The Qin as Art

A Western man plays guqin alone by a moonlit river — ink painting style, contemplative and serene
Three Thousand Years of Solitude: The Guqin and the Chinese Scholar's Inner Life
I. A Thought ExperimentImagine, for a moment, that every person in Chinese history who ever played the guqin could be gathered into a single room — or, in today’s terms,... Read more...
The Scholar Never Parts with His Qin
The Scholar Never Parts with His Qin
What Was a "Scholar" in Ancient China? In the social hierarchy of ancient China, the shi — the scholar — occupied a singular position. In the classical texts of the... Read more...
Playing the Guqin at Night
Playing the Guqin at Night
A Digression Worth Reading There is a story from ancient China that has never quite been explained. Duke Ling of Wei was traveling when his party stopped for the night... Read more...
The Unbroken Song: Confucius and the Spiritual Epic of One Qin
The Unbroken Song: Confucius and the Spiritual Epic of One Qin
More than two thousand five hundred years ago, an old man wandered the states of ancient China with a qin in his arms. He was driven from courts, stranded between... Read more...
William Xu playing guqin alone in a traditional Chinese study — the instrument that was never meant to be heard by an audience
The Most Solitary Instrument in the World
There is an instrument that was never meant to be heard.Not by an audience. Not by a crowd. Not even by the person sitting across the room. The guqin —... Read more...
Guqin and Western Music: A Comparative Study of Polyphonic Techniques, Formal Structures and Performance Genres
Guqin and Western Music: A Comparative Study of Polyphonic Techniques, Formal Structures and Performance Genres
AbstractWestern music has developed a systematic theoretical framework of polyphonic techniques, formal structures and performance genres over three centuries: from Baroque imitative polyphony (Bach, 18th century), to Classical concerto and... Read more...
A Comparative Analysis of Homologous Polyphonic Thinking Between Chinese and Western Music
A Comparative Analysis of Homologous Polyphonic Thinking Between Chinese and Western Music
A Contrast of Western Round, Canon, Fugue with Chinese Guqin Diezou, Nong, CaoAbstractWithin the polyphonic system of Western music, rounds, canons and fugues constitute three progressive core imitative compositional techniques.... Read more...
The Guqin and the Piano: More Than Sound — Two Completely Different Musical Philosophies
The Guqin and the Piano: More Than Sound — Two Completely Different Musical Philosophies
Imagine two scenes.A pianist walks onto the stage, lifts the lid, and sits down. He strikes a chord — the sound fills the entire concert hall, full and resonant, the... Read more...
What Is the Guqin?
What Is the Guqin?
I. The Guqin in HistoryIn ancient China, the word qin referred exclusively to the guqin — also known as the yaoqin (瑶琴) or qixianqin (七弦琴, "seven-string zither"). Only in modern... Read more...
Chun Lei — Spring Thunder
Chun Lei — Spring Thunder
A Fuxi style guqin made in 2002 by master Mei Yueqiang of the Guangling school. Read more...