Feng Yingxian (R) and her mother Lu Xiaoling were practicing a song.[Photo by Sun Junjun]

Feng Yingxian and her mother both appeared on the evening of May 24 at the "Konghou Forerunner" Concert held at Tongle Primary School in Dongsheng Town. They brought a melodious musical performance to the audience.

The mother and the daughter devote themselves to public welfare teaching and performances in ordinary days. They also actively participate in the activities of sending plays to the countryside organized by local authorities.

In addition to the mother-daughter relationship, Feng Yingxian and Lu Xiaoling are also the head and deputy head of the Menghui Jiangnan Art Troupe of the Pop Music Association of Zhongshan. Both of them are good at playing Chinese Zither and Konghou (an ancient plucked stringed instrument).

When did they fall in love with music? "The story began when my daughter was a pupil in grade 3," Lu Xiaoling recalls.

That year, Feng Yingxian made a wish to have a piano as her birthday present. For many reasons, Lu Xiaoling in the end bought her daughter a Chinese Zither, which cost her as much as two months' wages at the time.

However, the obedient kid accepted his mother's choice. She learned playing Chinese zither with heart and soul, and passed the grade 10 examination in primary school period.

From then on, Feng was obsessed with Chinese Zither. "Whenever I hear the music I like, I am eager to play it again with Chinese Zither," said Feng, who has graduated from the School of Music of Central China Normal University for a year one year ago. She is quite accomplished in Chinese Zither presently.

Lu Xiaoling did not want to be left behind when she saw her daughter learning Chinese Zither. At the beginning, she learned together with her daughter. But later, she found herself a tutor and practiced two hours a day. In Feng's words, playing Chinese Zither has become part of her mother's life.

"I am not a fast learner as my daughter, in which case I have to spend more times and put more efforts in practicing and learning. But this is not fearful, because I love playing music," Lu said. She was a teacher in a primary school, but she quit the job in 2002 and become a full-time housewife.

After perfecting themselves in Chinese Zither, Feng and her mother went to Beijing in 2017 to study Konghou from Wu Lin, Vice Chairman of the Konghou Association, Chinese Musicians' Association, and Shi Jing, a young Konghou performer in China. They also began to teach and perform for the public.

In the future, the mother and daughter plan to link up the art troupe with primary schools, hoping to make more students love Chinese Zither and Konghou and promote ancient music in the form of classes in schools, public welfare performances, lectures and etc.