Yelü Chucai is perhaps the most famous early non-Han qin player. The biography here also mentions several other qin players who were his contemporaries: his teachers Mi Dayong,⁴ Miao Xiushi,⁵ and Wansong Laoren (Old Master of 10,000 Pines⁶); and the student Zhang Zhiwen⁷.

As for his teacher Mi Dayong, Yelü Chucai wrote a poem about studying with him. The short title of the poem is On a Cold Evening Playing the Qin, and its preface is discussed in Rao, Section 3.⁸

Yelü Chucai later advocated a simple style of qin play. This is perhaps summed up best in a set of two poems he wrote, Loving the qin playing techniques of Qiyan (a nickname of Miao Xiushi). These have been translated as follows by R. H. Van Gulik in his Lore of the Chinese Lute.⁹

Van Gulik goes on to say that "Yelü Chucai in his later years adopted Qiyan's classical style, and abandoned the technique taught by his earlier masters (Mi Dayong and the Old Master of 10,000 Pines).¹¹

Yelü Chucai also wrote a poem about Guangling San that includes a description of it being played by one Zhang Qizhi.¹²

This poem might have been part of a collection of poems. For this see Rao Zongyi's discussion of Preface to a Poem about Playing Guangling San and Playing Guangling San All Day and Writing 50 Poems, both apparently a part of Zhanran Jushi Ji.¹³

The original Qinshi Xu biography begins as follows.

More to be added.

Yelü Chucai's son, 左丞相耶律鑄 Vice Premier Yelü Zhu,¹⁴ (1221 - 1285) was also a poet. Qinshu Daquan includes several poems by him about qin. See

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Yelü Chucai 耶律楚材
Yelü Chucai 29648.116 元，契丹人，履子，字晉卿，號湛然居士，又號玉泉老人.... was Khitan, during Yuan dynasty, son of Lü style name Jinqing, nicknames Zhanran Jushi and Yuquan Laoren. He rose to be Grand Councilor (丞相 Chengxiang; Hucker: in Yuan, active head of the Secretariat under an honorific Director [ling]).
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2. 18 lines. Qin Shi Xu sources for Yelü Chucai are listed as:

1. 元史 History of the Yuan Dynasty
2. 湛然居士集 Zhanran Jushi Ji (Collected Writings of the Tranquil Retiree [Yelü Chucai])
3. 淥水亭雜識 Lushui Ting Zazhi (Miscellaneous Records of the Green Water Pavilion [18106.3xxx])
4. Chunhu Manlu

Most important is Yelü Chucai's own 湛然居士集，十四卷 Zhanran Jushi Ji, 14 Folios. 18213.37 says it consists mostly of verse, which is quite distinctive (ref: Siku Tiyao, ji, bie ji lei).
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3. No image yet available.
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4. 弭大用 Mi Dayong
9988.xxx but see Van Gulik, where he is called Mi-Ta (pp. 76, 78, 83); it says there he played Zhejiang style, and that Yelü Chucai later abandoned this style for the Sichuan style of Qi Yan [Miao Xiushi - reference given is Zhanranjushi Wenji.
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5. 苗蘭 Miao Lan (Miao Xiushi)
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6. 萬松老人 Wansong Laoren (Old Master of 10,000 Pines)
25455.262 has nickname only for 楊彝 Yang Yi (late 14th c., so not him).
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7. 張之聞 Zhang Zhiwen
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8. On a Cold Evening Playing the Qin (冬夜彈琴 Dongye Tan Qin)
The full title is 冬夜彈琴頗有所得亂道拙語三十韻以遺猶子蘭 The Great Amount Learned while Playing the Qin on a Cold Evening; 30 miscellaneous musings for [Miao] Lan. It has a preface, as follows (the first and third lines have been translated),

The poem itself then has 30 couplets, as follows (couplets 17-20 are translated):

The preface and the preface plus poem are discussed in Rao, Section 3.
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9. Loving the qin playing techniques of Qiyan 愛棲巖彈琴聲法
These two poems by Yelü Chucai are in his 湛然居士文集 his Collected Works of Zhanran Jushi. Van Gulik's translation is in Lore, page 78, footnote 171 (transliteration here changed to pinyin). The original poems are,

My translation is under Rao, Section 3
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10. Van Gulik's footnote, p.76, explains: "'Wooden sounds' refers to the vibrato and other graces, produced by rubbing the string on the surface of the soundbox...."
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11. Van Gulik calls them 弭大 Mita and 萬松 Wansong. His reference is Zhanran Jushi Wenji, Chapter 12, p. 2.
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12. 張器之 Zhang Qizhi (13th c. CE)
10026.xxx; no further information, except that this was during 1201-1208, and Yelü Chucai's poem identifies Zhang as a Daizhao: Qin Daizhao? See also Rao Zongyi, "Historical Account", p.87.
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13. Preface to a Poem about Playing Guangling San (彈廣陵散詩序 Tan Guangling San Shi Xu)
Quoted in Rao Zongyi, Section 3. Van Gulik's footnote, p.76, says, "Yelü Chucai was especially interested in the melody Guangling San...."
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14. 耶律鑄 Yelü Zhu (1221 - 1285)
29648.166; Bio/1409. Rao Zongyi discusses a Yelü Shu ( 耶律璹 29648.xxx; Bio/xxx); this is apparently the same person.
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