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The Xiyuan Sanguai 西原三怪 (lit. "Three Eccentrics of the Western Plains"), also known as the Xiyuan Sansheng 西原三聖 (lit. "Three Sages of the Western Plains")[1], is a collective of three guqin players resident in the West. They are Charles R Tsua of Great Britain, Stephen C Walker of United States of America and Juni L Yeung of Canada.
Formation edit
The idea of the collective was by Tsua who coined the term during a comment of a YouTube video which was uploaded by Yeung of her performance of "Gufeng Cao" [2] in response to Walker's quip of forming "an official triumvirate." Originally, the name that came up was Xiyuan Sanxian 西原三賢 (lit. "Three Worthies of the Western Plain") which was a nod to the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" but was later changed to the current form.
The term is a play on several ideas. First is Yeung's style name which is Xiyuan (西原). Xiyuan also refers to the fact that the three are from the West rather than the East as many qin players are (xiyuan means "originating from the West"). Secondly, the san guai is a nod to the collective of Chinese painters in the Qing Dynasty known as the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" and the Jin Yong fictional collective, the "Seven Freaks of Jiangnan" (the term guai can be rendered as 'strange,' 'queer,' 'eccentric,' 'freak,' 'grotesque,' etc.)
Tsua included Walker and Yeung as part of the collective because, together with himself, they have unorthodox ideas, views and expressions in regards to the mainstream qin dogma as well as their own personal eccentricities.
Tsua's intentions of formation are mainly pageantry but also because he wishes to have a term ready so people can identify all three in one phrase as opposed to having the need of naming and describing each individually.
Members edit
Consisting of three people, Tsua has given each member a psuedonymn to indicate their connection with the collective, their age and their location. First, they are given the collective name Xi (西) meaning "West" and indicating their affiliation with the collective. Next comes the 'brotherhood order name' showing their standing in terms of age followed by a character representing their country of origin (the first character of the Chinese name of their country).
Charles R Tsua edit
Mr. Charles Rupert Tsua, BA(Wolv.), FGMS, FBS, is the founder of the collective. His collective name is Xi Boying (西伯英) and is resident in Birmingham, Great Britain. He is a member of many qin societies in the West including the London Youlan Qin Society and the North American Guqin Association. He founded the Xi Kang Qin Society in 2008 and is the current Registrar. He considers Zeng Chengwei as his teacher de facto. He also has interests in academic dress, ceremonial practices and Western formal dress.
Stephen C Walker edit
Mr. Stephen C Walker, AB(Harv.), MA(Colum.), who has the collective name of Xi Zhongmei (西仲美), is resident in Chicago, USA and is currently supplicating for his PhD. His teacher is Yang Shin-yi of the Mei'an school. He is a philosopher of Chinese religion as well as a musician, initially of the violin but later turning full time to the qin. Walker is the most senior member in terms if academic experience and is very critical of modern qin practice, being strictly indepedant in thinking.
Juni L Yeung edit
Ms. Juni L Yeung, BA(Toronto), is the founder of the (then) University of Toronto Guqin Association and is resident in Toronto, Canada. Her collective name is Xi Shujia (西叔加). She is current Chairman of the Xi Kang Qin Society. She is also a member of the Hanfu Restoration movement in Canada and is currently writing the first original English teaching manual for the guqin as well as being a teacher of the qin. She is also interested in cosplay, Chinese practices, customs and history.
Insignia edit
The insignia of the collective is a breast star badge consisting of an emblem with the depiction of three white plum blossoms (representing the three members and is a nod to the melody, "Meihua Sannong" or Three Variations on the Plum Blossom Theme) on a red background encircled by a blue band with the motto inscribed upon it. The silver rays of the star emit from the central emblem at the eight cardinal points.
The collective's motto is ubi tres congregant ("Where three men are gathered"). This comes from the Chinese phrase 三人行，必有我師 ("Where three men are gathered, one of them surely be my Master").
There exists only three breast stars. They are all hand-embroidered by Hand & Lock and two of which were presented as gifts to the other members by the founder.
They are worn on formal private situations, functions and special occasions on the left breast of a tailcoat, morning coat, jacket or gown as a mark of affliliation to the collective.