Qín or Gǔ Qín
The pictures below are Gǔ Qín used in the Tang Dynasty.
It is said this instrument was invented by Shen Nong in the primitive age. In the Chinese legend, he also invented agriculture and he tasted over a hundred herb medicine plants and started Chinese medicine.
When he made the first ever “Qin”, he chopped a candlenut tree into the body of the instrument and twined silk threads as strings. This “Qin” has five strings, both the head and tail raised up a little bit and looks like the totem of the time—“Kui” dragon, which has only one foot. In《The Book of Songs》
, which is the first anthology of Chinese poetry, such lines as “to please the bride, Qin and Se are played”, “to welcome Earth Deity, Qin and Se are played and drums struck” can serve as a proof of the earliest existence of “Qin”. Later on during the Western Zhou Period, one more string was added.
Quite a number of famous “Qin” players emerged in the Spring and Autumn Period, among them Shi Kuang, Shi
Xiang and Shi Wen were most outstanding. Among them Shi Kuang is a very legendary man, a well-known musician
of the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was born blinded in 572 B.C. and died in 532 B.C. He was
appointed a minister in charge of music, so he called himself a “blind minister”. He has rich knowledge in music; he
could also imitate various sounds of nature and depict the beautiful flight of birds and their chirping. He had acute
listening, he once told Duke Ping of Jin that his bells were not properly tuned, the Duke turned a deaf ear to him,
butlater the musician from the State of Wei Shi Juan confirmed that Shi Kuang was right.
When the newly built palace of Duke Ping of Jin was completed, Duke Ling of Wei came to congratulate with a group
of his musicians. When they reached Pushui River on their way to the State of Jin, it was already dark, so they took a
rest by the riverside. The early summer moon was bright high up in the sky, and the willow branches were brushing
the river with the breeze. Suddenly, Duke Weiling heard some novel music played by a Qin. He then asked his head
musician, Shi Juan, to note the music down.
They finally arrived at the State of Jin and Duke Ping of Jin treated them with a banquet in the newly built palace. After Jin songs
and dances were presented during the banquet, Duke Ling of Wei asked Shi Juan to play the music they learned by the Pushui
River. Juan did his best to play it and the music sounded like unbroken drizzle and at the same time lament and crying.
Shi Kuang was listening attentively, but slowly his smile disappeared, he suddenly stood up and walked to Shi Juan and held his
hand tight, “Stop! This is a piece to make a state fall, it shouldn’t be played.”
Duke Ling of Wei was shocked by Shi Kuang’s words; Shi Juan didn’t know what to do and looked at Duke Ling of Wei in puzzle.
Shi Kuang then explained, “This decadent music was composed by Shi Yan, the musician of Shang Dynasty for the pleasure of King
Zhou of Shang. After King Wu of Zhou wiped out King Zhou, Shi Yan drowned himself with his Qin in hand into the Pushui River in
fear of being punished for his evils he did together with King Zhou. So, you must have heard it by the Pushui River, it is not
auspicious at all, who ever indulge in it, his state would fall apart. We cann’t let Shi Juan finish it, he then turned to Shi Juan, “Did
you get it from the Pushui River?” Duke Ling of Wei answered for him, “Yes, we got it by the Pushui River.” However, Duke Ping of
Jin didn’t take it seriously; he said to Shi Kuang, “Dynasties have changed. What does it matter if we play it now! Let Shi Juan
continue!”
Shi Kuang shook his head and persisted, “Good music gives us strength, bad music of a fallen state will get us rotten. Your Highness, you are the King of this state, you are supposed to listen to good music, not rotten ones!
Duke Ping of Jin found that Duke Long of Wei and his company looked so bewildered, he shouted at Shi Kuang, “Take your hand away, let him go on! Don’t let us down and don’t ruin this happy day!”
There wasn’t anything more Shi Kuang could do, and he took his hand away from Shi Juan’s.
And Shi Juan finished with that piece of music.
Seeing Shi Kuang still looked upset, Duke Ping of Jin asked him, “What tune was it?”
