Yu Xiaoyang is the monitor of Class 1801 in Music Performance (Guqin direction) of the School of Humanities and Arts of Xi'an University of Foreign Affairs. In 2022, he successfully landed a master's degree in Chinese musical instrument performance at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music with the first comprehensive score in the major, and will learn from Li Fengyun, the heir of the national intangible cultural heritage of the guqin.

This guy is not simple. During his undergraduate studies, he was already a glorious Communist Party member, won more than 10 professional awards, ranked first in his annual performance, won the National Inspirational Scholarship, and was also one of the "Top Ten College Students", "Three Good Students" and Winner of "Outstanding Student Leader".

Yu Xiaoyang's four years in the Guqin Department of Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs are the four years he has harvested. It is also the four years that Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs is rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and has established a general education with etiquette and music as the core. four years of development.

It's not hard to stick to a whole thing

The first time I saw Yu Xiaoyang was under the portrait of Zhang Zai in front of Zhengmeng Academy. He was wearing a clean shirt with a smile on the corner of his mouth, looking a little shy in the sun.

The postgraduate entrance examination was something Yu Xiaoyang had already decided when he first entered the university.

Thanks to the personalized training system of "employment, entrepreneurship, postgraduate entrance examination, and going abroad" established by Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs, Yu Xiaoyang received systematic study of postgraduate entrance examination courses in his first summer vacation at university.

"Every day I get up at 5:30 in the morning and go to bed at 11:30 in the evening. The university life has become very regular because of the postgraduate entrance examination," Yu Xiaoyang said with a smile. "In addition to 'staying the time', I also pondered a lot of learning methods to improve efficiency."

During the preparation for the postgraduate entrance examination, in order to make the professional knowledge more reliable, Yu Xiaoyang sorted out the knowledge points of the professional course three to four times, and recorded all the terminology and professional discussion into 5 hours of audio data. Store it in your phone so you can also listen to audio to consolidate your memory while you're walking.

Yu Xiaoyang worked very hard to achieve the goal of the postgraduate entrance examination. But the orderly plan was disrupted just two months before the 2022 postgraduate exam.

Yu Xiaoyang, who thought he was well-prepared, suddenly received a notice that the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, his first choice, had added a professional book to the exam subjects.

At night, Yu Xiaoyang almost stayed up all night. This means that he must memorize the knowledge points of this book in the last less than two months in order to have full confidence in the success of the postgraduate entrance examination.

Yu Xiaoyang remembered that when he was reciting, he once felt a surge in his stomach. The extreme discomfort made him run to the bathroom, but he couldn't vomit. He admitted that he thought about giving up. But he loved the guqin so much, when his fingers touched the guqin, Yu Xiaoyang gritted his teeth and persevered.

In addition to the "physical barrier", the "epidemic barrier" is also the most unforgettable experience for students taking postgraduate entrance exams in Shaanxi Province in 2022.

At the end of 2021, an outbreak occurred in Xi'an. Less than a week before the postgraduate exam, Yu Xiaoyang received an urgent notice: all candidates need to take the exam with three nucleic acid test certificates within 72 hours. And more unknown changes are still coming out.

Yu Xiaoyang was a little anxious and flustered. At this time, Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs has already arranged everything for the 2022 postgraduate students. There are special leading teachers, special vehicles to transport candidates to and from the test site, and special nucleic acid testing points to ensure the nucleic acid testing of postgraduate students. These bits and pieces have strengthened his belief in the postgraduate entrance examination.

Looking back on the postgraduate entrance examination experience, what Yu Xiaoyang is most grateful for is the school and his parents. Since he decided to take the postgraduate entrance examination, his parents have fully supported him, and he has also kept in mind the help given by the school.

At the moment when the postgraduate entrance examination results were settled, Yu Xiaoyang held the piano and paused for a long time, "it is not difficult to insist on doing a complete thing".

Thirteen years of hard work, step by step

"I've been playing the piano for 13 years, but my hands still hurt, but I'm used to this feeling," Yu Xiaoyang said, "After I went to college, in order to keep my level from deteriorating, I practiced for 5 to 6 hours a day. the guqin".

Influenced by his family, Yu Xiaoyang began to learn guqin from the third grade of primary school. In high school, he took the guqin as the main direction of his future studies. Along the way, his attitude towards Guqin changed from curiosity to interest, from interest to love, and finally became the ultimate goal of struggle.

