Plucking the winds

Tells the story of 20th-century China through the eyes of local village musicians in North China, and shows the resilience of their ritual traditions under all kinds of onslaughts. The book portrays the lives of members of a village "music association," an amateur group performing solemn music for wind and percussion instruments as well as mantric vocal liturgy, serving funerals and the rituals of the Chinese New Year. The villagers remain determined to preserve their heritage even as they participate in the constant transformation of their social environment.