{"id":126071,"date":"2025-08-07T10:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/126071\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:18:11","slug":"chicago-octogenarian-brings-traditional-music-to-chinatown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/126071\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago octogenarian brings traditional music to Chinatown"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a slight inhale, 81-year-old Zhen Jinling brought the short, ridged horn up to his mouth. He pursed his lips and blew into his suona \u2014 the sound part birdcall, part trumpet fanfare.<\/p>\n

From a bench outside Chinatown\u2019s library branch, the chirpy melody and fast descending riffs of \u201cWhipping the Horse that Transports Grain,\u201d a Chinese folk song composed in the 20th century, buzzed across the street to the nearby CTA station.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, Zhen has spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons busking outside Wentworth and Archer avenues. Rotating between several instruments, Zhen shares a taste of traditional Chinese music with locals and visitors alike.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I) entertain the community, entertain myself,\u201d Zhen said last month in Mandarin Chinese.<\/p>\n

Zhen, originally from Taishan in Guangdong province, said he came to the U.S. at least 15 years ago. He often played in Chinese opera and folk music companies in Chicago, New York and other areas, focusing on Cantonese opera music, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrivate opera companies don\u2019t have much money,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve spent my life learning music \u2014 giving myself to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhen set down his suona and put his erhu, a type of Chinese violin, in his lap. As he drew the bow along the upright strings, a mellower tone floated into the air. It\u2019s nowhere near as loud as the suona, but turned heads nonetheless.<\/p>\n

A young man and woman stopped to watch Zhen play.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I see it?\u201d The woman asked Zhen in English after he paused, gesturing to the erhu.<\/p>\n

\"BuskerBusker Zhen Jinling, left, thanks a passerby for giving him money while he plays traditional Chinese folk music on the suona, a horn instrument, in Chinatown on July 27, 2025, in Chicago. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

He scooted over to let her sit downand handed her the instrument. Zhen guided her right hand as she pulled the bow back and forth, the sound shifting from an initial croak to something more sonorous. After about a minute, the impromptu lesson concluded and the woman stood up. Zhen pointed to a cup in front of his instrument cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cYi kuai qian (one dollar),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t seem to understand his words exactly, but dropped in a bill anyway.<\/p>\n

Zhen started learning music when he was 15, he said. Much of his training came in the Chinese military, where he also performed, he added.<\/p>\n

Over the years, he\u2019s learned ways to save money while playing music. While suona reeds are traditionally plant-based, Zhen flattens segments of plastic straws to fit into his mouthpiece. He keeps extras in a small tin, and it\u2019s \u201call about habit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zhen plays the jinghu and gehu, two bowed, upright string instruments that are in the same family as the erhu. He\u2019s also started learning Western instruments in the past few years, collecting violins, saxophones and guitars, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf other people can, I have to be able to play as well,\u201d Zhen said of learning different instruments. \u201cIf I can\u2019t, it\u2019s a little embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At his age, though, the effort Zhen puts into learning new instruments varies. On the violin, he\u2019s a \u201clazy\u201d learner \u2014 his neck can\u2019t take the strain from playing for too long, he said.<\/p>\n

\"BuskerBusker Zhen Jinling plays traditional Chinese folk music on the suona, a horn instrument, in Chinatown on July 27, 2025, in Chicago. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Yunlong Zhang, who goes by John Lone, is a recent music school graduate. He said he admires Zhen for his depth of musical knowledge and commitment to performing despite the limited financial gain. Lone, who moved to the U.S. from China for school, also said he was glad to hear the suona and erhu \u2014 \u201cChinese sound\u201d \u2014 in Chicago.<\/p>\n

When two women told Lone one afternoon he should fall back on information technology or computer science in case music doesn\u2019t work out as a career path, he said Zhen chimed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018You shouldn\u2019t tell him this, you\u2019ll impact him. You have to respect his personal decisions,\u2019\u201d Lone said in Mandarin Chinese. \u201cHis personality is pretty interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a weekend of thunderstorms and other severe weather, Zhen was back to busking July 27. His performance coincided with the Chinatown Summer Fair, which saw increased foot traffic in the area \u2014 and past the corner where he plays.<\/p>\n

Hearing Zhen play was \u201creally captivating,\u201d said University of Illinois Chicago student Nabharun Bhattacharya. He had seen social media posts of buskers in Chinatown, but this was his first in-person experience, Bhattacharya added.<\/p>\n

\u201cA movie without background music is just frames passing through your eyes, right? Similarly, if there\u2019s good music and ambience, it heightens the whole experience,\u201d Bhattacharya said.<\/p>\n

Eric and Jennifer Burpee, a married couple who went to Chinatown after church earlier in the day, also stopped by Zhen\u2019s post to listen and donate money.<\/p>\n

The couple also played instruments growing up \u2014 Jennifer Burpee learned clarinet and Eric Burpee the trumpet. They said Zhen played \u201cconfidently,\u201d and Jennifer Burpee recognized much of his music as built on the pentatonic, or five-tone, scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty awestruck that he can play three instruments,\u201d Jennifer Burpee said.<\/p>\n

\"BuskerBusker Zhen Jinling, right, thanks Eric and Jennifer Burpee of Midlothian after they gave him money outside the Chinatown Branch of the Chicago Public Library on July 27, 2025, in Chicago. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Jennifer Burpee is part Chinese and grew up in Bridgeport. While she frequently visited Chinatown when she was younger, Burpee didn\u2019t recall seeing street performers around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Now, in part because of more frequent organized cultural performances in the area, Burpee said she hears more buskers on the streets, including those playing traditional Chinese music.<\/p>\n

She and her husband hope there are more buskers around the neighborhood and city. Public performances add to the \u201cculture and experience of the city and Chicago as a whole,\u201d Eric Burpee said.<\/p>\n

The third instrument in Zhen\u2019s rotation was the xiao, a Chinese flute made of bamboo. Holding it sideways, he played a wistful tune, the tone soft and almost hoarse.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy strength no longer matches my heart,\u201d Zhen said. \u201cI\u2019m out of breath now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Zhen said he doesn\u2019t plan on stopping his street performances any time soon. His hope?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat people hear my music and are happy,\u201d Zhen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a slight inhale, 81-year-old Zhen Jinling brought the short, ridged horn up to his mouth. He pursed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[648,960,5404,77440,50014,17073,171,5386,1818,2862,77441,31887,4010,1370,728,5424,50,1072,17075],"class_list":{"0":"post-126071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-cook-county","11":"tag-decatur-county","12":"tag-dekalb-county","13":"tag-dupage-county","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-indiana","18":"tag-jo-daviess-county","19":"tag-kane-county","20":"tag-lake-county","21":"tag-latest-headlines","22":"tag-local-news","23":"tag-music-and-concerts","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-things-to-do","26":"tag-will-county"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114986975756812229","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}