Commentary
John Thompson

Two of the most important surviving early handbooks, the present one and Taigu Yiyin, were compiled by men living in She county, the area south of the Huangshan mountain range noted for producing a large number of successful businessmen. As yet there have been no published studies into the reasons for this.

Taigu Yiyin consists of a large number of qin songs, many quite simple. Were these designed for merchant families that wished their children (young women as well as young men) to have a scholarly education?

Xilutang Qintong, which apparently only existed in hand copies, has many beautiful melodies surviving nowhere else. There are too many of these to have been all composed by Wang Zhi himself: were they collected from sources away from the main scholarly centers, and thus never printed in handbooks compiled by scholars and/or princes?

The earliest known sources of the 170 qin melodies are as follows.

Source of earliest   surviving tablature	# of melodies   in 1549	Comments (with reference to the XLTQT ToC)
Shen Qi Mi Pu  1425	51	From SQMP Folio 1 it is missing #s 3 - 4, 7 - 9, 12 - 16; from Folio 2 missing #22, 25; from Folio 3 missing #55
Wusheng Qinpu  1457	1	#62; only occurrence of a later reprint of any melody from the 1457 handbook
Zheyin Shizi Qinpu  1491	4	#s 71, 73, 112 and 147; None has lyrics
Taigu Yiyin  1511	5	#s 29 - 31, 44 and 98; #s 29 - 31 are versions of one melody, Ya Sheng Cao
Fengxuan Xuanpin  1539	10	#s 1, 4, 8, 21, 27, 42, 72, 85, 92 and 100.
Wugang Qinpu  1546	4	#s 32, 91, 125 and 150.
Xilutang Qintong  1549; first here	20	4 of these are in only one other pu
Xilutang Qintong  1549; only here	75

Much further analysis is required.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 None yet. (Return)

(Return)

Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.

Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.