Wenzipu

 

 

“According to scholastic research, the existence of music scores for the qin can be traced back to as early as the Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 B.C.). These scores existed in the form of wenzipu 文字譜, or tablature in Chinese characters, until the early Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). Jieshidiao Youlan [The Orchid Tune] 碣石調幽蘭, a work by Qiu Ming丘明 (494 - 590 A.D.), who lived during the last years of the Southern Dynasty (ca 420 - 589 A.D.), for instance, is written in this notation system. However, qin players of the Northern Wei (386 - 534 A.D.) and Sui (581 - 618 A.D.) dynasties found wenzipu tiresome. As Buddhism became very popular in China and Sanskrit writings were extensively imported into the country during this time, qin players were also inspired to devise a notation that resembled the Sanskrit script. Unfortunately until the present day we have been unable to locate an actual copy of music written in this notation.”(Chan Hing Yan)