Qin

 

 

“Originally known as qin 琴, the guqin 古琴came to be called by its present name because of the long history it carries (“gu” means “old”). It is also called the qixianqin 七弦琴 (seven-string zither) as it is most common to have seven strings on the instrument. The earliest extant models, unearthed relics of ancient times, would be the ten-string qin from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng of the early Warring States Period (c.475 - 221 B.C.), and the seven-string qin from the tomb of the Ma Wang Dui馬王堆of the Han Dynasty(c.206 B.C.-220 A.D.) The Chinese character for qin can be found on oracle-bone inscriptions from the Shang Dynasty, and it is also frequently referred to in Shijing [The Book of Songs] 詩經. All of these are evidences for the long history of this instrument.