Li Xiangting (李祥霆), born in Liaoyuan, Jilin Province, PR China in 1940, is acknowledged as one the most important Guqin players of his generation and is a distinguished Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing. Professor Li started learning the guqin under the tutelage of Zha Fuxi and Chinese painting from Pu Xuezhai and Pan Su in 1957. In 1958, he gained entry into the Central Conservatory of Music to study guqin under Wu Jinglüe. He graduated in 1963, began teaching, and has since taught many of the important performers of the next generation of guqin players. In 1989, he accepted a fellowship to Cambridge University, London, to research guqin improvisation, and lectured on guqin and dongxiao as a visiting fellow at the Music Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Since 1963, more than four hundred students from China and overseas have studied guqin under Professor Li Xiangting. He returned to China in 1994 and resumed teaching at the Central Conservatory of Music. Currently, he is a Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, Vice-President of the Beijing Guqin Research Association, a member of the Oriental Artists' Association, a committee member of the China Musicians' Association, executive member of the International Cultural Exchange Center of China, senior advisor to the North America Guqin Association, advisor to the Hezhan Qin Society of Taipei and to the Guqin Society of Gaoxiong City. He has also lectured at various universities. Besides performing in China, Li Xiangting has also staged over fifty recitals in many countries including the USA, England, Germany, Japan, Australia, Holland, Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New Zealand. The recital he held in 1982 at the Oriental Music Festival in Durham, England was the first of its kind in the history of the guqin. Another recital he gave in 1992 at the De Laville Theatre in Paris, with a seating capacity of 1000, attracted a full house, making it the largest ever attendance for a guqin recital. The radio and television stations of China and the radio stations of England and France have broadcast a number of programs featuring his guqin music. He has also recorded and arranged solo guqin music for a number of films and television dramas, including "The Emperor's Shadow", "An Appreciative Audience" and "Zhuge Liang". He was involved in the musical arrangement for the art education film "Qin" and the television Drama "The Courtship of the Phoenix". In 2002, the special program about his guqin improvisation by the China National Radio Station won the Best Production Award at the Shanghai International Music Festival. Professor Li Xiangting's major written works include "A Brief Introduction to the Art of Guqin Music", "The Artistry of Zha Fuxi's Performances on the Guqin", "The Artistry of Wu Jinglüe's Performances on the Guqin", "Discussion on Who was the Author of the 'Qin Cao'", "An Outline for Research into Improvisation in Guqin Performance" and the poem "Self-mocking" in old and new literary forms. He has written an article entitled "Qin" for the Encyclopedia of China and published the book "Aesthetics and Musical Ideology in Guqin Performance during the Tang Dynasty" in Taipei. Professor Li's guqin compositions include "Boat Song of the Three Gorges" and "Building a Road in the Wind and Snow ". He has recorded more than ten albums including " the Art of Li Xiangting's Guqin Performance", a number of cassettes and video tapes published by the China Record Companies and the French National Radio Record Company, former West Berlin, New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong and Taiwan. His guqin album "The Glow of Sunset and Flowing Water" won the Golden Tripod Award in Taipei. He took part in the annual exhibition of the Chinese Art House in 1988 and held a solo art exhibition at the University of London in 1989. In 1991, he gave speeches on "the Dot and Line Aesthetics of Chinese Painting and Guqin Music" at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His biography is in the "Directory of Chinese Artists and the Celebrities of Who's Who of Contemporary Chinese Artists". In November 1994, Professor Li Xiangting received the "Outstanding Ethnic Artists of Writings and Paintings Award" granted by the Chinese Artists' Association and the Chinese Authors' Association. Prof. Li released his first guqin instructional video CD in 2000.