Traditional Chinese Plucked Instrument,Guqin

Plucked string instruments are the collective term for musical instruments that use fingers and use bamboo to strike the strings to make sounds. It has a very long history, and the qin and se emerged as early as the Zhou Dynasty.

According to the shapes, performances, and playing methods of musical instruments, plucked string instruments can be divided into two categories: one represented by the pipa, and the other the guqin and guzheng. The Guqin is an ancient musical stringed instrument of China and has a long history of several thousand of years.In 1977, the United States launched the spaceship named "Voyager" in an effort to communicate with alien life. Twenty-seven wvorld- famous songs were selected to make a disc that was sent into the space. Flowing Water played on the guqin was one of them. Since then, people around the world have paid attention to the ancient guqin. On November 7, 2003, the guqin was registered as an Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity of the UNESCO.

The earliest guqin had five strings.Emperors Wenwang and Wuwang of the Zhou Dynasty knew music well enough to add two strings to the guqin. That's why the guqin usually has seven strings. The body of the guqin is usual elongated, and hollow in the center.There are 13 hui or strings.They are above the surface of the guqin without supports. The surface of the guqin is used as the fingerplate. The surface board of the guqin is made of a whole piece of phoenix tree wood. Its surface is arched and with two crescent- and square- shaped fixtures on the forehead and waist of the guqin. There are more than 90 techniques in playing the guqin by hands.