The WKU community was given a sample of Chinese culture at the WKU Chinese Music Club’s fourth annual concert in the Fine Arts Center on Saturday.
The club played a variety of traditional and traditionally styled Chinese music. After the performance, the club allowed attendants to come on stage in an “instrument petting zoo.”
Leopold Gogol, a junior biology major, played a pipa in the ensemble, which he said is a stringed instrument akin to the banjo and lute.
“It can be used as a background instrument, like a guitar, but it can also be a very vocal instrument too,” Gogol said.
Luge Ma, a teaching assistant in the Chinese Flagship Program, said she attended the concert to support her students.
Ma is from the southwestern region of China and said she enjoys smaller concerts at WKU more than the larger concerts in China.
“They’re my students, and I know the stories behind their performance,” Ma said.
Ma said she believes events like the Chinese Music Club’s concert are important for bringing American and Chinese cultures together.
“There are a lot of differences between these two cultures and the languages, but beyond that, I will say if there are more similarities,” Ma said. “We laugh, we cry, and we all have our dreams, we have our passions, and I think that’s the part that connects us.”
Ting-Hui Lee, a physics and astronomy instructor and Chinese Music Club sponsor, also expressed the cultural importance of the concert.
“People say, you know, with music you don’t need spoken language to talk to each other,” Lee said. “You can communicate through music.”
Lee also encouraged members of the community to give the instruments a try and participate in Chinese culture.
“We’re playing Chinese instruments, but it doesn’t mean you have to be Chinese,” Lee said.
See the full photo gallery by Photo Editor Eli Randolph and Assistant Photo Editor Adin Parks here.
