T of C 
Home 		My
Work		 Hand-
books		 Qin as
Object		 Qin in
Art		 Poetry
/ Song		 Hear
Qin		 Play
Qin		 Analysis History Ideo-
logy		 Miscel-
lanea		 More
Info		 Personal email me search me
Qin Shi   /   One string qin 首頁
Sun Deng
- Qin Shi #80		 孫登 1
琴史 #80 2
Sun Deng plays3 his one string qin4
Sun Deng was apparently an historical person, living under the Wei in perhaps the 3rd century CE. However, our record of him is enriched by many fables. The ones discussed here are mainly connected to the qin. He is said to have studied qin from Zhou Taibin,5 then later to have developed a particular fondness for a one-string qin. He was already a well-known recluse when he taught Xi Kang (223 - 262).

Notice Sun Deng's free flowing hair in the left-hand image at right. The qin illustration to its right is noteworthy in that you can actually see that there is one string: otherwise it looks like an ordinary qin.

Qinshu Daquan has several stories related to him. See, e.g.,

Folio 17, #44.

The original essay in Qin Shi is as follows.

Sun Deng, style name Gonghe, was from 汲郡共 Gong in Jijun (Henan). Having the Dao, he became a recluse. He enjoyed reading the Yi Jing and playing the qin. By nature he did not have great passions. Ruan Sizong (Ruan Ji) and Xi Shuye (Xi Kang) were once his followers. Travelling with him, they spoke a lot but he did not reply.....

Translation incomplete.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 7135.324/3 孫登 Sun Deng, style name 公和 Gonghe (Return)

2 6 lines (Return)

3 The image of Sun Deng playing the one-string qin is from Liexian Quanzhuan (a Ming publication expanding from Liexian Zhuan). (Return)

4 This image is from Deyintang Qinpu (1691; QQJC XII, p. 459). Compare it with the One String Qin depicted in Taiyin Daquanji (Image 37): both look like ordinary qins except for the number of strings. (Return)

5 The biography of 周太賓 Zhou Taibin also mentions another one-string qin player, Maming Sheng. (Return)

 

Return to QSCB, or to the Guqin ToC.