Preface

In the mid-1980s，when the great reform and opening-up of China was just beginning，the first Chinese NGO Female voice choir —the Hangzhou Xizi Women's Choir（Xizi）was born，and now celebrates her 35th birthday. The word Xizi is full of the profound meaning of Chinese history and culture，highlighting the advantages of her regional characteristics，the essence of culture since the Age of Wu and Yue Kingdoms (AD 770-AD 476) seems to have been condensed into it，and she is also destined to have the industrious and delicate traditions characteristic of the people living by the southern of the Yangtze River. As expected，the choir，named after Xizi，lived up to the founders′ original intention，renowned as an outstanding choir with excellent reputation.

Socialist art is，in essence，the art of the people. Once loved and actively engaged by the vast majority of the country′s population，the growth of choral music was unstoppable. Today，choral singing is no longer the exclusive preserve of professional groups; it has become an art that crosses disciplines and classes. The Hangzhou Xizi Women's Choir has a unique history of growth. As one of the first choirs directly affiliated to the China Chorus Association，Yan Liangkun and Nie Zhongming have been very concerned about the growth of the choir and they are inextricably linked to it. Director Nie Zhongming not only directed the creation of the choir，but also served as its Artistic Director. The choir has had a strong organizational and artistic core at different times in its history，and it has worked hard to incorporate professional conductors into it. It is this elite constructed core，with a high degree of cultural consciousness and confidence，that has led the choir to many impressive achievements，it has created many Firsts in the development of Chinese choral music history. On the occasion of her 35th anniversary，the Hangzhou Xizi Women's Choir has collected and organized the important events and insights in its development and presented them to the community，further demonstrating its sense of mission and social responsibility.Her growth experience contains the objective rule of healthy growth of choral art and choral groups，which has some reference value for the construction of NGO choirs. The day the artistic level of choirs around China generally improves will be the time when we become a powerful choral nation.

As a symbol of cultural soft power，choral singing can be seen as an important part of the national cultural strategy，and it will certainly play an active role in promoting the Chinese civilization.The development of the Xizi Women's Choir is of great social and historical importance. It has demonstrated excellence in its direction，artistic standards，social responsibility，heritage and innovation，cohesion and tenacity. In particular，the choir′s decisive dissolution under particularly difficult circumstances，and its courageous reunion after 12 years of sedimentation，demonstrate her will and pattern. The current trend of choral development is rapid，even if the nicest choirs will not be able to keep up with the choral world if they do not improve and keep up with the times. Xizi Women's Choir，soon after its resumption in 2014，made a rare appearance as a full-length Women′choral works concert，and also won the first gold medal in the Asia Pacific Choral Festival，with the raising of the flag and the singing of the national anthem，they honored their country and nation. They even released their own album. Under the new leadership，the choir has overcome the pressure and challenges of the reunification process and has achieved many new successes.

The age range of Xizi is wide，faced with this situation，Xizi solved the problem of vocalization in a scientific way，and introduced the training system of Eight Seconds Choir，and achieved remarkable results in the proper use of Women′s choral voices，the unity of tone，pure beauty and youthful vitality，and played a certain leading role in the development of Women′ choral singing. Xizi does not stop at just training a few pieces and winning competitions，but to serve the community with full-length concerts，and this has become their cultural pursuit; Xizi insists on the compatible development of nationalism and internationalization，and strives to interpret Chinese choral works with a new choral concept；Xizi also insists on continuous improvement in artistic practice，and her unique affinity and artistic infectiousness of Women′s choirs has been widely praised by domestic and foreign audiences. For a long time，Xizi has developed its own choral path，and as a local choir，it has made its own contribution to the development of choral music in China and the region.

At present，the Chinese war against epidemic has achieved a periodic victory，and now enters the decisive moment of the war，the beautiful views of the landscape will be presented in front of us again. We hope that with the joint efforts of the members and conductors from generation to generation，the Xizi Women's Choir will adhere to the fine tradition of keeping pace with the times and continue to develop new horizons，to boldly explore and practice on the road of realising the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese culture，and use the power of choral singing to make a positive contribution to constantly improve the people's ideological awareness，moral level and civilization quality，and constantly create a new brilliance of Chinese culture.

Li Xiaoxiang
March 8th，2020