Hujia Shibapai (Eighteen Songs on a Nomad Flute) leaves its landmark in the history of Chinese Guqin music. Its female composer, Cai Yan, showed her musical talent at her early years. When she was only seven or eight years old, her extraordinarily acute hearing and distinguished music sense to identify the notes of different strings of Guqin surprised her father Cai Yi, a famous musician.
Cai Yan experienced a life of frustration. When the Huns invaded the Central Plains, she was captured and taken to the remote northern grassland of the Huns. The king of the Huns was deeply attracted by her artistic talent. Cai soon became the king's wife and had a son and daughter, but she never stopped missing her hometown in the Central Plains. With years passing by, the Huns were driven out of the Central Plains and Cai Yan was redeemed and allowed to go home to help her old father sort out his scholar works. Tortured by parting from her husband and her children, Cai composed the famous melody Hujia Shiba Pai, a perfect reflection of her rough life and her deep yearning for her children. Until now, this famous melody is still one of the repertoires of Guqin concerts.