The Dragon Roar of the Dead Tree—Making and Making the Piano

When did the zither first come into being? It is still a mystery. In ancient times, it was either created by Shennong, or by Fuxi, or by Yao and Shun. Ancient legends are hard to trust, but they imply that the ancients believed that the appearance of the zither was very far away, which should be in line with the facts.

1. Before the pre-Qin period

At present, archaeological discoveries of guqin objects from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the early Western Han Dynasty are still very small. They are unearthed in the Hunan and Long Provinces in the original Chu State. The shapes of these guqins are basically the same, but they are very different from the ones that are common today. The panels are separated from the base plate and float together when playing; the panels are divided into two parts: half-box and solid wood long tail. The tail end is slightly upturned and there is a string notch at the end (dragon gum); there is a rectangular foot pool on the back, and a square chord shaft (geese foot). There is no mark on their panels yet. The effective string length (hidden intermediary) of the piano emblem that indicates the position of the overtone is also significantly shorter than that of later generations. They can be called half-box one-legged unicorn qin. They have one to ten strings, indicating that the seven-string customization has not yet been formed. For example, ten strings were unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi in the early Warring States Period in Sui County, Hubei; the painted qin (seriously damaged) was unearthed from the tomb of Wulipai in Changsha, Hunan, with nine strings or less than nine strings; examples of seven-string qin include the mid-warring States Period tomb of Guodian Village, Jingmen, Hubei, and the early Western Han Dynasty tomb of Mawangdui No. 3 in Changsha, Hunan.

Judging from the characteristics of small size, floating surface of the piano, not very flat panel, low Yueshan, and narrow string distance, the pronunciation quality and volume of the piano at this time are still many shortcomings, and they are not suitable for fast and complex fingering.

2. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties

The combined full box type that is common today, with two legs and seven strings, and a thirteen-emblem guqin on the surface, should have been established during the Han, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Chapter completed!