"It is the so-called ‘Qing Shang’ music,” Shi Kuang replied.
“Is it the saddest?”
“No, ‘Qing Hui’ is much sadder.”
Duke Ping of Jin said, “O.K. In return, could you please play a ‘Qing Hui’ piece for us?”
“No,” Shi Kuang said, “In the old days, only perfect kings of high virtue can listen to it.”
Duke Ping of Jin returned, “I don’t care about perfection or virtue; I am only fond of music. Please play!”
Shi Kuang could not disobey his king. He sat down and took out his Qin. After he played the first series of notes with his fingers, 16 cranes were approaching the palace slowly from the south; they raised their heads and called out while flapping their wings to echo to the Qin notes; the notes and cranes’ calling were hanging in the sky for a while.
The dukes and guests were astonished.
When the music was ended, Duke Ping of Jin stood up and walked to Shi Kuang with a wine pot in his hand, he toasted to Shi Kuang and said, “Nothing could be more pathetic than ‘Qing Hui’ in this world.”
Shi Kuang said, “No, it is far from ‘Qing Jiao’.”
Hearing this, Duke Ping of Jin was pleased, he uttered out, “Wonderful, please play it for us, master!”
Shi Kuang shook his head again, “It wouldn’t do, Your Highness. ‘Qing Jiao’ is no ordinary music; it was composed by Emperor Huang Di for meeting ghosts and deities on West Mount Tai. It would incur trouble if we play it flippantly and we would have no time to regret!”
“Come on, you are over-cautious. It was so long ago, how it could harm what it is now today. I don’t think it matters if you play."
Shi Kuang could not but obey the order, and he played it.
When the first series of notes flew out from between his fingers, dark clouds gathered in the northwest; when the second series of notes left the hall, wild wind and storm landed on the palace, when the third sounded, wind blew the tiles away from the roof of the palace, the drapes inside were smashed and the heavy wares for sacrifice were blown onto the ground. Everybody tried to run away in terror.
Duke Ping of Jin was trying to hide himself behind a pillar with his hands over his head and shouted, “Stop, please stop playing!”
As soon as Shi Kuang stopped playing, the storm ceased and it was a clear sky again.Every body in the hall admired the Qin playing skills of Shi Kuang, Shi Juan went up to Shi Kuang and said in excitement, “Your skills can shock the heaven and make ghost cry!”
《Spring and Autumn under the Pen of Lǚ》recorded how good Boya was at playing Qin, and how deeply Zhong Ziqi
comprehended Boya’s playing. Confucius was himself well versed in Qin playing, which was one of the six arts hetaught his students. Since the time of Confucius, Qin playing had been one of the four qualities of scholars, theother three were: chess, calligraphy and painting.
Among all Gu Qin excavated from underground, the one from the tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State is regarded as the oldest. It is 67 cm long and has 10 strings, its shape looks very much like a “Kui” dragon. The one discovered from Mawangdui Tomb belongs to the Western Han period (see the picture on the left), it has seven strings, its surface is leveled, and its sound box is small.
With the rise of 《Xiang He Ge—Concerting Songs》during the Three-Kingdom Period, Qin was played in ensemble with flute, Sheng, Zheng, Pipa and other instruments. The making of Qin at this time was improved, the original solid tail part is now part of the sound box, therefore the volume is augmented; the left hand can now move freely to play portamento; there are 13 dots on the outer side of the surface board to mark phonemes. The instrument can now play a harmonic series in the just intonation that has four octachords and major chords; therefore, it has a wider range and is of higher performance.
People entirely relied on memory to pass on Qin scores, for the first time ever, a kind of music notation was invented, the music of 《The Quiet Orchid》was recorded in character notations. Qin was not only a solo instrument, it was one in the band. Quite a number of famous songs were created in this period, songs like 《Prelude to Guang Ling》, 《18 Songs with Reed Instrument》and 《Ancient Folk Song Exercise》and so on.
