A plucked half-tube zither with movable bridges, one of the principal Chinese zithers, the others being the Qin and the ancient se (see China, §III). Discussed here are construction, early history, tuning and notation; for living traditions and repertories, see China, §IV, 4(ii)(b).
The zheng consists of a soundbox with adjustable bridges over which a number of strings are stretched. The size of the zheng ranges from 120 to 170 cm long and 20 to 35 cm wide, depending on the number of strings. The soundboard is made of wutong wood (Firmiana platanifolia), the bottom being flat and the upper board convex. The wood used for the sides and bottom is traditionally hardwood: red sandalwood, rosewood or sometimes boxwood. The bridges, used for fine tuning, are usually made of wood, occasionally of ivory or bone. The strings are secured on pins at one end of the instrument, stretched over individual bridges, and wound around tuning pegs at the other end. While silk strings were traditionally used, today they are most commonly of steel wound with nylon. The bridges divide the strings into two sections, the portion to the right delineating the open-string tuning mode and the plucking area, that to the left the area where ornamentations and pitch modifications may be made.
The zheng has a history of over 2500 years. The 2nd–century dictionary Shuowen jiezi states: ‘The zheng has plucked strings and a bamboo body. [Its music onomatopoeically] sounds “zheng”’. Another 2nd-century document, the Fengsu Tongyi, indicates: ‘The zheng [prior to the 1st century ce] had five strings and the body of a zhu [another ancient zither made of bamboo]’. The Chinese character for zheng has two portions: the upper, zhu (‘bamboo’), probably refers to the use of bamboo in the construction of the body during its early development; the lower, zheng, is clearly a representation of its sound when played (Cao, 1983, p.2). While it is possible that the ancient zheng distributed in north-central China was made of bamboo and had five strings, no evidence has been found for the theory that it derived from a combination of two ‘prototype’ zithers, the se and the zhu.
Zheng performance was first documented in the Shiji (‘Records of the Historian’, 237 bce): ‘[People of the Qin state, now Shaanxi province] beat clay drums and earthen jars, play zheng and slap their thighs to accompany songs. This is the true music of Qin’. Some sources state that the zheng was invented by Meng Tian (d 210 bce), a general of the Qin state. However, because the lower portion of the character has the same pronunciation and form as the word zheng (to quarrel), other legends emerged describing how a fight between two people over a 25-string se zither led to the division of the instrument in half, thus creating both a 12-string and 13-string zheng. Since ancient Chinese custom and literature commonly credits famous persons or mythical beings with the invention of musical instruments, caution is needed in assessing such legends.
Traditional Chinese scholarship supposed that the zheng originated in north-central China. In the 1970s, however, several 12- and 13-string zithers dating to the 6th or 7th century bce were unearthed in Guangxi and Jiangxi provinces in southern China. Based on their construction and the way their strings are mounted, they are almost certainly identifiable as zheng types (Huang, 1987). Since these instruments are older than any other known zheng, these archaeological finds have challenged traditional notions about the northern origin of the instrument. It is now suggested that the zheng may have originated in southern China, or that it may have had multiple origins (Xiang, 1994).
Fu Xuan’s poetic essay Zhengfu xu (c265 ce) describes the zheng of that period as follows: ‘Its upper part is convex like the vault of heaven; its bottom flat like the earth; its inside is hollow so as to accommodate the six points of the compass, and its 12 strings with their bridges symbolize the 12 months of the year’. Thus by this period the number of strings in north-central China had already increased from five to twelve. During the Han dynasty, the zheng was part of the string and wind ensemble which accompanied xianghe ge (‘harmonious song’), a singing and dancing tradition in north-central China. In the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties (581–1279), the zheng was a member of court musical ensembles, which performed yanyue (banquet music) and qingshang yue (music deriving from xianghe ge) (Yang, 1981, p.219). According to the Tang encyclopedia Tongdian (801) both 12-string and 13-string zheng were then in existence; the zheng was introduced to Korea as the 12-string kayagum and to Japan as the 13-string Koto.
