Wang Changyuan

Who is Wang Changyuan?

Wang Changyuan is a Chinese guzheng performer and composer.

The only daughter of the eminent guzheng master Wang Xunzhi, she graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and in 1984 came to the United States to study world music at Kent State University.

Wang Changyuan is the composer of the famous guzheng solo piece, Zhan Tai Feng, a dramatic depiction of fight of the Shanghai harbour proletariat against the forces of nature, while protecting the property of the people and the Chinese communist government. She composed the work in 1965 while living for three months in the dormitories of the Shanghai harbour and sharing her quarters with the workers there.

Wang lives in Rego Park, Queens, New York and teaches in Manhattan, Queens, and in nearby New Jersey. She occasionally performs in the New York metro area, by herself or with her students. Her students include many prominent world-class guzheng soloists, among whom are Xu Lingzi, Sha Lijing, Ma Li, and Fiona Sze-Lorrain.