"I have 5 precious guqins, all of which were prizes won in competitions when I was in college."

During his college years, Yu Xiaoyang won more than 10 professional awards in Guqin, including the "Hongqin Cup" Guqin Art Exhibition Gold Award in the Northwest Division, and the "Yuanbai Cup" National Guqin Exhibition Silver Award.

Talking about the school's vigorous development of the talent training method of "promoting education through competition", there is an experience that Yu Xiaoyang will never forget.

"When I was a freshman, I went to Beijing with my classmates to compete with students from other colleges and universities. At that time, I was very nervous and had no confidence in myself. I never thought that I would be shortlisted, let alone how well I would achieve." , When talking about this past, I can still feel Yu Xiaoyang's lack of self-confidence at that time, "At that time, professional teachers kept encouraging me, all kinds of competitions reimbursed us for expenses, supported us to participate, and the strong backing made me I feel at ease when I go out and compete.”

After a long time, Yu Xiaoyang and the teacher of the school's Guqin department have become both teachers and friends. Teachers and students often study the guqin together and discuss problems in study and exam preparation. The teachers spoke highly of him.

"Xiaoyang is a self-disciplined, diligent and thoughtful child. He is the most common figure in the piano room. He has many advantages, and the students who learn Guqin also work very hard," said Li Wenqian, a Guqin professional teacher.

In this way, Yu Xiaoyang has become more and more confident in the competition experience and the encouragement of the teachers, and has also won several national awards.

"I also participated in the guqin performances of large-scale events such as the 'Ceremony of the Yellow Emperor at the Qingming Festival' and the 'Hundred People Playing the Qin in the Book of Songs'. The school always pays attention to our needs and not only provides us with a superior learning environment, but also strives for many My classmates and I are real beneficiaries of the opportunities and platforms to go out.”

Let the guqin spread and be known by more people

"Now that Guqin has become a part of my life, I want to spread Guqin and let more people know about it," said Yu Xiaoyang.

Guqin has a history of more than 3,000 years in my country and is an intangible cultural heritage. Every year, there are no more than 100 undergraduates majoring in Guqin, and fewer graduate students.

In Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs, Guqin performance is a special teaching major, and the largest teaching platform for Guqin has been established in the country. In 2019, the school was selected as the National Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture Inheritance Base in National Colleges and Universities of the Ministry of Education, and it is the only Guqin inheritance base approved in the same batch.

In order to comprehensively improve the professional ability and practical application ability of Guqin students, the school has specially created a superior learning environment and conditions.

In Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs, there are 25 independent guqin rooms, 2 guqin large classrooms, and 1 guqin exhibition hall, with a total of hundreds of guqin pieces, which can accommodate more than 100 people at the same time. The school also has a 5,000-square-meter guqin culture and art workshop covering guqin exhibition, performance, collection, research, learning, and production, which mainly includes the Qifang Guqin Playground and the Guqin Museum. It not only teaches students, but also undertakes the inheritance of Guqin intangible cultural heritage, the collection and arrangement of Guqin literature, Guqin music and the audio-visual materials of famous artists, as well as the development and research of modern Guqin music, so as to realize the creative transformation and innovative development of Guqin culture.

The four years Yu Xiaoyang studied at Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs is also the four years in which the moral education of Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs has yielded fruitful results. In this university, Zhengmeng general education with etiquette and music as the core has benefited all teachers and students.

Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs, which takes "comprehensive personality development" as the primary task of talent training, takes root in China to run education, and deeply explores the function and value of Chinese excellent traditional culture to educate people. Set up Zhengmeng general education, extensively carry out education and popularization activities of qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, flowers, tea, and train students to become people who are willing to use elegant music with the unity of knowledge and action.

In Xi'an Institute of Foreign Affairs, there are many loyal Guqin enthusiasts like Yu Xiaoyang. They practice hard, not only because of their love, but also because they shoulder the mission of inheriting and developing the excellent traditional Chinese culture. They are like twinkling stars, lighting up this inheritance path with the melodious sound of the piano.

When it comes to the future, Yu Xiaoyang already has a new plan. He set himself the goal of finishing his master's degree and continuing his Ph.D. Their efforts have set an example for foreign affairs students and contributed to more people knowing and falling in love with Guqin.