Xuefei Yang (guitar) & Weiliang Zhang (xiao) - Hujia (excerpt) - Chinese Traditional

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An excerpt from a live performance of Hujia. You can listen to a studio recording of the whole piece on Xuefei's "Sketches of China" album ( https://youtu.be/wGefF-TYaJc )

This piece is based on a 2000 year old story that is widely referenced in ancient Chinese poetry, song and fine art.
The story tells of the abduction of a beautiful and talented Han woman, Wenji Cai, by central Asian nomads. During her 12-year captivity, she was married to, & had two children with, one of the chiefs. When a ransom was finally paid for her release, despite living in captivity, leaving her children to return to her homeland was also a traumatic experience.
Early melodies (lost to posterity) inspired by the story are mentioned in Tang dynasty poetry, and appear to have featured the nomad reed pipe (hujia). The earliest known score is a setting for qin dating from 1597. Many like to believe the romantic notion that this melody was composed by Wenji Cai herself, but there is no way to know for sure.
Weiliang Zhang & Xuefei's adaptation for xiao & guitar is based on this score. It describes Wenji Cai’s contradictory feelings upon returning to her homeland, having left her children behind at the frontier. It returns the piece, in part, to its woodwind origins.