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The trapezoidal yangqin (揚琴; Pinyin yángqín) is a Chinese Hammered Dulcimer originally from the Middle East (namely the Arabian Peninsula and Persia (modern-day Iran )). It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but the first character changed to 揚 (also pronounced "yáng"), which means "acclaimed." This instrument, or models similar to it, is now very popular not only in China, but also Eastern Europe , the Middle East , India and Pakistan . The instrument is also sometimes known by the names " Santur " and " Cymbalom ." The yangqin was traditionally fitted with Bronze strings, which gave the instrument a soft timbre. This form of instrument is still occasionally heard today in the ''hudie qin'' (蝴蝶琴, lit. "butterfly zither") played in the traditional silk and bamboo genre from the Shanghai region known as Jiangnan sizhu (江南絲竹), as well as in some Cantonese Music groups. The Thai and Cambodian Khim is nearly identical in its construction, having been introduced to those nations by southern Chinese musicians. Since the 1950s, however, steel alloy strings (in conjunction with copper-wound steel strings for the Bass notes) have been used, in order to give the instrument a brighter, and louder tone. The modern yangqin can have as many as five courses of bridges and may be arranged chromatically. Traditional instruments, with three or more courses of bridges, are also still widely in use. Strings are struck with two lightweight bamboo beaters (also known as hammers) with rubber tips. A professional musician often carries several sets of beaters, each of which draws a slightly different tone from the instrument, much like the drum sticks of western percussionists. The yangqin is used both as a solo instrument and in ensembles, where it is lauded as the quintessential Chinese accompaniment instrument. 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. The land version The by land theory of yangqin being bought into contact with the Chinese is through Silk Road . 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. The bridge of the yangqin consist of long, single piece of wood with many stubs supporting the strings unlike the Santur which uses a number of small individual chesspiece-like bridges. The yangqin uses bridge like the dulcimer instead of the santur. Given that very early yangqin did have individual bridges, with two unlikely reasons stated above, this could be pass off as an occasional coincidence in the development of the instrument. 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. 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. 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''. 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 word "yangqin" has historically been written in two different ways, using Chinese characters. The word "yang" (洋), in the earlier version was written and same word "yang," meaning "foreign." It was later changed, in 1910, to the character "yang" (揚) the first character of the name of the city of Yangzhou (揚州 or 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. The sea version The seaport at Canton, Guangzhou attracts traders from all over Asia: from Japan, India, Southeast Asia, and 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 (principally Buddhism). During the 16th century, the Age of Exploration in Europe reached it climax and soon trade was established between China and Europe. Portuguese, and later, English and Dutch ships, were known to have had brisk trade with China. Portuguese were reported to have been trading in Chinese waters since the 1500s, in the absence of the Spanish fleet who were more interested in establishing trade colonies in the newly discovered Americas. However, Portugal is not of relative importance in this context as the hammered dulcimer was never really established in that country. This narrows down the choice of who may have first introduced the hammered dulcimer to China as either the English or the Dutch. Since sailors are known to bring all kinds of things to amuse themselves on their long voyages, it seems very likely that one or more of them was a dulcimer player and bought one onboard, and performed 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; and thereafter it may have soon been adopted readily by the Chinese. SEE ALSO |
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