinese Guest and the Norwegian Host found they had something in common. The government-to-government talk in the following day was very successful. After the meeting, the Norwegian vice premier adjusted her schedule and invited Li and other Chinese guests to visit Bergen,the hometown of the Norwegian composer, which happened to be the hometown of the vice premier.

Retirement Passions

The retirement since 2003 has given Li Lanqings life new focuses. Now he is able to give music full attention. He has held lectures in key universities across the country upon a wide range of topics on music. His lectures upon music have been very popular and widely hailed as enlightenment. In the lectures, he stresses beauty of music and attaches priority to the significant role music plays in ones lifetime strife toward moral perfection. He points out that an intellectuals life without a meaningful exposure to music is incomplete. His lectures are not just pure words. All of his lectures on music are delivered in multimedia.

Li Lanqing has also published a book on music, the result of eight years research and writing. He first had the idea of writing a book on music for casual readers and students. He wanted to introduce these people into a world of music and enable them to take more profound interest in the melodious sounds of the world. He remarks on his book that he meant to write an introduction for students and other music lovers so that they can peep into the great hall of music. If they find it interesting, they might step into that great world. The seed for the book germinated while he was still working full time as the vice premier. After his retirement he at last found time to write it out. “Li Lanqings Notes on Music” is hailed by critics as an invitation to the hall of music. □