Qin Archive

A guqin master seated alone on stage beneath a cascading waterfall projection, bathed in blue light — ancient music meeting contemporary art
A Paper Qin and a Letter to a Stranger
In 1955, a fifteen-year-old boy in northeastern China heard the guqin on the radio and could not forget the sound. With no teacher and no instrument, he built one from... Read more...
What Calls Across the Sea: A Korean Monk's Journey to the Heart of the Guqin
What Calls Across the Sea: A Korean Monk's Journey to the Heart of the Guqin
Partially adapted from an article by Ke Hang, originally published by Guqin Workshop (钧天坊), July 10, 2017. When Rushan was a small boy in South Korea, he asked his father... Read more...
The Stone of Six Dynasties and the Seven-String Qin
The Stone of Six Dynasties and the Seven-String Qin
The Stone of Six Dynasties and the Seven-String Qin A hundred-year stone boat, an ancient garden, and the music that outlasts time There is a stone boat in Nanjing that... Read more...
Da Sheng Yi Yin — The Qin That Was Called a Broken Instrument
Da Sheng Yi Yin — The Qin That Was Called a Broken Instrument
In the Southern Storehouse of the Qing imperial palace lay a guqin catalogued as 'one broken qin.' It was a Tang dynasty instrument crafted in 756 CE — the Da... Read more...
Er Long Xi Zhu — The Qin That a Warrior Restored
Er Long Xi Zhu — The Qin That a Warrior Restored
From the Collection of Seven String QinThere are instruments that carry sound. There are instruments that carry history. And then there are instruments that carry both a sword and a... Read more...
Jiuxiao Huanpei: The Most Precious Guqin in History
Jiuxiao Huanpei: The Most Precious Guqin in History
Valued at 400 million RMB and held in Beijing's Palace Museum, Jiuxiao Huanpei is the greatest guqin ever made. Discover its Tang Dynasty origins, its connection to Su Dongpo and... Read more...
Jiaolin Tingyu: The Banana Leaf Qin
Jiaolin Tingyu: The Banana Leaf Qin
Made in 1616 by Ming Dynasty craftsman Wang Shunchen, Jiaolin Tingyu is one of the rarest guqin ever made — shaped like a banana leaf, inscribed by an imperial prince... Read more...
The Master Between Two Worlds: Mei Yueqiang and the Living Bridge of Guqin Tradition
The Master Between Two Worlds: Mei Yueqiang and the Living Bridge of Guqin Tradition
Mei Yueqiang (1929–2003) was the tenth-generation heir of the Jinling school and the eleventh-generation master of the Guangling school — a rare synthesis in the history of the guqin. His... Read more...
Two Schools, One River: How Politics and Commerce Shaped China's Guqin Tradition
Two Schools, One River: How Politics and Commerce Shaped China's Guqin Tradition
Why does everyone know the Guangling school of guqin — but almost no one knows Jinling? The answer lies in two imperial capitals, a salt trade boom, and six centuries... Read more...
Mei Yueqiang in blue changshan meeting President Jacques Chirac in Yangzhou, October 2000
A Guqin for a President: Mei Yueqiang Performs for Jacques Chirac
In October 2000, Guangling School Patriarch Mei Yueqiang performed for French President Jacques Chirac during a state visit to Yangzhou — and presented him with a guqin crafted by his... Read more...
Yi Yun Zhai Xin Zhi — A Ming Dynasty Guqin and Three Generations of Guangling Masters
Yi Yun Zhai Xin Zhi — A Ming Dynasty Guqin and Three Generations of Guangling Masters
The guqin stands first among the Four Arts of the Chinese literati — qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. This is the story of one extraordinary instrument: "Yi Yun Zhai Xin... Read more...
Mei Yueqiang and the Studio of Moving Clouds
Mei Yueqiang and the Studio of Moving Clouds
The story of Mei Yueqiang (1929–2003) — guqin master, keeper of the Guangling tradition, and the man who sold a Ming Dynasty instrument to buy two small rooms in Yangzhou,... Read more...
Flowing Streams, Into the Stars
Flowing Streams, Into the Stars
In 1977, NASA chose a guqin recording to represent China — and all of humanity — on the Voyager Golden Record. This is the story of how Flowing Streams became... Read more...