On May 27, the 311th ZY-INS Salon of Zhiyuan College was held at the lecture hall, featuring tenor and vocal coach Gong Yuan as the guest speaker. Themed "How to Appreciate Western Vocal Art," the session guided students through the history and aesthetics of classical Western singing.

Gong opened with a live performance of Caro mio ben, captivating the audience. He emphasized that understanding historical context, stylistic evolution, and vocal techniques is essential to truly engaging with musical works. Using multimedia materials, he traced Western vocal music from medieval religious music through the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, while clarifying that "Bel canto" refers to a specific tradition rather than all classical singing.

He also introduced voice types—soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass—and their subcategories, illustrating differences with excerpts from Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Verdi's Otello. Acoustic principles such as resonance and timbre were explained using spectrograms and resonance diagrams.

In the interactive session, participants compared Western classical music with Chinese opera and folk styles. Gong advised that voice classification depends not only on range but also on vocal quality and natural timbre. The salon successfully broadened students' perspectives on classical vocal art, continuing Zhiyuan College's tradition of interdisciplinary academic exchange.