Sias University 15th Anniversary Banquet - Scene 12

Pipas and Yueqins Entertain During the Banquet

The ladies on the right play yueqins, the ones with a round sound board. On the left with oblong sound boards play pipas. The pipa resembles the Spanish guitar in some ways, with long fingernails being cultivated to pluck the strings. The pipa has a history of over 2,000 years spanned from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. The most common pipa has a body with a short neck and a wooden belly. There are 19 to 26 bamboo frets called Xiang on the neck.

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.