Method of Discerning (Proper) Silk ⁴

[Main text:] "Yu Geng" (a section of the The Classic of History [Shu Jing], dealing with Emperor Yu, 23rd c. BC), in a part concerning Qingzhou, (a district in Shandong province, says), "His wicker basket had silk made from a yan (mountain mulberry) tree".

Summary Narrative of the People of Qi (Qi Min Yao Shu, written during the Northern Wei [386-535]) says, "Silk from silkworms (fed on the leaves of the) zhe tree (cudriana⁵) is suitable for (qin) strings; (the sound is) light, clear, resonant and penetrating. It is better than any (other) kind of silk string.

Bo Ya (a famous qin player of the Chun Qiu period 770-476) used "basic silkworm silk".

[Main text:] This is what is meant by "the good and the bad" strings.

If you talk about appropriate soil, that in Sichuan is best. Next best is in Shaanxi and the lower Luo river (in Henan province). That from Shandong and the region of the Yangzi and Huai Rivers is worst. This is all because of the influence of the water and soil.

Nowadays one only uses white silk from the cudriana as the best source (and) "basic silkworm silk" (from the same source) as next best.⁷ If you don't use one of these two types, then select "raw crimson silk".⁸ One cannot use the cocoons with salt mixed in.⁹

Thick (lit., Big) Qin Strings¹¹

[Main text:] The first (gong) string has 240 strands (lun).

[Main text:] The second string has 206 (strands). The third string has 172. The fourth is the same as the second. The fifth is the same as the third. The sixth has 138. The seventh has 104.

[Main text:] The first, second and third strings are wrapped around (an inner "core" [tai, lit., "womb"]; see "Wrapping Gauze" below).¹²

Medium (thickness) Qin Strings

[Main text:] The first string has 160 strands, the second string has 140 strands, the third string has 120 strands, and the seventh string has 100 strands.

Thin (lit., Small) Qin Strings

[Main text:] Each string has 20 strands fewer than each of the corresponding medium qin strings.

Very Fine Qin Strings

[Main text:] Each string has 20 strands fewer than each of the corresponding thin qin strings.

Wrapping Gauze (Chan Sha)¹⁵

[Main text:] The thick strings use seven strands (around the outside of each of the strings?). The medium strings use six strands. The thin strings use five strands. If the wrapping is too thick, then the sound will not be clear. If it is too fine then the present sound's clarity will not last. Best is for it to be medium in size. When drawing it tight (around the core) the tighter the better. If in another way you use (or: If you don't use?) a "tube" (guanzi to wrap them, then you must (will?) not have the strings together with the tube (?).¹⁶

Method for Correcting Size with the Zhuizi¹⁸

[Main text:] Take two boards of jujube tree wood (zao mu), measure them and make them round (like round platters?). The size (broad/narrow, i.e., thickness?) should be about that of four coins. With bamboo make a handle (and) on four sides use small bamboo pegs (i.e., both sides of the two round boards?).

When operating this zhui, use small coins (?). Combine () the zhui to take the place of three*. Each silk-strand zhui (lun si zhui) should have the weight of four coins. If the first string (being medium) has 160 strands, then dividing this into four strips (tiao, i.e., zhui?) means each strip will have 40 strands; each zhui will weigh 160 "cash" (wen) and the (four) zhui (together) will weigh 640 cash. (The weight of the) remaining (zhui) should be calculated on this basis.... First place the coins on the lower board. The bamboo pegs (go on) top (of this). Then with the upper board press this down together.

Method of Operating (the Zhuizi)

(If done on) a cloudy and rainy day with no dust around, (when the silk is) wet and not easily breakable, (but the weather is) about to clear up (cai qing), then the sound (and/or appearance of the strings) will be clear

[Main text:] The first five (times you?) combine this silk, do it on a rainy day. According to the number of strands (i.e., different for each string) make them all into four (? see above) equal strips, and with a length of eight "zhang" (8 x 141" = 1128" = 94' -- see above). If you wrapped (zuo, lit., rub palms together) (the strands) to the left, then you should combine (ho/gan) the (strips) to the right. The tighter these are twisted the better. (The original length of eight zhang) becomes (a string) about six zhang in length (70.5').

