In 7 folios, this handbook has 50 melodies, 5 with lyrics. Although as a prince Zhu Changfang apparently had old tablature that might have been copied here, I have not yet found that any of the melodies here has an identical copy in an earlier handbook. At least 14 melodies have their earliest known printing here (search the Table of Contents for "earliest" and "only here"), with several of these being melodically unrelated versions of older titles.

Noteworthy aspects of this handbook include the following:

1. It is one of the first handbooks to use the new decimal system for some finger positions.
2. It has the earliest tablature for Yan Luo Pingsha, a melody still popular today.
3. It has the second earliest tablature for another melody popular today, the modern version of Ou Lu Wang Ji; the earliest was published in Sizhai Tang Qinpu, a handbook published in 1620 by the widow of another prince, who must have been a cousin.

More to be added.⁴

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Orthodox School of Ancient Sounds (古音正宗 Guyin Zhengzong) (QQJC IX/241-380)
3308.198...xxx
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2. Image: A Luwang "zhonghe" style qin (from QQJC IX/266)
The image to the left is a view of the bottom; to the right is the top. Above the two qins are the the characters 中和, identifying the qin style as Zhong He, a style mentioned in Qinshi Chubian but that is not in the Qin Shapes section of Taiyin Daquanji. To the right of the instruments it says "皇明潞王敬一道人式" , identifying them as the style of the prince's own qins. There is further commentary on the facing page.
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3. 朱常淓 Zhu Changfang
For "潞國敬一道人 The honor one-ness Taoist of Lu", 朱常淓 Zhu Changfang, see separate page.
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4.
??
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.