(b Gaoyang county, Hebei, 23 Feb 1910; d Taipei, 28 June 2000). Chinese scholar and performer of zheng and qin plucked zithers. At 14 Liang moved to Beijing for schooling where he also studied qin, zheng and pipa with Shi Yinmei. At 20 he studied with qin master Zhang Youhe. He graduated from the Jiaotong University in Beijing, majoring in applied science. While in south-west China in the 1940s, he organized several qin societies with connoisseurs such as Yang Yinliu and Robert van Gulik. In 1945 he attended Yale University under a government scholarship and introduced the art of the zheng to the American public in many performances. After moving to Taiwan in 1949 he worked in the Ministry of Commerce, but continued to teach, perform, and host many musical activities. The active zheng tradition in Taiwan is chiefly due to his tireless efforts. In April 1953 Liang and several friends formed the Chinese Classical Music Association in Taipei. He served as its president for 25 years. Throughout the years, Liang has given over 300 performances in five continents and has made over 30 recordings. On 2 April 1988 he gave his final public performance in Taipei and retired; on 14 April he was honoured by the Council for Cultural Planning and Development, Executive Yuan with a special contribution award. Liang composed many new pieces for the zheng and published several zheng tutors, as well as several scholarly works.
See also China, §IV, 4(ii)(b)
On Chinese Music (Taipei, 1962)
Music of Cheng: Chinese 16-Stringed Zither (Taipei, 1962/R)
Chinese Musical Instruments and Pictures (Taipei, 1970)
Zhenglu licheng [Musical journey of the zheng] (Taipei, 1984/R)
RiemannL12
China's Instrumental Heritage: Professor Liang Tsai-Ping, rec. c1960, Lyrichord LYRCD 792 (1993)
The Chinese Cheng – Ancient and Modern, rec. c1965, Lyrichord LLCT 7302 (1997)
Yan Tingjie: Zhongguo xiandai yinyuejia zhuanlue [Brief biographies of contemporary Chinese musicians] (Taipei, 1992)
HAN KUO-HUANG