Yangqin: Encyclopedia II - Yangqin - Origins

Yangqin - Origins

There are varying opinions of how the instrument was introduced to China. There are various explanations of infiltration by land, through the Silk route, by sea, through port of Canton, Guangzhou （广州 or 廣州), or it was solely invented without foreign influence by the Chinese themselves.

Yangqin - The land version

The by land theory of yangqin being bought into contact with the Chinese is through Silk route. At the glance of the trading route of China, the Silk route stretching almost 4000 miles ending in Middle East Syria. The Syria and that region uses santur, the Middle East version of the hammered dulcimer. It had been mentioned as early as 226 AD and is establish in the traditional music of the region. If any dulcimer was to influence China by land, it is likely to be of this instrument.

At a glance, the santur seems to be a likely predecessor of the yangqin, only somewhat smaller in size. It is same in shape and played using two wooden mallets. However, if keen observations are made with logical explanation, it seems that chances are quite slim on this theory.

The technical structure of the santur is different in the way the tuning pegs are place, the bridges and the mallets. The yangqin's tuning pins are set in parallel instead of an angle 90 degree down at the side. If the yangqin is really developed from the santur, the tuning mechanism would be more identical with it than as compared to the western dulcimer.

The mallets of the santur are made of wood with finger grip, designed to let the players perform by gripping the two mallets between their fore and middle fingers. If the yangqin were to have been influenced by the santur, the way of holding the mallets would had to be almost identical and using the fore and middle fingers instead of thumb and forefinger. Moreover, yangqin earliest mallet does not comes with finger grips. This further point out influence from the santur to be highly unlikely.

With the different mallets, performing techniques will be very different to be of the same root. The yangqin will be tune differently in order to serve its role in the Chinese culture, this further lengthen the gap between the santur and yangqin by means of different placement of pitches. Hence, the likely hood of santur to be of direct influence of the Chinese yangqin seems to be very remote indeed.

Yangqin - Invented within China

Some theories offered by the scholars are that the Chinese dulcimer, yangqin is developed within China itself, devoid of all foreign influence. The offered two explanations of their suggestions, which are: the yangqin is a development from an ancient string instrument called zhu （筑）. Or that the yangqin originated from Yangzhou （扬州 or 揚州）, China itself.

Yangqin - Ancient instrument zhu（筑）

The development from the ancient music instrument zhu seems to be highly unlikely when we look at the instrument itself and its history. The zhu is shaped like the guqin, rectangular with one side wider than the other. It had 12 to 13 strings (earliest variant only had 5 strings), assumed to have been made of silk or gut with resemblance to the guqin. It was performed using techniques quite similar to the guqin, one hand pressing the strings while the other pluck. However in the case of the zhu, instead of plucking the strings, it was struck by using a slender bamboo hammer. Research material on this very old instrument are very scant. It may or may not have had bridges but if it did, the bridges need to be of similar placement and shape, somewhat like those of a modern guzheng.

There are doubts, however, that prove the above reasoning to be unlikely. Firstly, the history of the instrument dated back to the Zhou dynasty. It survived and was enjoyed until the Tang dynasty. The sudden decline of an instrument that survived for over 1700 years is due to the Tang favouring upon guqin and guzheng and ousting the zhu from Imperial Court Music. Given that the yangqin became popular only in the 17th century, it is difficult to see how an instrument which had disappeared for over 700 years to be back suddenly and enjoyed tremendously in Guangzhou. In fact, with so much civil war in China within the 700 years, it is difficult to even imagine the chances of survival of the instrument.

Secondly, the shape of the zhu is like that of the guqin. Its strings were made of silk or gut, totally in contradiction of the materials that the strings of yangqin are made of, which earliest are made of brass. In fact, the adoption of brass strings does not go very well with Chinese instruments which have strings made of silk or gut.

Lastly, the sudden change from rectangular to one of trapezium shape is questionable, the yangqin should have retained the rectangular shape at least in its earliest versions if it is to be descended from the ancient zhu. Besides, the number of strings in the earliest yangqin far surpass the zhu, which only had 13 strings at most, compared to the yangqin's 32 strings. The time and scientific methods in dealing with yangqin seems to be too vast a distance for the ancient zhu to catch up.

With the above reasoning, it is therefore almost impossible that the yangqin is likely to be a development from the ancient zhu.

Yangqin - The Yangzhou theory

Another theory put forward is that the yangqin is developed in Yangzhou itself. According to one yangqin thesis written by Mr Chew in 1921, "YangQin was named YangQin because it was invented in YangZhou, different variants came about after it was introduce into GuangZhou."

The name "yangqin" actually has two different writing. The word ‘Yang’（洋）, in the earlier version was written and same word ‘Yang’, meaning "foreign." It was later changed, during 1910 to the character ‘Yang’（扬） which was used as Yangzhou （扬 州）. However, yangqin had flourished in Guangzhou since the 17th century, why had its name associate with foreign rather than Yangzhou initially? With the anti-foreign atmosphere running in Guangzhou, it is unthinkable that someone would name his own native instrument associated with the foreigners. Therefore, it is completely wrong if it were to assume that yangqin was invented because it is name the same as Yangzhou.

It is highly possible, however, to assume that the yangqin not only flourished in Guangzhou, but also in Yangzhou. There is evidence of Yangzhou prostitutes/entertainers or commoners working in Guangzhou, living in the boats by the canals during the reign of Qing dynasty. It is therefore likely that the Yangqin was spread over into Yangzhou through these people. Due to the start of adopting Yangqin as an accompaniment instrument in 1720s, Yangzhou included the Yangqin in its performance technique and perhaps in numerous other major music thesis.

Hence given the historical account, it seems that the migration of yangqin from Guangzhou to Yangzhou more likely than being developed in Yangzhou.

Yangqin - The sea version

The seaport at Canton, GuangZhou attracts traders from all around the region, from Japan, India, and Southeast Asia till the Middle East. The ships from this region bought back precious stones, slaves, exotic wares, fruits and spices etc. Amidst of these thriving businesses, ideas, philosophies and scientific knowledge were exchanged, the most influential being religion, Buddhism. During the 16th century, the Age of Exploration in Europe reaches it climax and soon trade were establishes between China and Europe.Portuguese, and later, English and Dutch ships were known to have brisk trade with China. Portuguese were reported to have been trading in Chinese waters since 1500s in absence of the Spanish fleet who are more interested in establishing trade colonies in newly found America. However, Portugal is not of relative importance in this context as dulcimer was never really establishes in that country. This narrow downs the choice to either the English or the Dutch who first showcase dulcimer to Chinese. Since sailors brings all kind of things to amuse themselves in the long voyages, it seems very likely that one or some of them was a dulcimer player and bought one onboard and perform it in China. These sailors might have taught the art to some local prostitutes who in turn, spread the art of performing dulcimers in that local region, thereafter it was soon adopted readily by the Chinese.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origins", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki