Xu Xiaoying (1937-2016) (left), a renowned Chinese zither artist in Quzhou and honorary chairman of the city’s Sanqu Chinese Zither Club. [Photo/daj.qz.gov.cn]

Xu Xiaoying (1937-2016) was a renowned Chinese zither artist in Quzhou and honorary chairman of the city's Sanqu Chinese Zither Club.

Xu dedicated her life to unearthing, inheriting and promoting the zither playing techniques of the Zhejiang school.

Xu was a teacher at Hangzhou Art School and created Xiaying Chinese Zither House in 2001.

Zhang Tao, vice-chairman of the zither club, was one of Xu's students and regarded her as a loving mother and a strict teacher.

Zhang said that Teacher Xu was always serious and earnest when giving a lesson while after the class, she became a genial figure and treated her students like her own children.

He added that although Xu lived in Hangzhou and was busy teaching, she paid close attention to the development of the Chinese zither in Quzhou.

In 2007, when the Sanqu Chinese Zither Club was established in her hometown, she attended the opening ceremony although she was in bad health and wrote a preface for the book Quzhou Chinese Zither Culture.