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Today there are many more female than male qin players. Imperial-era literature on the qin strongly suggests a male tradition overwhelmingly dominated by men, but it is very difficult to know how the reality compares with the theories. Paintings usually depict male players, but the men depicted seem more interested in the qin philosophy than the music; usually paintings of women with qin actually show them playing.1 Qinqu Jicheng includes only one handbook attributed to a woman;2 it includes one of her own songs.3 It is quite possible that qin songs were particularly popular with women, and that such songs were more flexible and therefore less likely than instrumental melodies to be written down (and thus codified).
A number of publications, mostly recent, discuss the role and the activities of women during the Ming dynasty, showing them to have been very active in the fields of poetry and fine art,4 but there has been little work done on women as qin players.5 Was the motivation of the women players different from that of the men? Was their number sufficient to form a market significant for the publication of qin handbooks. How important was their patronage (or that of their families) on the financial support of qin masters? A study of these questions could reflect much on how the philosophical ideals played out in society.6
Qin Biographies has links to six collections of qin biographies (including two from one source and one called "other"). These altogether include about 700 biographical entries. On this site the biographies of women players, about 10% of the total, are listed in two groups, Early and Late;7 many of the biographies include poetry they wrote. The poetry collection in Qinshu Daquan includes several poems by women about the qin,8 and it has a number of fables about women and qin.8 Several stories in the Lienü Zhuan (Biographies of Exemplary Women) concern the qin.
Qin melodies with themes related to women include the following (for those without links my reconstruction is not yet completed).
Several of these have lyrics by or attributed to women. I don't know of any melodies actually attributed to women.
In addition, the following might also connect to stories about women:
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1
However, many examples I have seen from popular art have them playing backwards. The painting A Scholar Instructing Girl Pupils in the Arts, by Chen Hongshou (in the Berkeley Art Museum), does not actually show them playing.
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2 思齊堂琴譜 Sizhaitang Qinpu (1620; IX.1), compiled by 崇昭王妃鍾氏 Ms. Zhong, a concubine of Prince Zhao of Chong (8330.xxx), is the only handbook by a woman indexed in Zha Fuxi's Guide. Its main section has 12 melodies; these include the only version of three, the earliest version of at least two, and versions of seven from earlier handbooks. There is no commentary on any of these melodies. There is a preface by Ms. Zhong herself and an afterword by 儀賓劉東聚 "Ceremonial Companion" Liu Dongju (Bio/xxx). After this the book appends a melody called Li Ku Zhong Yan, by Ms. Zhong herself. This appendix begins with a preface by 沈應聞 Shen Yingwen (Bio/xxx). After the song is 南京尚寶寺卿吳興李樂頓首謹跋 an afterword by Li Ledun (Bio/xxx; 15829.xxx ;"李東 Li Dong"?; Bio/xxx) of Wuxing (Zhejiang, north of Hangzhou?). Li Ku Zhong Yan, the only one of the 13 melodies with lyrics, is a song Ms. Zhong is said to have composed herself.
A complete list of the 13 melodies in this handbook is as follows:
Zha Fuxi's list of unpublished handbooks also has several attributed to women, but he says these were handcopies having only material already published elsewhere.
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3
歷苦衷言 Li Ku Zhong Yan (22 verses; only in 1620; IX/71)
This "Heartfelt Words on Going Through Bitterness" is a qin song by 崇昭王妃鍾氏 Ms. Zhong, a concubine of Prince Zhao of Chong (8330.xxx), with autobiographical lyrics that include a vow to be a chaste widow. The tuning/mode is 黃鐘調 huangzhong diao (1 3 5 6 1 2 3 ). It is probably not coincidental that this mode has also been used for other songs by women lamenting their fate, most famously Hujia Shibapai.
4 Relevant books and articles include the following:
5
No publications to report at present.
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6 Here is a relevant quote from Dr. Lily Xiao Hong Lee (personal communication):
The skill of playing the qin, together with such arts as calligraphy and painting, was part of a young lady's education and though I don't know anything specific about the publication of qin handbooks, Ming dynasty publishers of popular fiction certainly tailored their products to readership, so I won't be surprised if publishers of qin handbooks targeted their products on women because of their likely need for them
See also her commentary with
Xue Chuang Ye Hua.
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7 The sources are (QSDQ, Folio 14 has no women):
8 Other poems by women mentioning the qin can be found in:
9 Fables mentioning women and the qin are included in:
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