Stories related to 《Prelude to Guang Ling》:
Ji Kang with his Qin Ji Kang’s Tomb
It is said this song was based on an old song and was polished and revised by Ji Kang(223-262), who was fond of music when he was small, he was very at home with flute, he was also addicted to Qin and Qin music. The way he got hold of 《Prelude to Guang Ling》was very legendary: One night he was playing Qin under light, a ghost came to threaten him. He was not afraid at all and kept on playing. He asked, “Who are you?” The ghost said, “I passed away from here, your Qin music brought me here. Playing Qin was also my hobby. However, it is not proper for you to see me, because I was being deformed and died. I came to listen to your Qin, please keep on playing.” Ji Kang went on and then he asked the ghost, ”Why don’t we meet by playing Qin?” The ghost played 《Prelude to Guang Ling》, the music soaked into Ji Kang, he realized his won skills were far from the ghost player. Before parting, the ghost asked Ji Kang not to teach others to play the piece and said, “Even though we met once today, with this piece of music, our meeting can last for ever.”
So, what was this piece of music about? The music tells us a story about Nie Zheng of the State of Han
during the Warring States Period, whose fater was casting a sword for the King of Han, and failed to finish
casting before the deadline, and the King then killed Nie’s father. Nie Zheng tried to assassinate the King to
revenge for lost of his father, but he didn’t succeed. Knowing that the King was fond of music, Nie decided
to destroy his looks and went to the mountains to practise Qin playing for over ten years. When he finally
returned to the State of Han, no body could recognize him. He later found a chance to play Qin for the King,
while playing, he drew out a dagger from the sound box and killed the King, of course, and he also lost his
life there.
Ji Kang himself had a very precious Qin, for which he sold all his business. He got a piece of jade from a high ranking official, sliced it into smaller pieces to inlay them on the top of Qin to mark phonemes. The casing was also made of jade and silk. People at that time said his Qin was worth of several cities. He also composed songs, four of them
were regarded as masterpieces. He firmly opposed the Sima Zhao, the despotic ruler of the time and was sentenced to death because of that. Before he was killed on a high platform, he asked for a Qin, he then played 《Prelude to Guang Ling》； hearing the music, three thousand scholars in the crowd brought down their knees and begged the ruler to let Ji Kang free, because all of them wished to learn Qin playing from him. The request was rejected and Ji Kong lost his life at the age of 39.
Stories related to 《18 Songs with Reed Instrument》:
This piece of music is believed to be composed by Cai Wenji (177-?), a lady composer and poet. Her father, Cai Yong was a man of letters and a great calligrapher, a friend and tutor of Cao Cao, the Prime Minister of the State of Wei during the Three-Kingdom Period. Cai Winji was very gifted in music. It was said that one day when she was six years old, her father was playing Qin, she was listening in the next room and told her father the first string was broken, surprised, the father broke the fourth one with purpose, she, still in the next room, told her father which string was broken. She became a master of Qin playing later. When she was 23, the Southern Hun broke into the central part of the country and captured Cai Wenji and many other women, and was sent to the nomadic tribe. She ended up with a marriage with the King of the Southern Hun and spent 12 miserable years there and gave birth to two sons.
A Portrait of Cai Wenji A sculpture of Cai Wenji
When Cao Cao unified the northern part of China, he missed his tutor and thought of Cai Wenji, he then sent one of his officials with one thousand tales of gold and pair of jade ware to the Southern Hun to redeem Cai Wenji. Having returned home, she thought of her husband and missed the two innocent sons. It was nice to return to the home land, it should also be nice to be with her sons, but she could not have both; she thus composed the plaintive and disconsolate 《18 Songs with Reed Instrument》. It is basically a Qin score, but some Southern Hun tone was added. It was herself who wrote the verses as well
Another Portrait of Cai
It should be mentioned that Cai Wenji herself was a master of knowledge. Cao Cao adored the Cai family for its collection of books. One day when they were chatting, Wenji told him that all those books were lost during the turmoil, he was deeply disappointed, yet when Wenji told him she could remember 400 articles in the collections, Cao Cao became overjoyed. She then wrote down these 400 articles from her memory. Those who read them before said there were no mistakes and nothing was left out in what she restored.
