Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Classical qin

The qin is a Chinese musical instrument, described in the West as a seven string zither. Each one has a name often taken from stories, for example this one:
Zhang Ji was skilled in healing illness. One day he entered a cedar wood, looking for medicinal herbs. There he met a sick man, who asked for a consultation. Having examined him, Zhang Ji said: “How is it that you have the pulse of an animal?” Then the man told him the truth, that in reality he was an old monkey and lived in a cave. Zhang Ji took some pills from his bag, and gave him one. Having taken this, the monkey was immediately cured. The next day this monkey came again in his human form, bearing on his shoulder an enormous log. He said: “This cedar is ten thousand years old. I offer it as a slight payment.” From this wood Zhang Ji made two qins. One he called Old Monkey, the other Ten Thousand Years.

4 Comments:

Blogger Ellee Seymour said...

What a wonderful tale. I learn so much from your site.

9:51 pm  
Blogger Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Lovely story. Where do you find them, WW? Oh, and happy Easter from Sicily. x

10:53 pm  
Blogger Whispering Walls said...

Hi Ellee & WL - I look at a lot of financial Chinese material for my work but it sometimes gives me interesting cultural leads.

9:23 am  
Blogger Whispering Walls said...

Buona Pasqua WL!

9:37 am  

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