Links here are to articles about the physical qin, including

1. Qin Body
   Basic construction, with links to more information

2. Silk strings   (availability)
   Compared with metal strings, introduced during the Cultural Revolution
   - Warning: the so-called "NAGA new silk strings" are not made of silk ¹
   Plus:  Can metal strings cause damage?
   And:  An article by Wong Shu-Chee.

3. Tassels (see at right, hanging down from the qins)
   Making and attaching them

4. Zhen (tuning pegs; the tassels are attached to them)
   Their origin and use

5. Hui (studs; see at right, along the right side of each qin)
   Their origin and use

6. Cases for qin
   Modern cases for modern travel

7. Acquiring a qin
   Some basic rules, silk and metal string differences, and a link to the biggest US source

8. Qins in public and private collections
   Mostly concerns museums where you can see qins, plus in captivity?

9. Xiao Xiang Ye Yu,
   The qin used in my CD Music Beyond Sound.

1. Misuse of the words "silk strings"
Because of the aura evoked by "silk", and perhaps also due to the increasing awareness of the history and special nature of silk strings, the word silk can currently be found used in misleading manners. One example is the so-called "Silk String Quartet"; this London-based Chinese music group plays instruments traditionally classified as "silk", but today none of the players ever actually uses silk strings.

"NAGA new silk strings"

"NAGA new silk strings", introduced in 2008, also apparently have no silk in them. Nevertheless, as of mid-2009 the Wikipedia guqin article still stated that, "The North American Guqin Association commissioned a set of new strings made of a mixture of silk and nylon filaments flatwound with nylon like metal-nylon strings in 2008." It is not clear where this information came from: as of mid-2009 the NAGA promotion had not revealed either the producer, maker or the actual material.

Meanwhile, from direct examination by several people, including myself, the "NAGA new silk strings" seem to be identical to the "龍人古琴絃 Longren Guqin Xian", strings sold by the 廈門龍人琴坊 Xiamen Longren Qinfang (their home page is only in Chinese). The Xiamen website includes a testimonial by Li Xiangting which says, in part:

People I met in China in 2009 were calling them "composite strings" (复合絃 fuhe xian"; fuhe is short for 复合材料 fuhe cailiao). I was told that they were a joint production between people in Shanghai and Xiamen, and that they cost 300 RMB a set (less when making a bulk purchase). They do not include any silk.

In spite of what Li Xiangting says, these fuhe strings most closely approximate the sound and feel of gut strings, but are more resonant; in this way they resemble the lute strings often used today (by non-purists, because they do not admit what they are doing) for early Western music. The nature of the fuhe string construction seems to require that the lower strings be tightened considerably more than the upper ones, leading to some playing difficulties. A number of senior players in China have criticized them for their uneven sound and the way they continue to need tightening, a process that eventually weakens them. The second generation of fuhe strings are pre-knotted; I assume they are also pre-stretched in Xiamen, but have not yet personally confirmed this.

These fuhe strings might make an interesting alternative to nylon/metal, and I have enjoyed playing on them. However, I have yet to find anyone who generally plays a silk string qin who thinks they do sound or feel like silk strings. Thus the NAGA statement that the sound of their strings "is good as that of silk strings made before and during the 1950s" is best seen as a promotional strategy underlain by an attempt to justify the rejection of the silk string tradition by players such as Li Xiangting.

Regarding the sound of old silk strings, recently Wang Fei wrote to me that,

"The reason (Li Xiangting) doesn't use the type of silk string that you think is traditional silk is because he thinks the quality is not the same as with the type of silk strings he played in the 1950s....I can tell you now that he prefers NAGA new silk strings because he thinks their quality is close to that of the silk strings he used in the 50s....I still have some new sets of 1950s silk strings in sealed boxes since the 50s which I got through a very valuable donation from a scholar...."  

Based on an essay by Zha Fuxi about problems with qin strings in the 1950s (see further), I think Wang Fei may be referring to the Jinyu Qinshe strings of the 1930s (see Jinyu Qinkan). In any case, hopefully she or Li Xiangting will one day make a recording to demonstrate the validity of their claims about the old strings. Meanwhile, it would be valuable to me to hear specific comments by them stating in what way they think the silk string sound of my own recordings, many of which are online, differs from the silk string sound to which they refer.

As for other claims in the testimonial by Li Xiangting, my teacher Sun Yü-ch'in told me that the (hopefully smooth) sliding sound of the fingers on silk strings was the qi (life force) of the music. As for putting the composite strings on 1,000 year old instruments, if their hardness affects the lacquer at all the way nylon-metal does (during the period I was using metal strings, after a year or two of regular use they would made divots in the lacquer where they were most often pressed down), this is indeed a tragedy.
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