Short-necked lute of the Han Chinese. Literally ‘moon qin’, the name is often popularly translated as ‘moon lute’. The yueqin is constructed of a short fingerboard inserted into a large circular resonating chamber (about 60 cm in total length). Distinguishing features include four long tuning pegs inserted laterally into the pegbox, soundboards of softwood (commonly wutong) covering the top and bottom of the resonating chamber, and between eight and 12 bamboo frets glued to the neck and upper part of the soundboard. On traditional lutes, four silk strings are grouped in two double courses and tuned a 5th apart.
The yueqin is historically related to several Han Chinese lutes, especially the qinqin, shuangqing and ruan. The qinqin (‘Qin [kingdom] qin’) has a long fretted neck, often only two or three strings (pitched about one octave lower than the yueqin) and a scalloped or ‘plum blossom’ shaped resonating chamber (about 90 cm in total length). The shuangqing (literally ‘double clear’) or shuangqin, a lute known since the 18th century, resembles the qinqin in size, though it has four strings and an octagonal resonating chamber. These instruments can all be traced back to the ancient ruan, a lute which was described by different names in the literature of the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce). During the Tang dynasty (618–907), the instrument was most commonly known as ruanxian after the name of a famous 3rd century ce performer. The Shōsōin repository in Japan is in possession of two beautifully decorated ruanxian (Jap. genkan) from the Tang period, each about 100 cm in length, with four evenly distributed strings (not in double courses). In the music treatise Yueshu (c1100), the same lute is described as having a round soundbox, long neck, four strings and 13 frets, but it is called yueqin rather than ruanxian. While the artwork of this period shows the ruanxian to have been present in instrumental ensembles, its popularity faded over time and it survived but marginally into the 20th century.
The yueqin (essentially a ruanxian with short neck) and qinqin (a ruanxian with small scalloped soundbox) are both still in use. The qinqin is especially common in Chaozhou and Cantonese traditions of south China, and the yueqin is most frequently employed in Beijing opera ensembles. Yueqin variants are also used in accompaniment of dance-songs and other genres of the Yi and other minority peoples of south-west China.
When the modern concert-hall ensembles were formed during the mid-20th century, the ruanxian (popularly known as ruan) was revived, and it and the yueqin were ‘improved’ at the state-owned instrument factories, both given many more frets (up to 24) for increased range and chromatic capability, and repositioned to accommodate the Western ideal of equal temperament. The new ruan is now constructed in various sizes, tenor (zhongruan) and bass (daruan) being especially effective support instruments within large ensembles. The new yueqin retains its former size, but its string numbers are usually reduced from four to three, and tuned to separate pitches for an extended range. In spite of this change, the new yueqin has not won wide acceptance into the modern Chinese orchestra.
K. Hayashi and others: Shōsōin no gakki [Musical instruments in the Shōsōin] (Tokyo, 1967) [with Eng. summary]
Yuan Bingchang and Mao Jizeng, eds.: Zhongguo shaoshu minzu yueqi zhi [Dictionary of musical instruments of the Chinese minorities] (Beijing, 1986), 229–40
Liu Dongsheng and others, eds.: Zhongguo yueqi tuzhi [Pictorial record of Chinese musical instruments] (Beijing, 1987)
A. Thrasher: La-Li-Luo Dance-Songs of the Chuxiong Yi, Yunnan Province, China (Danbury, CT, 1990), 43–51
Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese musical instruments] (Ji'nan, 1992), 210–15
Zheng Ruzhong: ‘Musical Instruments in the Wall Paintings of Dunhuang’, CHIME, no.7 (1993), 4–56
ALAN R. THRASHER