Qinqin

A musician playing a qinqin with python-skin resonator in a Cantonese street band in San Francisco

The qinqin (秦琴; pinyin: qínqín; Vietnamese: Dan-tru^[1]) is a plucked Chinese lute. It was originally manufactured with a wooden body, a slender fretted neck, and three strings.^{photo 1photo 2} Its body can be either round,^photo hexagonal (with rounded sides), or octagonal.^photo Often, only two strings were used, as in certain regional silk-and-bamboo ensembles.^photo In its hexagonal form (with rounded sides), it is also referred to as meihuaqin (梅花琴, literally "plum blossom instrument"). ^[2]

The qinqin is particularly popular in southern China: in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. A similar instrument, the two-stringed đàn sến, has been adapted from the qinqin for use in the traditional music of southern Vietnam.^photo

Note that the frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers never touch the actual body -- distinctively different from western fretted instruments. This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult.

References

See also

• Traditional Chinese musical instruments

External links

• Qinqin photographs (third and fourth rows)
• Qinqin page (Chinese)
• Qinqin page (Chinese)

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