By the 18th century the number of strings had increased to 14 or more. It is generally assumed that the 16-string zheng was in fashion before the 19th century. Since the mid-20th century, zheng zithers have been constructed with 18, 21 and even 25 or 44 strings. While the 21-string zheng is most commonly used, the 16-string zheng is still in use by some traditional musicians, especially along the southeastern coast of mainland China and in Taiwan.
Before the Song dynasty, the instrument was placed on the performer’s knees with the end pointing away to the left (Liu and Yuan, 1988, p.83), a position still preserved in kayagum performance. Now the zheng is played on a table or a pair of stands (fig.1). The technique used in playing is twofold. With the right hand the performer plucks the strings with the fingernails (either real or simulated), which produce single notes, octaves or harmonies. The thumb plays outwards while the index and middle fingers play inwards. Subtle nuances are achieved through different levels of intensity in plucking, through the use of the nail only or a combination of fingernail and fingertip flesh, and by variation of the plucking positions on the strings. Traditionally, the left hand is used to apply pressure to and release the strings for ornamentation, such as vibrato, portamento and pitch alterations. In contemporary practice the left hand may also join the right hand in playing melody on the right side of the bridges.
The open strings are tuned to an anhemitonic pentatonic scale of sol la doh re mi, usually in either the key of G or the key of D, with the lowest string tuned to D. The 16-string zheng is tuned to give three complete octaves, while the 21-string zheng has four complete octaves. By moving certain bridges the key can be transposed.
The earliest known zheng notation is preserved in the 12th-century Japanese manuscript Jinchi yoroku which, together with signs for fingering movements, employs 13 Chinese characters and numbers to represent the 13 strings of the instrument. This is believed to be Chinese zheng notation used in the Tang dynasty (Picken, 1981; Cheng, 1991, p.15). At least from the Qing dynasty, the gongche system of notation, which uses Chinese characters to denote a kind of solfeggio, was widely used for zheng music. (fig. 2). The ersi pu (‘2–4 notation’) (fig. 3) used until recently in Chaozhou music, which uses seven numbers and metrical symbols, is also considered to have been handed down from the Tang and Song periods (Chen, 1978). In the early 20th century, cipher notation became a common teaching device. Although Western staff notation is used by some conservatory-trained musicians, cipher notation is more widely used.
R.H. van Gulik: ‘A Brief Note on the Cheng, the Chinese Small Cither’, Tōyō ongaku kenkyū, ix (1951), 10–25
K. Hayashi: Dongya yueqi kao [Study of East Asian musical instruments] (Beijing, 1962/R), 165–93
Chen Leishi: Chaoyue juepu ‘ersi’ pu yuanliu kao [Study of the origin and history of the lost Chaozhou notation ersi pu] (Hong Kong, 1978)
L. Picken and others: Music from the Tang Court (Oxford, 1981; Cambridge, 1985–)
Yang Yinliu: Zhongguo gudai yinyue shigao [Draft history of ancient Chinese music] (Beijing, 1981)
Cao Zheng: ‘A Discussion of the History of the Gu Zheng’, AsM, xiv/2 (1983), 1–16
Huang Chengyuan: ‘Gongyuanqian 500 nian de zheng’ [The zheng before 500 bce], Zhongguo yinyue (1987), no.3, pp.39–40
T. Kwok: ‘Zheng: a Chinese Zither and its Music’ (thesis, U. of Hawaii, 1987)
L. Rault-Leyrat: Comme un vol d’oies sauvages: la cithare chinoise (Paris, 1987)
Liu Dongsheng and Yuan , eds.: Zhongguo yinyue shi tujian [Pictorial guide to the history of Chinese music] (Beijing, 1988)
Cheng Te-yuan: Zheng, Tradition and Change (diss., U. of Maryland, 1991)
Liu Dongsheng , ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese instruments] (Ji'nan, 1992), 200–09
Xiang Yang: ‘Kaogu faxian yu Qinzheng shuo’ [Archaeological discoveries and theories on the Qin zheng], Yinyuexue wenji [Collected articles on musicology], ed. YYS (Ji'nan, 1994), 198–217
HAN MEI
