Guqin Master Tsar Teh-Yun Dies at 102

The North American Guqin Association reported the death of master guqin performer Tsar Teh-Yun (Cai Deyun), who passed away on June 10th (Beijing time) at the age of 102.

Tsar was born in 1905 and was the last of the older generation of qin masters born in China’s imperial past. A member of the Fan Chuan School, she learned to play the qin from Shen Caonong.

She was a noted teacher of many of today’s fine players and scholars. In addition to her well known recording "Some Ways Of Touching The Ch’in", recorded by the BBC’s John Levy in the late 1960s and now in the collections of many western universities, her book, Yinyinshi Qinpu, has unsurpassed value in the study of not only the Fan Chuan style of playing but also the way that the great qin players of Tsar’s generation learned to play and developed their musical personalities.
 
 The funeral will take place on June 17th at the North Point Baptist Church, Hong Kong