[Main text:] Wrap this (string) around the tube.

[Main text:] If you make the strings in fall, their color will be clear and their sound will be pure.

[Main text:] If the strings are made in spring, their color will be muddy and the sound will be slow (?). By the beginning of the third lunar month (when the spring is almost over) one can make strings, but the result will still not be as good as if you make them in the autumn.

Method of Boiling the Strings

[Main text:] On a bright and clear day use a new pan made of earthenware.

[Main text:] Pour running fresh water (chang liu shui) so that it is two cun higher than the top of the tubes.

[Main text:] Use an alternating high and low fire to boil the strings. Stop when the wheat (see ingredients below) is smashed (well-done?).

[Main text:] If the strings are too "raw" then they will have a wooden sound, and soon they will have no sound at all. If they are cooked too long, then the sound will not be clear and the strings will break easily. At these times according to your own ideas make calculations (i.e., learn by doing). Take them out and dunk them in cold water, taking them out quickly. Quickly stretch them out to dry.

Using Potions (when Boiling)

[Main text:] (1). Five liang of "clear fish glue"

[Main text:] (2). A handful of wheat ( )

[Main text:] (3). Half a liang of "gem wax" (ying la )

[Main text:] (4). Half a liang of "white qi-grass".

[Main text:] (5). One liang of "white mulberry bark" ( )

[Main text:] (6). Ten "heavenly gates of winter" (tian men dong)

[Main text:] Take these potions and put them together in an earthenware pan. This amount can be used to boil ten sets.

Method for Wrapping Gauze²¹

[Main text:] First wrap gauze (shazi) on a cart-device chezi

[Main text:] Then thread the chezi onto a length of qin string. Tie up this string (e.g., affix one end to a pillar) so that it is tight. Then use the right hand to twirl the string, causing the chezi to rotate by itself (around the string). Moisten the gauze often. Do this from morning until noon, then stop. If the gauze breaks, loosen ???string cause slowly/delay cause a needle/notch to draw out the thread and wrap it/tie up the broken ends together????. After the wrapping is finished, put it out in the sun to dry.

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. In the 1970s I made a rough translation of this passage on qin strings from the Taigu Yiyin in Qin Fu, pp.33-34, identical to but more clearly printed than the same passage from Taiyin Daquanji in QQJC Vol. I, pp.37-38. When putting it online I tried to make corrections, but a number of passages still elude me.
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2. In translating this section I referred to Joseph Needham, ed., Science and Civilization in China (SCC), Vol. V. #9 (#32, The Silk Industry, by Dr. Dieter Kuhn, Würzburg). This book includes in its bibliography a 臞仙神隱 Qu Xian Shen Yin, apparently a book by 朱權 Zhu Quan on agriculture.

Reference has also been made to Jim Binkley's translation of the chapter on silk strings in the Yuguzhai Qinpu (1855). Binkley borrowed an abridged handwritten copy of the original from Sun Yü-ch'in, who was my teacher in Taiwan from 1974 to 1976, then later obtained a microfilm of the original from the Library of Congress.

There is further information in Qinshu Daquan (1590), Chapter 7.

When I had discussed this information with Sun Yü-ch'in he said that the methods described here in Taiyin Daquanji were different from the ones with which he was familiar.

After arriving in Taiwan from north China after 1949 Mr. Sun had no qins, so he taught himself how to make them, his most important reference being the Yuguzhai Qinpu. He also studied string-making, though he never actually tried making them himself and certainly did not consider himself a specialist on strings.

Mr. Sun said that at the turn of the century the best strings were being made by a family in Hangzhou. One branch stopped making them around 1911, the other stopped during the Cultural Revolution and so the high quality strings were no longer being made. He had two sets of Hang(zhou) strings, which were very good. However, the fourth string of one of the sets was not a normal Hangzhou string but a bing (冰 ice) string, which was even better. Apparently the more translucent a string the better.

