I shared my essay "A Bond with Music" with my old friend Feng Dawei, who responded with a lengthy commentary expressing his deep love for Chinese folk songs and melodies. Inspired by his words, I decided to write this sequel. Truth be told, I, too, adore Chinese folk songs—especially those from Shaanbei, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and the delicate Jiangnan ditties. But the one that has taken deepest root in my subconscious is the Shaanbei folk song "Lan Huahua" (Blue Flower《蓝花花》). Since my youth, its melody has often risen subconsciously to my lips, lingering in my heart without my even realizing it. This song carries all my youthful yearning for love. When I was a girl first awakening to romance, I would sing Lan Huahua and lose myself in daydreams. Its tune has the power to pull distant memories into the present, and to weave fantasies of the future from the old tales.
The sorrowful lament and haunting beauty of "Lan Huahua" echo endlessly in my heart. I picture the vast loess plateaus of northern Shaanxi, where the sky stretches so high and clouds are drifting thin. The wind kicks up yellow dust, and against the undulating mountains stands the silhouette of a young girl in faded blue-flowered cloth, her desolate yet exquisite voice rolling across the barren land... "Golden threads, oh blue threads, such tender blue hues!Born was Lan Huahua, who is lovelier than all! Of grains and sorghum, none stands taller than sorghum,Of all girls across thirteen provinces, none compares to Lan Huahua!"..."My darling and I, we’ve endless words to share,In life or death, we’ll never part!"
At fourteen, I would sigh—Who will my "darling" be? Perhaps someone as dashing and charming as my English teacher!
Years goes by. Some days were strolling slowly across the flat ; others were climbing peaks，striving hard. Some were flowing away like murmuring streams, others were charging forward through rapids. All along, folk songs like "Lan Huahua " remained my faithful companions. Another Shaanbei favorite is Zou Xikou (Going West《走西口》), its tale of lovers parting always piercing my heart. Ah, life brings more farewells than reunions. Shaanbei folk song’s trembling, sky-piercing melody never fails to stir my soul. I remember returning from studying abroad in 1989, plagued by unexplained abdominal pain. During my long, fruitless hospitalization at Southwest Hospital, the loudspeakers often played a Shaanbei folk song: "Oh, my darling, my darling... I can never forget you..." Wracked with pain and emotional emptiness, the song penetrated me like an arrow, filling my heart with boundless sorrow.
When we were in the countryside as educated youth, we four schoolmates formed a family and our solace was "200 Foreign Folk Songs"(《外国民歌200首》). The four of us—Zhaoli’s soprano, Chuanrui’s alto, and our duets—would sing again and again from that tattered book, dreaming of the future and longing for love. Though we had no meat or oil, surviving on cornmeal and oil-free greens, still, hunger couldn’t extinguish the fire of youth.
In 1995, I moved to Shenyang to lead an education project and serve as principal of Huaxin International School. Between busy workdays, I still found some time to enjoy music.I often hummed songs—like the Carpenters’ "Yesterday Once More": "Long ago, it’s so far away.I fell in love with you,before the second show.Your guitar, it's so sweet and clear.But you are not really here,it's just the radio..."
The school’s teachers and students love music very much, thanks in part to our talented teachers—and perhaps a little to their music-obsessed principal. When Madame Chen Xiangmei visited in 1996, she marveled at how well the students sang "Auld Lang Syne" in English, their voices nearly lift the roof!
One melody that always moves me is the Scottish (Later I found it Irish )folk tune "Londonderry Air" (《伦敦德里小调》). Its Chinese and English lyrics are equally exquisite, and I’ve listened and sung along countless times.
"I don’t know why, but its melody always makes my heart tremble.On Scotland’s wild moors bloom blue mandolin flowers It's just imagination since I never have seen them.Scotland is so far, yet this song ties our souls together..." In 2000, I wrote an essay about this piece for the Chongqing Daily, which later won a national literary award. That essay grew into a book later—no longer just a simple tune, but a symphony of voices telling stories, singing, shouting, roaring... A tidal wave of emotion, rivers surging, spray leaping skyward! My joys and sorrows, passions and tenderness, became a grand composition—a record of my life, and of an entire generation’s era. Thus was born the book 《The Song of Londonderry-Dreams and Longings》.
The melody Londonderry Air is my solace and the deepest well of love and warmth in my heart. In dappled summer light, among roses, his golden hair brushes my cheek; in fields, dotted with daisies, his footsteps tread gently on me... Every song carries my feeling and emotions. Music unlocks my softest tenderness and fiercest passion. My poetry flows from the melodies—straight from my heart. When someone asked how I compose poems or compare Beethoven’s "Moonlight Sonata" to Debussy’s "Clair de Lune," I’m at a loss. Must what comes from the heart be dissected?
Music also heals people's wounds in heart. It calms restless hearts and ignites courage. I’ve experienced its magic firsthand and shared this wisdom with friends and students. At St. Love’s Church and Chongqing Jiaotong University, I gave lectures on Music and Poetry, promoting classical and high arts with what little strength I have. I’ll continue this mission. After reading "A Bond with Music", our Essay Society’s moderator, Teacher Jiang, wrote a witty and astute comment:
"Liu Mingqiong, your first love was music, and so shall be your twilight years.This bond has shaped your life—from childhood melodies on your father’s gramophone,to dancing violin notes, to the flourish of your conductor’s baton...Music has soaked into your bones, sculpted your destiny.Even in illness, divine harmonies gave you strength to fight.So marry music! Grow old with it, ‘till death do you part.’"
I think he is so right.
Mingqiong
September 18, 2025
