Cha Nai

Merchant and musician

Musician and merchant who lived in the early decades of the 16th century, was a native of Hsiu-ning, Nan-Chihli. His grandgather, Cha Hua, built a fortune through interregional trade, and his father, Cha K'o, and elder brother were also merchants. At the time of his birth, his grandfather, who happened to be eighty sui, named the boy Pa-shih (Eighty). From then on he has known by his contemporaries as Cha Pa-shih. In his youth, he helped his father and brother in business and apparently became successful, for a contemporary reports that he had a large fortune.

Like many successfull merchant of te Ming period, who took delight in cultivating expensive hobbies, Cha Nai made music his special interest. For a while he was prod of his techinque in playing the p'i-pa (ballon guitar); then one day during a feast he felt geatly humiliated when a female entertainer (similar to a Japanese geisha) bettered him with her own p'i-pa playing. Cha Nai, a resolute young man who always determined to supass others, swore at the party that he would someday excel in the art. He paid a thousand teals as fee to learn in technique from Chung Shan, currently the best p'i-pa player in the country. Cha not only accomplished his goal, but far surpassed his teacher. In his first public performances, the listeners were so moved by his music that they regarded him as one blessed with a talent that was divine.

After he had earned fame as a superior instrumentalist, he began to learn other skills, such as swordsmanship, horseback ridin and archery, foottball, the flute and ch'in. Upon the asvice of a guest who told him one could not be an expert in all things, he concentrated on p'i-pa playing, becoming known eventually as the best player of his day. Wang Yin, a poet from She-hsien, wrote a poem declaring that non of the p'i-pa players of the north could be compared with Cha, and Huang Chi-shui, poet and son of Huang Hsing-tseng, wrote a longer one describing the expert techniques of Cha Nai, who, with his p'i-pa could evoke scenes of nature and arouse the deepest feelings of man.

It is interesting to note that, although the best p'i-pa player, he did not commercialize this art, probably because a profesional musician who looked down on by society. Instead, he continued his business which still seems to have prospered, and entertained only his friends, among them the famous poets and artist. At one time, when he was at Ta-liang, Honan, the prince of Chou, summoned him to play, but he did not go until the prince agreed to treat him as a guest of honor. He declined the invitation of other princes, and refused to have Li Ts'ung-yao, a wealthy merchant of Yangchow, as his student, saying that his technique was not for sale.

When he retired, his second wife wanted him to accept concubines since he had no heir; but he refused on the groung that Heaven had already bestowed on him many blessings, such as fame, friends, and long life, and that he should not ask for more. Instead, he spent the rest of his days with young people in sparrow fighting, and in planting trees and flowers