Regarding string measurements (see chart below) Mr. Sun said that each strand today has only nine filaments. "Thick strings" refers to a type used on a big old-fashioned qin such as is no longer in existence. He added that variations in thickness among medium qin strings occur not as a result of variations in the filament count, but because of the variations in thickness of the filament. The highest quality strings are no longer made.

Mr. Sun said that the 5th, 6th and 7th strings wear out the fastest. Regular replacements not being then available, he sometimes removed the wrapping gauze from the 3rd and used its inner part as a 7th string; likewise the 2nd for the 6th and the 1st for the 5th.
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3. See comments concerning the structure of the original text. (Return)

4. Qinshu Daquan (1590), Chapter 7 has essentially the same information under the title 楊祖雲辯絲法 Yang Zuyun's Method of Discerning Silk (QQJC V/146ff). Yang Zuyun edited, wrote and/or compiled Qinyuan Xuzhi, an early version of Taiyin Daquanji. (Return)

5. The 柘 zhe tree (cudriana triloba, cudriana tricuspidata) is a thorny tree about 15 feet high whose bark contains a yellow dye. For the yan (厭 over 木) tree neither 4/1352 nor 16126 gives a genus; descriptions include 山桑 mountain mulberry. Both trees are mentioned in Shi Jing #241, verse 2, line 7, translated by Waley as "The wild mulberries, the cudrianas". (Return)

6. "原蚕(蠶)二蚕也。 Basic silkworm silk is the same as second silkworm silk". Second silkworm silk apparently is silk obtained from silkworms after they have already spun one cocoon; this latter product is considered poor for making silk cloth, but apparently was valued in the making of silk strings. (Return)

7. 白色柘絲為上，原蚕此之。 23191 白 has no 白色; 23191.440 白柘 seems unrelated (bai zhe is another name for 棫 [yu] a kind of oak tree). It is thus not clear from this whether 白色柘絲 simply means "white color zhe silk". (Return)

8. 非二絲則擇其生繰者 . 28573 繰 sao: "crimson silk" or "reel silk from cocoons"; sheng sao 22165.xxx. So instead of "raw crimson silk" perhaps it suggests "self-made silk". (Return)

9. "鹽藏繭者不堪用 Salt-stored cocoons: not worthy of use". 鹽藏 48554.162: "鹽漬以藏之也 salt-soaked to hide/hoard it". Elsewhere there is apparently comment about not using leaves from trees grown in saline soil. (Return)

10. 常滋 chang zi (9138.xx; 3/741xx); perhaps the implication is cheaper but stronger? (Return)

11. Thicknesses of silk strings for qin (strands and gauges)
These three sections in Taiyin Daquanji give the relative sizes of thick, medium and thin qin strings only in terms of the number of strands used to make them. The information is both incomplete and inconsistent. Problems to consider include:

1. Silk filaments can vary considerably from silkworm to silkworm. In addition, my teacher Sun Yü-ch'in said that each strand should have 9 filaments, whereas Yuguzhai Qinpu and Taiyin Daquanji both say there should be 12 filaments per strand.
2. The data as given here adds that the first to third or fourth strings have wrapping as well as core; this should mean that, for example, the figure 240 strands for the first string should concern its mesh wrapping, not its twisted core, but it is not at all clear that this is the intention of the writer.
3. The figures given here concerning the number of strands per string are at variance with what is in the 19th century Yuguzhai Qinpu and with what can be observed in surviving qin strings.

