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topic : Stringed music in China

Stringed music has different meanings in China, especially in the east part Jiangnan, where it is the name of all the instruments made from different kinds of woods and those with String (music). This form of performance started from the Jin dynasty (265–420).

For most String instruments, the sound is made both by the vibration of the strings and the empty space inside the body of the instrument, which allows the air to vibrate. This is the reason why most of the stringed instruments are hollow. There are some disadvantages of the design of most of the stringed instruments --- the materials of the string. The strings must thick enough to reach the tone, therefore the protection of strings is a difficult work for every player. In addition, even small movement of the place of strings on the panel can change the timbre of that instrument, thus the performance for most of the string instruments need long time to do the preparation.

The most common Chinese stringed instruments are the guqin, zheng, erhu, and pipa. These instruments were developed over thousands of years.

Guqin
Guqin is commonly made of paulownia wood, which makes the guqin lighter and the tone sweeter than other woods. In the past, rich families and royalties preferred to use rare woods to make the guqin, such as nanmu, Pterocarpus santalinus, or Mahogany. The number of these rare-wood guqin are small and most of them are protected in museums.

Erhu
The first time that erhu appeared were during Tang dynasty. At the beginning, erhu were called huqin since they were invented by a ethnic group lived in north part of China. Compared with most stringed instruments, erhu were different: they were original role was their use by soldiers in the frontier regionsn. Therefore the timbre is strong, and  songs for erhu always describe the views of wars, the view of desert, and for those people live far away from home to tell their how much they miss their families.

Erhu only have two strings. For nowadays using the metal strings than the silk string is a new style, since the silk strings is not stable and easier to break.

Pipa
This instrument appeared two thousans years ago in history. The name " pipa" is a general name. Playign the instruments with the hand forward or backward  distinguishes whether the instrument is pi or pa.

In Tang dynasty, pipa was popular in the palace. The kings, as well as ordinary normal families all played pipa during their  daily life. Many famous paintings were done at that time showing the pipa  are now displayed in museums

Zheng
Zheng have 21 strings (in contrast to guqin, which have only   seven) Accordingly,  the sound of zheng is louder and suitable for perfomingto groups of people.

Zheng have a 2500 years of history ,beginning in the Qing dynasty. In the 19th century, its performance became popular in ordinary life, and was  learned by many of people, who developed  new ways to perform and show the motion in the songs. Also, the performance of Guzheng began to reach  aboard during the 2 st century 2  and became  popular in many different countries.

The materials of Zheng have a standard:

1.length : 1.63m

2.21 strings

3.Panel : the Paulownia

4.The string normally uses the tail of Horses in the past

5.In the past, the number of strings were : 12, 13, 18, 23,25 and so on.

The strings themselves
For most of string music the string is a necessary part. In the past the material had strict requirements; the raw material came from animals which had been specially fed. The most common material was the silk, this is a reason why in the past the string music was most developed by the rich families or spread from the palace. The strings made from silk were not durable, therefore the normal families cannot handle the expense of the changing of strings. For this time, only using silk strings cost a lot as well.

Silk strings are made by several number of silk together, twisted tightly to improve the durability. Then put the strings into a kind of natural glue and dry those strings. After all of those steps, cutting the strings to different part: followed by the thickness to determine the usage of each one.

More recently nylon-flatwound steel strings were developed. These strings have a longer durability, and are accepted by most  people for their louder tone, the low cost of each string, and lack of high quality silk strings. Although most  players start out using  these Nylon strings, there are some disagreements: the traditional silk strings have better tone. Also, the sliding sounds for many string instruments is the distinctive feature, but nylon strings cannot capture this. Therefore, people still keep working on developing the newest mixture of material or new materials can solve this conflict.

History of string music in China
The string music of Jiangnan appears in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. It is small, light and elegant. It fully represents the culture of Jiangnan and is a specific product of the culture of Jiangnan. It is endowed with unique, rich and colorful characteristics. At last, everyone thought that treated "Jiangnan Silk Bamboo" as its was more suitable. Jiangnan string music was formed in the late Qing Dynasty. Folk music and ancient music were adapted and processed by generations of Silk and Bamboo masters and famous artists, gradually forming its characteristics. Its rose and prosperity was in the period of the Republic of China, more than a hundred years ago.

Lyric and graceful. The instruments are simple and easy to get, the forms of performance are flexible and changeable. This attract the attention of the scholar and lead a number of people started to do research on those string music. It is most qualified to represent Jiangnan culture. Jiangnan string music, once known as "South Jiangsu silk bamboo" and "Wuyue silk bamboo" because of its regional and customary randomness. During the East China Folk Music Festival held in the early 1950s, several musicians who paid attention to this aspect discussed the issue of naming.

String music also have good development in the north part of China. As north part of China was the centre of the whole country in the past hundreds of years. There was the place where Erhu and Pipa invited. Since the string music in the past were more performed in the palace, many of the masterpiece were circulated from the north part of China.

masterpiece in the past
《Er Quan Yin Yue》 《二泉映月》

《Gao Shan Liu Shui》 《高山流水》

《Mei Hua San Nong 》《梅花三弄》

《Ba Wang Bie Ji》《霸王别姬》

《Feng Qiu Huang》《凤求凰》

《Guang ling San 》《广陵散》

《Yu Zhou Chang Wan 》《渔舟唱晚》

modern masterpiece
《Flower And The Children》《花儿与少年》

《Street》《行街》

《unlimited lights》《无尽灯》