Qin playing was brought to Japan during the Tang Dynasty and became a common practice in the Japanese imperial court. The original of the first Chinese character notation--《The Quiet Orchid—to the Tune of Jíeshí》is now being kept in Japan. The manufacturing of Qin reached a new height in this period. The one appeared at the beginning of this writing was made in the Tang Dynasty. The original is now kept in the Palace Museum of Beijing.
Some Song Dynasty emperors were fond of Qin, Emperor Taizhong added two more strings onto the 7-string Qin; Emperor Huizhong built a hall for the collection of famous Qin, among his collections, the one called “Spring Thunder” manufactured by Lei Wei was most outstanding. Men of letters were quite often good at Qin playing, among them Fan Zhongyan（989—1052）and Ouyang Xiu (1007～1072) were most famous. The playing skills were greatly improved and different schools of playing were formed.
The 17th son of the first emperor of Ming Dynasty contributed a great deal to Qin playing. He compiled an anthology of 40 precious Qin scores created before Song Dynasty in Chinese character notations, the book is entitled 《Mysterious and Secret Notations》and was put into printing in 1425; during the Ming Dynasty, the manufacturing of Qin became varified, the one shaped like a banana leaf has been regarded as a treasure.
Ways of Playing
1. Solo: Qin is a fine solo instrument with its deep and booming sound, judging from Qin scores that have been passed
on till now, Qin is capable of depicting joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure; it can also be used to present natural landscape
to us.
2. Ensemble with Xīao(a pipe instrument), which was popular some 2000 years ago duirng the pre-Han periods, we
can find such a way of playing in ancient paintings and exavated sculptures.
3. Accompaniment of singing, half of the existing old Qin music is of this kind, for instance 《18 Songs with Reed
Instrument》and so on; all of them are vivid and touching.
4. Ensemble with Zheng, Se and Sheng in playing “Yǎ Yù Music—Graceful Music”, which is an imperial court music for
ritual procedings started from the Western Zhou Period. Even the music notations have been lost in China, people
can still find it today in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. As a matter of fact, “Yǎ Yù”in Vietnam is called “Nha Nhac”, and is
has been included into the UN Human Oral Non-Material Legacy.
Structure of Qin
The structure is quite complicated, it is composed of the surface board, the bottom board, sound beam, sound posts, pegs, peg board, strings and stands.
Famous Qin Music Pieces
1.《Wild Goose Land on Sandland》， the musical image of a group of wild goose hunking and looking around high in the sky implicates the ambitions of scholars living in solitude. The earliest record of this piece can be traced back to 1634.
2. 《Three Variations of Plum Flower》, originally a flute music during the EasternJin Period, was later rendered into a Qin music, which depicts the cleanness, fragrance and hardiness of plum to imply man’s high values.
3. 《A Dialogue between a Fisherman and an Axman》, by presenting a dialogue,this piece tries to say that the rise and fall of dynasties end up like topics for fishermen and fellers, and what don’t change are mountains and waters. The earliest record in notation of this piece was in 1560.
4. 《High Hills and Surging Waters》, this piece tells a story of how an axman Zhong Ziqi could apprehend deeply the Qin music played by Boya, a well known musician of the Warring States Period. One day Boya was playing Qin on a wasted land, Zhong, after listening, told him he was trying to show that his aim was as high as high hills; Boya then played another part, Zhong said he was showing his mind is as vast as surging waters. Boya was shocked at Zhong’s comprehension. He said to Zhong, “You have the same heart as mine.” After Zhong passed away, Boya could never find one who can comprehend his music as deeply, he smashed his Qin and never played again. From then on these two pieces were named 《High Hills and Surging Waters》.
5. 《18 Songs with Reed Instrument》
6. 《Prelude to Guang Ling》