Here is a chart summarizing the calculations of the Sun Yü-ch'in, Yuguzhai Qinpu (YGZ), and Taiyin Daquanji (TYDQJ):

Silk string measurements by strands

	Mr. Sun (9 fil. each)	YGZ 加重 heavy	YGZ 太古 ancient	YGZ 中清 medium	TYDQJ 大 big	TYDQJ 中 medium	TYDQJ 小 small	TYDQJ 柚 fine
1st	126	162	130	108	240 + 138	160 + 100	each one	each one
2nd	108	144	115	96	206 + 138	140 + 100	20 fewer	20 fewer
3rd	90	126	100	84 (81?)	172 + 138	120 + 100	than	than
4th	81	108	86	72	206 + ???	160 (?)	medium	thin
5th	72	96	77	64	172	140 (?)
6th	63	84	67	56 (54?)	138	120 (?)
7th	54	72	58	48	104	100

I have not seen calculations of the number of filaments or strands in modern qin strings. The following chart concerns relative thickness, giving possible gauges in mm, based on the ranges available for strings today. To make this chart I used a micrometer to measure good strings made ca. 1980, ordinary strings from the mid 1990s, and some excellent new ones first made available in early 2000 in two gauges, then in 2004 produced in three different gauges (trial version, February 2004). The gauges of these latest strings resemble most closely those of the thick ("加重"), standard ("中清") and medium ("太古") strings below. However, it should be noted that no actual sets have these precise measurements: the figures below are averaged from measuring all the above. In addition, any particular string (particularly a wrapped one) tends to be uneven, its gauge varying by as much as .05mm depending on place of measurement. Today strings 1 to 4 are always wrapped; this process is also called "overspinning".

Sample modern silk string gauges (mm)

	thick	standard	medium	thin
1st	1.75	1.64	1.52	1.40
2nd	1.60	1.49	1.38	1.27
3rd	1.45	1.35	1.24	1.14
4th	1.30	1.20	1.10	1.00
5th	1.15	1.10	1.00	0.90
6th	1.03	1.02	0.90	0.80
7th	0.90	0.85	0.80	0.75

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12. See the column "TYDQJ (big)" in the chart above.
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13. See the previous footnote (for Thick Strings), which says that in addition the first three or four strings have a core, which for middle sized strings should be the seventh string. For the calculations see the column "TYDQJ (medium)" in the chart above.

Note that the "explanation" of each string having 20 strands less than the previous will only add up if the 4th to 7th have as many strands as noted here, and the core for the 1st to 3rd strings had 60 each (e.g., a "Fine" 7th Qin String -- see below). (Return)

14. See previous comments about the inconsistency of the calculations. (Return)

15. This section would more logically have been included just before the section called Method for Wrapping Gauze. (Return)

16. This last sentence in the original is: 別用一管子卷之，不得與絃同管。 Note that the tube used to keep the strings separate and tight while they are being boiled is also called a guanzi) (Return)

17. One zhang = 10 chi = 100 cun = officially 141 inches according to Matthews dictionary, but this varies with time and place. By this reckoning 5 x 4 cun = 7" x 5.6". (Return)

18. 墜子 zhuizi literally means "earrings". The ilustration at right shows Mr. Sun's idea of what one might look like.

As for the devices for storing the string, or twisting it, or stretching it, Mr. Sun had never heard of the fore-mentioned "tube", or the device for twisting strings, mentioned under Method for Wrapping Gauze, below.

To make strings, first the filaments (si) must be twisted to make strands (lun), then the lun must be twisted to make strings (xian). The zhuizi seems to be for the latter, but it is not completely clear to me. (Return)

19. Here footnote 26 by Tong Kin-Woon says,

20. One liang = ??? . Sun Yuqin said this oil, no longer available, comes from the stomach of a fish) (Return)
 
21. Why was this section put after the ones about boiling the strings?

The cart-device (車子 chezi: see at right) seems to be the "cart-bed" (車床 che chuang) shown in Figure 1 of the passage on silk strings in Yuguzhai Qinpu. Instead of this device, Mr. Sun said he had wanted to use bicycle wheels to twist the strings, with fixed distances.
 
Below that is an illustration of string making on a grander scale. It is apparently from Tianwenge Qinpu (1876). It has been reproduced on page 65 of Cecilia Lindquist, Qin (in Swedish). (Return)

 
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