We were lucky to catch up with Winnie Wong recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Winnie, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
In whether or not I have been able to earning a full-time living from creative work I believe it will depend on ones definition of “full-time earning”. I am able to provide for myself and to contribute financially to family of 4 (with 2 children) however I can not say that it would be in the amount of what other’s might consider a “full-time earning”.
Long in my childhood (at the age of 4) and youth I fell in love with music, culture and my heritage. In my college years I wanted to take on what most “typical” Asian immigrant families would consider as a more stable profession working in any job as long as it was inside a large corporate building, however internally, my emotions fought me all the way into early adulthood. At the age of 22, after realizing that I wanted to live my life in a field that might not be the easiest but I will find the most contentment in I transitioned gradually to full time musician teaching and performing the Chinese zither. From day one being Chinese in America, choosing a musical vessel of ethnic background made it more of a delicacy to most non-Chinese musicians so during the time of the early millenium most non-Chinese musician didn’t find a relevancy to how they can work or incorporate a traditional Chinese instrument into their set. The Chinese musicians from mainland China didn’t see me as as serious performer since I didn’t come from the same training and path from the “Mother Country” as they did. So basicially, I was too Chinese for Americans (regardless that I was raised in San Francisco) but too American for the “true” Chinese.
Fortunately, I’m a person who does not like to give up before a “fight” so I buried my head and my heart into my rapidly growing student population and performed as a solo act and eventually in my step-father’s fusion/Jazz/funk band, “Ultra-world X-tet”. Although the world of Jazz and funk wasn’t perfectly suitable for this pentatonic plucked instrument, I indulged in it with an open mind to absorb and learn. I started to explore the world of improvisation and in the teaching area, I developed a “hybrid” mentality and technique in how I taught the minds and personalities of the youth hear. Being able to be fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese made me more relatable for many students.
I don’t know consider much of the past “major milestones or steps” but my decorated history and accomplishments in my youth gave me the courage to keep exploring and finding my voice. I took my career lightly past the age of 30 once I gave birth to my son and then daughter. I knew that a happy and healthy family was more important than my personal success so it seemed like there were little options than to not perform as much and focus on a more steady in-come. Asides from trying to be a adequate mother to my 2 children, I poured what remained of my time from each day into become a great role model and leader to all my students young and old. I wanted to show the Bay Area the beauty of the Chinese zither but more importantly, that there are beautiful instruments and music genres out there for all ages that exist past the pop, rock and rap; past just the piano, the guitar, the vocals and that instruments that came with rich history and unique culture can be even more of a treat for the mind and senses.
If there was a milestone, it must just be the recent years when now my children are now older. I’ve been “lightly” writing music for all my students so that they can have a “taylormade” performance for 22 years so that there will always be a part that is never too hard for even the most beginner of student without sacrificing the beauty of the music creating a well established “zither ensemble/orchestra” one might call it. But the recent years, I”ve turned the focus back on myself. I took the leap of faith in my own work and decided to start writing more arrangements for my own solos. I had the urge to share through new creations reflections of my life, what I find valuable in storytelling; what I find beautiful in imagery and placed asides what one might see as “untrained” skillsets to compose.
I write music according what I’m passionate in sharing and the more I dove into my creations, the more impactful and personal my performances became. I don’t believe that there could’ve been any short cuts or “ways to speed the process up” in my case. The confidence, passion and emotions in my music today is due to the journey and obstacle, detours that I took to get here.
Winnie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Winnie Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in San Francisco, CA. She started her training on the guzheng in 1982 at the age of four under the expertise of guzheng virtuoso, Ms. Weishan Liu. Being from a Chinese immigrant family, guzheng allowed her to stay connected to her roots, but more importantly, share with the community the beauty and importance of diversity.
Ms. Wong’s aspirations are to share and promote cultural experiences through performing arts, giving to the community and sharing with the world her love and passion for music. In 2003, she founded the “China’s Spirit Music Ensemble” to give her growing population of guzheng disciples a “home” to share and develop their skills and understanding for the guzheng, its culture as well as an outlet to share their musical achievements.
Further venturing into the exploration of jazz and contemporary guzheng, her passion and collection of experiences during her first two decades in performing and in her own life experiences led for deeper exploration into the genre of “World Music” and improvisation. In recent years, she’s hosted numerous recitals and productions with collaborators from all over the Bay Area and different cultures from around the world including zithers from other parts Asia. She is currently the director and instructor for “China’s Spirit Music Ensemble”, principal guzheng soloist for a world jazz ensemble, “The Ultra World X-tet” and a member of the very uniquely fused Irish-Chinese duo “LiuXi” aka “Willow Stream” alongside Irish harpist, Diana Rowan (combining improvisations with folk Irish and Chinese music as well as new arrangements). My passion and mission to bring worlds together through music and the Chinese zither as my tool; my understanding and roots of both the American world and the Asian world is what sets me aside.
Recent creations:
2023 General’s Aria (a story of war unfolding through a perspective of General)
2024 Echoes Beyond the Border (an expression of “farewell”)
2025 Song of the Faring Boat (a story of a fisherman’s journey)
In depth backgrounds on each piece here: https://www.guzhengensemble.com/2025program
China’s Spirit Music Ensemble: www.guzhengensemble.com
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
For any performing artist/artist in general, live exhibits, concerts that allow them to share the passion, creativity and “life” behind their works is vital however it is often left buried or just documented due to lack of funding. The difference between “live” and “recorded” is the word LIVE=LIFE itself.
to feel the “life” of the creator, is hard to carry across in any document or video. Live is how you can truly learn about a musician/artist.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Anything creative is never an overnight process. For that one masterpiece, that 3 minute or longer composition came hours and possibly years of refinement and reflection. Even if a creation came “all of a sudden” with GREAT inspiration, it was transitioned into a creation because of their history of nurturing their craft, their soul, their understand of both themselves and their instrument. To have no “outlet” is like an software engineer creating a wonderful application however people only want to read about it but no one wants to try to use it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.winnieguzheng.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winnieguzheng/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winnieguzheng
- Youtube: @winniewong2433
Image Credits
Justin Chuan, Lawrence Luk