Qin, one of the oldest plucked instruments in China, was only called "guqin" at the beginning of this century. The creators of the qin are said to be "Fuxi made the qin", "Shennong made the qin", "Shun made the five-stringed qin to sing the southern wind", etc. As a posthumous legend, it is not necessary to believe it, but it can be seen that the Qin has a long history. China has a long history.
In the pre-Qin era, the harp was already very popular. For example, "The Book of Books" says: "Play the harp and harp to chant"; Quiet and good." According to the existing images and literature, the Qin had been roughly finalized into a common shape in later generations by the end of the Han Dynasty at the latest. Qins made in the Tang Dynasty survive to this day. They differ only in artistic style and pursuit of timbre from those made in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
As early as the time of Confucius, the qin has become a compulsory musical instrument for literati. For thousands of years, the qin has been closely related to the lives of literati. Confucius, Cai Yong, Ji Kang, Su Shi and others are famous for playing the piano. The music of the qin is sacred, elegant, magnanimous and elegant. The ancients used it to express their emotions and express their ideals. The Qin goes far beyond the meaning of music and has become a symbol of Chinese culture and ideal personality.
Starting from the Tang Dynasty, Guqin has its own dedicated notation. This notation records the string position and emblem position, and the playing methods of the left and right hands. But the pitch is not recorded directly. It is composed of Chinese character radicals, numbers and some subtracted characters, which is called subtracted character spectrum. The meticulousness and scientific nature of the subtractive notation of Guqin music is such that modern notation methods such as staff notation cannot replace it to this day. There are more than 150 kinds of guqin scores recorded in subtracted notation and passed down to this day. A large number of ancient music works have been preserved, which is a huge and precious music treasure house in our country.
Guqins playing method, notation, history, temperament, aesthetics and other aspects have long formed an independent and complete system, which is called "Qin Xue" . Its content is profound and broad. It is a representative of traditional Chinese music and a mirror reflecting Chinese philosophy, history and literature. In terms of its ability to embody the traditional Chinese cultural atmosphere, no musical instrument can compare with the guqin.
