Hua Yanjun was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China in 1893. As a child he was taught how to play a variety of Chinese musical instruments by his father, Hua Qinhe, a Taoist priest and master pipa player. Hua spent his youth in a Taoist temple, where he studied with other contemporary masters from different schools of music. He possessed an enormous talent and ability to absorb the teachings of these masters and integrate them into his own unique style. Hua Yanjun enjoyed playing music and would perform for anyone who wanted to listen. This habit eventually led to his rejection by the Taoist monks and he became a street musician playing for small change. At 35 his life changed dramatically when an unattended eye disease left him blind. After that he became known as “The Blind Abing”, A nickname that eventually supplanted his real name.
Hua was a master of musical improvisation. He often borrowed elements from traditional music, stories and legends for his own songs, many of which revealed his profound thoughts on life. The local people loved his performances. Supposedly he possessed a repertoire of over 700 pieces for the erhu and the pipa, many of which were his own compositions.
Due to war and political turmoil during his lifetime, his music remained largely undiscovered until the summer of 1950, when Yang Yinliu, Cao Anhe and Li Songshou — musicians from the Beijing Central Conservatory — travelled to Wuxi to record his compositions. By then, Abing stopped playing music due to poor health and was only willing to record six pieces — three for the pipa and three for the erhu. Abing said he needed six to twelve months to convalesce before recording other pieces. Yang and his colleagues planned to return to Wuxi the following spring, but Abing died in December 1950.
