Guqin, also known as Yaoqin, Yuqin and Qixian, is a traditional Chinese plucked stringed instrument with a history of more than 3,000 years. Guqin has a wide range, deep timbre and long aftertone.

Ancient books record that Fuxi made the qin, and there are legends such as Shennong making the qin, the Yellow Emperor making the qin, and Tang Yao making the qin. , extensive and profound.

There are more than 3,360 qin songs, more than 130 qin scores and 300 qin songs. On November 7, 2003, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee announced that the Chinese guqin was selected as a world cultural heritage. In 2006, it was included in the list of China's intangible cultural heritage.

The meaning of each part of the guqin is that human beings are the spirit of all things. When the ancient sages developed the guqin, they took their own ways and ingeniously integrated their philosophical thoughts into the guqin.

⒈Panel

The guqin has a simple shape and strong penetrating tone. It is not only the essence of ancient Chinese musical instruments, but also a perfect art in itself. The top of the guqin is generally paulownia or fir, which is loose and clear, which is good for pronunciation, and belongs to yang; the bottom plate is catalpa or nanmu, which is dense and conducive to sound reflection, and belongs to yin. The top of the piano is arc-shaped, which symbolizes the circle of the sky, and the sky represents the sun. The bottom plate is straight, symbolizing the place, and the earth represents the yin. In such a guqin, yin and yang are in harmony, with yang on the top and yin on the bottom. Guqin is divided into head and tail, the sound near the head is clear and belongs to yang, and the sound near the tail is low and belongs to yin. The upper, lower, left and right sides of the guqin embody the philosophical thought of the harmony of yin and yang.

2. Moral

Guqin comes from nature and is a musical instrument that the ancients communicated with nature. The length of the qin is about three feet six inches and five minutes (120---125 cm), which symbolizes three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, and the width is about four inches to six inches, which symbolizes the four seasons and the six harmony (heaven, earth, east, south, There are thirteen emblems marking the phonemes on the surface of the piano, symbolizing the twelve months of the year and the intercalary moon every four years. Guqin is divided into head, neck, shoulders, waist, tail and wild goose feet from top to bottom. The guqin embodies this symbol of the integration of man and nature, man and guqin.

3. Strings

Guqin music is mainly influenced by the Confucian ideas of uprightness and peace, gentleness and honesty, virtue and music, and Taoism's ideas of adapting to nature, sound in harmony, and subtle and distant. The guqin originally had five strings, which were set according to Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Yu, representing the five elements, and also corresponding to the five internal organs, five colors, and five directions. Later, King Wen and King Wu each added a bass to become the current lyre. Sanxian is the palace sound, which is the sound of Changxia, which belongs to the earth, and is the main source of transformation. It communicates with the lungs, corresponding to white and righteousness, the west; the fifth string is the horn sound, belonging to wood, the main life, and it is connected to the liver, corresponding to the blue color and benevolence, the east; Corresponding to red and ritual, the south; the seventh string is the winter tone, belonging to water, the main storage, connecting to the kidney, corresponding to the black and wisdom, the north; the first and second strings correspond to the sixth and seventh strings.

4. Appellation

The upper part of the "guqin head" is called the forehead. The lower end of the forehead is inlaid with hardwood for stringing, called "Yueshan", which is the highest place of the guqin. There are two large and small sound grooves on the bottom plate of the guqin. The larger one in the middle is called "Longchi", and the smaller one in the tail is called "Phoenix Marsh". This is called Shangshanxiaze, and there are dragons and phoenixes, which symbolize everything in the world. Long Pond and Phoenix Swamp are empty, which is more representative of tolerance in Chinese culture.

5. Features

Since the guqin has no "pins" or "codes", it is very easy to play flexibly. The strings of the guqin are particularly long, and the strings of the guqin have the characteristics of large amplitude and long aftertaste, so it has its unique hand-moving sound. As far as the structure is concerned, the structure of each part of the guqin is very reasonable. Its size is not too small, not only easy to carry, but also elegant.