On January 24, the 2026 Kong Family Qin Studies Cultural Symposium and Confucius Guqin Music Gathering kicked off at the School of Music. The event was co-hosted by the School of Music and the Ritual and Music Transmission Institute of the Qufu Confucius Academy, co-organized by the Confucius Artists Association, and undertaken by the Shandong Provincial Ritual and Music Culture Research, Education and Promotion Center together with Xiaoshao Qin Yuan (Xiaoshao Guqin Academy). Experts in ritual and music culture from various universities and research institutions, guqin practitioners, and representatives of faculty and students from the School of Music gathered together, fostering friendship through the qin and advancing scholarship through exchange, as they jointly explored pathways for the inheritance and development of guqin culture in the contemporary era.

The university and the School of Music attached great importance to this event. Professor Qi Jiang, Dean of the School of Music, attended and delivered a speech. He pointed out that the guqin is an important carrier of fine traditional Chinese culture, embodying the Confucian cultural concepts of “music aligned with governance” and “music for self-cultivation.” Kong Family Qin Studies, in particular, constitutes a vital component of ritual and music culture. This event served as a significant initiative for the School of Music to implement its educational philosophy of “nurturing through aesthetics, edifying through culture” and to promote university-community exchange and cooperation, injecting vitality into the School’s music discipline development and talent cultivation.

The event consisted of four segments: a keynote speech, expert presentations, thematic discussions, and a guqin recital. During the keynote speech segment, Kong Jun, Secretary-General of the Confucius Artists Association, 76th-generation descendant of Confucius, and founder of Xiaoshao Qin Yuan, delivered a lecture titled “A Preliminary Discussion on Confucian Qin Studies and Music Education in the Kong Family Tradition — Taking The Complete Compilation of the Qin Academy’s Heart-to-Heart Transmission as an Example,” systematically expounding the historical lineage and contemporary value of Confucian qin studies. In the expert presentation segment, Professor Guang Shaokui, Director of the Academy Temple and Traditional Culture Education Center at the School of Education of Qufu Normal University; Researcher Qi Jinjiang from the Confucius Research Institute; Associate Professor Liu Qi, an external faculty member of the School of Music; and Feng Yupei, Executive Director of the Taishan Cultural Tourism Research Institute, among other experts and scholars, offered in-depth expositions from perspectives including the tradition of music education, documentary research, regional culture, and qin school theory.

During the thematic discussion segment, Professor Ma Dongfeng, former Dean of the School of Music at Jiangsu Normal University, Professor Dai Junchao, Director of the Music Research Institute at Nantong University, and other participating guests engaged in lively discussions on topics including “Defining the Concept of Confucian Qin Studies,” “Defining the Concept of Kong Family Qin Studies,” and “Preparatory Work for a National ‘Confucius Qin Assembly.'” Faculty and students from the School of Music actively participated, conducting in-depth exchanges and interactions with the experts and scholars.

The guqin recital held that afternoon brought the event to its climax. Faculty and students from the School of Music joined hands with qin enthusiasts from the Guqin Professional Committee of the Jining National Orchestral Music Association and Xiaoshao Qin Yuan to perform a number of classic guqin pieces. The resonant and lingering melodies, profound in their meaning, showcased the unique charm of guqin artistry and achieved a dual edification of both scholarly learning and artistic appreciation.

This event not only established a platform for exchange in qin studies and qin artistry, but also demonstrated the School of Music’s active commitment to the preservation and transmission of ritual and music culture. Moving forward, the School will continue to deepen collaboration with domestic and international universities, research institutions, and cultural organizations, integrating qin studies cultural research more deeply with professional music instruction. It will strive to cultivate more outstanding musical talents who possess both professional competence and a strong awareness of cultural heritage, contributing to the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture.

Kong Jun
A native of Qufu, Shandong — the hometown of Confucius — Kong Jun is a 76th-generation descendant of the Confucius lineage, the rightful heir to the tradition of Kong Family ceremonial music, and the founder of the artistic exchange team dedicated to the Kong Family guqin tradition and the authentic sounds of classical ceremonial music.

She currently serves as Instructor at the Zhisheng Ritual and Music Transmission Institute of the Qufu Confucius Academy, Secretary-General of the Confucius Artists Association, Council Member of the Jining Guqin Society, Founder of Xiaoshao Guqin Studio, and Instructor at the Confucius Guqin Cultural Exchange Center. She also holds the concurrent position of Deputy Director of the Qufu Poetry, Ritual, and Ceremonial Music Troupe. Kong Jun stands as a leading figure in the living transmission of China’s Kong Family qin scholarship and ancient classical ritual music.

Immersed since childhood in the ritual and musical heritage of Que Li — the sacred birthplace of Confucius — Kong Jun has inherited the profound foundations of the Kong Family tradition of qin music. She has devoted herself to intensive study of such rare and canonical works of Kong Family qin scholarship and musical temperament as the Dacheng Yuelü Quanshu (Complete Compendium of Great Achievement Music and Temperament) and the Qinyuan Xinchuan Quanbian (Complete Transmission of the Qin Garden). Through years of dedicated effort, she has focused on the textual research, restoration, recomposition, and performance of long-lost Kong Family guqin compositions and chapters of the Great Achievement Ceremonial Music. She has accurately revived the ancient playing techniques of the Kong Family guqin and the balanced tonal principles of classical ceremonial music, fully preserving the orthodox lineage of Kong Family qin music and resolving numerous challenges that once threatened the continuity of this ancient musical tradition. Through her work, the authentic sounds of Kong Family qin music, once on the verge of extinction, have been brought back to vibrant life.

For guqin instruction, guqin purchase, traditional Chinese culture study programs, educational tours to the hometown of Confucius, Confucius memorial ceremonies, cultural and artistic exchanges, lectures, and related events, please contact: chinaguqin@outlook.com
Address: Confucius Cultural Park, Dacheng Road, Qufu City, Shandong Province, China.