Xu Jiade, born in Beijing in August 1938, is a national first-class performer.
In 1951, when she was under 13 years old, she joined the ranks of the Chinese People's Volunteers and went to North Korea to sing and act as a young actress. In 1953, she was transferred to the Song and Dance Troupe of the North China Military Region. She saved the living expenses and began to learn erhu by herself. In 1958, Xu Jiangde performed the works of Mr. Liu Tianhua as a soloist, gradually forming a playing style with sincere and delicate feelings and pure and vigorous timbre. She became the first self-taught and accomplished female erhu performer in our army and New China. With the spirit of diligence and self-improvement, she has continuously achieved fruitful results in the art of erhu performance, and has won the love of the masses and the praise of her peers.
Formerly a performer of the Comrade-in-arms Song and Dance Troupe of the Beijing Military Region, he is now a member of the Chinese Musicians Association, a consultant to the Erhu Society of the Chinese Music Association, the executive deputy director of the Erhu Expert Committee of the Chinese Music Association’s Instrumental Music Performance (Amateur) Grade Examination, and enjoys special allowances from the State Council.
In her erhu performance career for nearly half a century, she has performed many works such as "The Soldiers and the Common People", "Jinzhu Mamizan", "Singing for a Harvest", "Three Treasures Buddha" and so on. She endows the music with a strong artistic appeal with her skillful performance skills and her passionate, simple and smooth performances. In addition to her performances, many of her performances have been broadcast on radio or recorded. Most of these works are easy-to-understand, close to life, easy to popularize but not losing the elegant taste of national music. It is not only a repertoire enjoyed by the masses, but also a model for teaching and learning in art colleges and young erhu performance professionals.
In 1990, China International Cultural Exchange Audio and Video Publishing House recorded an album for her. In 2000, the People's Music Publishing House also recorded Xu Jiade's erhu performance CD album.