Quick Answer: What Is Battle against the Typhoon?
Battle against the Typhoon (Zhan Taifeng, 战台风, Zhàn Táifēng) is a 1965 solo by Wang Changyuan (王昌元, Wáng Chāngyuán) for the guzheng (古筝, gǔzhēng). It depicts wharf workers confronting a storm.[1]
- Listen for: Sweeps across the strings suggest the wind and rain.[1]
- Follow the story: The busy rhythm at the start returns near the end.[2]
- Check the version: The same title can appear on programs for multiple zhengs or piano and orchestra.[2][5]
Start with a solo if you want to hear how one player produces the contrasting textures.
Listen for the moment when the wharf rhythm gives way to a rush of pitches. The change in sound marks the change in scene. Later, the opening pace returns and gives the piece a sense of work resuming.
The Shanghai Wharf Behind the Music
The Chinese Music Archive connects Wang’s composition with her time at a Shanghai pier. The workers’ activity gives the piece a setting, and the approaching typhoon gives it a reason to change pace and texture. Wang wrote the work for a single guzheng, a long zither with individual bridges.[3]
Remember the opening pulse so you can recognize it when the bustle returns at the end. Within Chinese traditional music, a modern solo can use an established instrument and its techniques to tell a new story.
Follow Five Sections in One Recording
Hong Kong’s Education Bureau uses Wang Zhongshan’s 1995 recording as its listening example. The times belong to the recording named in that guide.[1]
| Start | Listen for |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | A fast, firm rhythm establishes the busy dock. |
| 0:34 | String sweeps break the earlier pulse as the wind arrives. |
| 1:08 | Quick repeating figures change shape during the struggle. |
| 3:03 | A high melody moves at a more moderate pace. |
| 4:13 | The first section’s fast material returns. |
How the Guzheng Suggests a Storm
The storm effects use glissandi, rapid sweeps over a series of strings. When many notes sound close together, you can follow the direction of the sweep more easily than any individual pitch. The central section repeats and reshapes rhythmic figures as the struggle builds.[1][4]
Water imagery can produce very different sounds on the same instrument. Compare the sweeping effects with a quieter entry in High Mountains and Flowing Water for Guzheng or the phrasing in Fisherman’s Song at Dusk. Rain Lashing the Plantains offers a separate rain image in Cantonese instrumental music.
Identify the Solo and Arrangements
Singapore Chinese Orchestra credits Liu Bin with an arrangement prepared in 2010 for the Kong Hwa School guzheng ensemble and Chinese orchestra. It keeps the movement through a working dock, storm and return to activity. Compare how the group shares the work’s rhythmic figures with how one player handles them in the solo.[2]
Another program credits a piano adaptation to Liu Shikun and an orchestration to Lo Leung Fai. Check the credits to see whether you will hear one zheng, a group of zhengs or a piano.[5]
FAQs About Battle against the Typhoon
Who composed Battle against the Typhoon?
The guzheng player and composer Wang Changyuan wrote the original solo in 1965.[3]
Is Battle against the Typhoon a traditional folk tune?
It is a named twentieth-century composition for solo guzheng, using and developing established zheng techniques.[3]
Why does the ending recall the opening?
The fast opening material returns to depict the workers resuming activity at the wharf after the storm.[2]
Fuentes
[1] Hong Kong Education Bureau. Listening to Chinese Music: A Battle against the Typhoon
[2] Singapore Chinese Orchestra. Plucked Strings: Against Typhoon
[3] Chinese Music Archive. Guzheng Program Notes: Battling against the Typhoon
[4] Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Battling with the Typhoon, Recital Programme
[5] Singapore Chinese Orchestra. Keyboard Extravaganza: Against Typhoon