With a slight inhale, 81-year-old Zhen Jinling brought the short, ridged horn up to his mouth. He pursed his lips and blew into his suona — the sound part birdcall, part trumpet fanfare.

From a bench outside Chinatown’s library branch, the chirpy melody and fast descending riffs of “Whipping the Horse that Transports Grain,” a Chinese folk song composed in the 20th century, buzzed across the street to the nearby CTA station.

Since 2022, Zhen has spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons busking outside Wentworth and Archer avenues. Rotating between several instruments, Zhen shares a taste of traditional Chinese music with locals and visitors alike.

“(I) entertain the community, entertain myself,” Zhen said last month in Mandarin Chinese.

Zhen, originally from Taishan in Guangdong province,

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