Longtime trainer of Chinese singers, Zhou Xiaoyan.  Photos: IC and courtesy of Song Jingjing

By Hu Bei

It was October 1945. The Nazis had retreated from Paris several months before. A young soprano stood on the stage of the Paris National Opera and gave the first solo performance of her life. She was short and slight, but easily recognizable as a Chinese in a bright qipao. In the 63 years since she left Paris to return to China, the qipao has remained her signature on stage. It's a symbol of her devotion to her home country.

Zhou Xiaoyan is the doyenne of Chinese vocal instruction. She has been living in Shanghai since she returned to China after studying for seven years at  the Conservatoire des Russes in Paris. Now, at the age of 92, Zhou is still teaching at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Zhou has devoted more than six decades to training Chinese, but remains confounded about why so many young people want to leave China. "I really cannot understand why so many young people want to go abroad these days? They can lead a very good life in China, but they always complain that they remain dissatisfied with so many things. However, we are the people who have witnessed almost the whole contemporary history of this country," Zhou said.

A wartime education

In 1937, Zhou had been studying vocal music at the Shanghai National Professional Training School (the former Shanghai Conservatory of Music) when the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) forced her to return to her hometown of Wuhan, Hubei Province. Later that year, she was sent to Paris by her father, an ardent music lover who encouraged his daughter to study music since she was a child.

"Paris was almost empty, because everyone had left the city for the summer. The sky was gray; the houses were  gray, and the Eiffel Tower looked like a deserted gray scrap heap. I was so confused at that time: 'Is this Paris?'" Zhou said. "It was totally different from what I had imagined."

From her early years to the present, Zhou Xiaoyan(Middle), 92, has been active on the stage and in the classroom.

Zhou said although there was a war on, Asians in Paris were relatively safe because the German army mostly focused on the Jewish population. "They always mistook us for Japanese, which we denied, but we didn't bother to explain further," she said.

Furthermore, foreigners were forbidden to perform publicly and have any contact with anyone outside the country, including their families, she said.

Zhou had no way to contact her family during her time in Paris. "My father entrusted one of his friends in Paris to support me during that time because he was supporting a member of his friend's family in China. People trusted each other at that time," Zhou said. "But the German invasion gave me an opportunity to learn the classical music of that country, like Schubert, Brahms and Strauss. They were all great composers."

China was still under the rule of the Kuomintang when Zhou returned from Paris. People were suffering. In her first few years back, Zhou toured the country to encourage reform. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, she spent her time teaching singers at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Two years in the coop

When the subject turned to her life during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), Zhou became somewhat reticent. "It was a really dark period in my life," she said. "I couldn't sing or even take an ordinary teaching job, and I had no contact with my husband for two years."

Nonetheless, Zhou said she seldom complained about the situation. She said the Cultural Revolution exposed her to a lot of things she hadn't known. "Feeding the chickens, growing vegetables, cleaning bathrooms and knitting sweaters - I bet you could barely imagine a music professor feeding a crowd of chickens," Zhou said. "I myself could not help laughing out loud when I was doing that."

Zhou thought that people must maintain their deep love for their country, no matter what has happened. "It is a condition for you to be successful at anything, including music," she said.

From her early years to the present, Zhou Xiaoyan, 92, has been active on the stage and in the classroom.

Waning patriotism

Unfortunately, Zhou has found that patriotism is waning in her younger students. "They seldom have this idea in their minds. It is difficult for them to think of love, and how to express love. What they think about most of time is how they can get more love from others," she said.

Zhou said she inspires her students to express their love. Always ask yourself, 'Do you love your mom?' 'Do you love your country?' It is possible for a person without music talent to become a famous musician, but it is impossible for a person with great talent in music to become successful unless they love their life and country," Zhou said.

Zhou really doesn't like the over-commercial development in music these days. "Like China's Got Talent, this kind of competition blurs the concepts of music and art, leaving people confused about what real music and real art is."

Zhou is busy every day. Her schedule is filled with appointments, teaching four to five students for four to five hours at home every day. She spends the rest of her time at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

She exercises for nearly one hour every morning. She said that she studied with a Taoist living on Hengshan Mountain several years ago.

"I didn't believe in the beginning, but it cured my illness, so after that, I insist on exercising every day," Zhou said.

From her early years to the present, Zhou Xiaoyan, 92, has been active on the stage and in the classroom.

From her early years to the present, Zhou Xiaoyan, 92, has been active on the stage and in the classroom.