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China Institute Lunch and Learn (November)

午间中文

November 14, 2025

12:00 - 1:00 PM ET

Register

Join us virtually to read aloud Chinese poetry, learn about Chinese culture, and gain insight into Chinese life through Chinese art, literature, and history. Participants will enjoy live, interactive learning sessions with our language and cultural experts from home.

Can an ancient instrument teach you more about the Chinese language than words alone? Discover the guqin, a 3,000-year-old seven-string zither and the centerpiece of the traditional scholar’s Four Arts (qin, chess/go, calligraphy, and painting), in our four-session online Lunch and Learn series. Beyond its enchanting melodies, the guqin holds surprising insights into Chinese characters, poetry, and classical literature—offering a unique way to experience language, culture, and history through music.

Starting September 2025, join us on a journey through the guqin’s rich history and cultural significance. Explore how traditional Chinese philosophy shapes its design and structure, how its unique notation system emerges from Chinese characters, how it influenced scholars’ lifestyles, and how its timeless music reflects poetry and classical literature.

Through demonstrations and guided discussions, participants will experience the artistry, emotion, and intellectual depth of this ancient instrument—an engaging opportunity for Chinese learners to connect with language, culture, and history through sound and music!

Contact:
Yongqiang Lin, [email protected]

See the playlist of past Lunch & Learn on YouTube

Speaker
Yi Zhou 周懿

Pipa and Qin Performing Artist | Educator

Praised by The Washington Post for her “breathtaking” technique and expressive artistry, Zhou Yi is a New York–based soloist specializing in the pipa (Chinese lute) and qin (Chinese zither). Born in Shanghai, she began her musical training at the age of five and later graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York and serves as an instructor and teaching artist at the China Institute in America and the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts.

As a featured soloist, Zhou Yi has performed Tan Dun’s Concerto for Pipa and String Orchestra at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, appeared in the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts, and performed Bun-Ching Lam’s Sudden Thunder with the Sinfonieorchester Münster and Sisters of the Grassland with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Her operatic and multidisciplinary guqin performances include Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber at San Francisco Opera and Huang Ruo’s Dr. Sun Yat-sen at Santa Fe Opera.

Dedicated to music education and outreach, Zhou Yi has taught and lectured at institutions including Carnegie Hall’s Music Explorers program, Columbia University, and New York University. She served on the jury for the 2023 Astral National Competition and received the City of New York’s “Outstanding Cultural Contribution Award” for her impact on cultural exchange.

This program is made possible through the support of the Chinese International Education Foundation, and generous supporters of China Institute of America.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

China Institute of America’s cultural programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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