China's Ministry of Education (MOE) has announced that annual symphonic activities and events will be introduced to university campuses beginning this year. The free-of-charge program, aimed at enriching students' lives and education through symphonic art, kicked off with a concert at the Capital Normal University in Beijing in late September.

Performing at the concert was the Youth Symphony Orchestra from the Central Conservatory of Music. The orchestra performed popular pieces including Chinese composer and music educationist Xian Xinghai's "The Yellow River" piano concerto, and Austrian composer Johann Strauss' "Voices of Spring" waltz.

This year's activities commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Xian Xinghai, and the 180th birth anniversary of Johann Strauss.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report, the central government has allocated 6 million yuan (about US$741,000) to this year's program. From September to December, the organizing committee has planned 194 symphony concerts for Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Guangxi.

Student philharmonic orchestras from 16 universities and two professional orchestras are scheduled to perform. These include the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing Jiaotong University, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Nankai University, Tianjin University, Tianjin Normal University, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing Arts Institute, Nanjing University, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, University of Electronic Science and Technology, Xi'an Conservatory of Music, Liaoning Symphony Orchestra and Guangxi Symphony Orchestra.

The program also includes lectures on the finer points of symphonic art. The MOE has invited experts including Jin Tielin, Wang Cizhao, Yang Liqing, Bian Zushan, Zheng Xiaoying and Zhou Yinchang to address students. The experts will deliver close to 100 lectures.

Meanwhile, the organizing committee has started a donation drive to give more than 10,000 copies of Li Lanqing's Essays on Music to poorer universities, particularly those in western China.

Yang Guiren, head of the Sports, Public Health and Art Education Department of the MOE, said that music serves a function that other subjects of learning cannot fulfill. Making symphonic art accessible to students would, it is hoped, refine characters, and improve self-nurturing and discovery.

(China.org.cn by Zhou Jing, October 2, 2005)