Yueqin - Chinese Traditional Musical Instruments

Plucked String Instrument

Yueqin

Bernice and I bought this instrument at a department store in Chengdu in 1984. They had priced it at 7 Yuan. That amounts to about $1.20 US. I thought it a bargain. When we bought it, the instrument had only three strings so we bought some extra strings for it at a musical instrument store. It hangs in our great room on the wall.

The Ruan was originally called Yueqin. The Yueqin has a short neck and a flat sound box. The present day Yueqin is derived from the Ruan. The soundboard is generally thinner than the Ruan. Some Yueqins are either hexagon or octagon in shape. There are two, three and four string versions. Together with the Jinghu, the Jingerhu, the Yueqin is named as one of the three great Peking Opera string instruments. The Yueqin is tuned to double fifths: a, d, e and a.