Why is the guqin not five-stringed?

At present, the earliest physical piano belongs to the Warring States period. However, although three emperors and five emperors all have legends of making Qin, so far no similar guqin has been unearthed. Therefore, we can only speculate that the earliest physical objects belong to the Warring States period, 10 string, 7 string and 5 string. The Qin in the Spring and Autumn Period was similar to that in the Warring States Period, but it was very different from today's guqin.

These earliest pianos unearthed in archaeology have the following characteristics: 1, all of which are semi-box-shaped with pot-shaped piano tails; 2, the piano surface is separated from the bottom plate; 3, only a goose foot, no emblem. Their differences are: 1, the later the time, the longer the piano speaker and darkroom; 2. The piano body gradually narrows with time; 3. The number of chords is different, and it is likely to change from ten to seven (judging from the nine inconspicuous chords on Qin Long's gums unearthed from Wuli brand in Changsha, it may be nine).

1973 The lyre unearthed from Mawangdui No.3 Tomb in Changsha dates back to the early Western Han Dynasty. This string has decayed and fallen off, and the piano face and movable bottom plate are made of paulownia wood and catalpa wood with different hardness. There are seven in the pond.

Octagonal oblique cylinder keratin, height 1.5, large end diameter 1, small end diameter 0.8 cm. The goose's ankles are wrapped in silk fabric with residual strings. There are 7 obvious dents on the panel and chord path, and there is slight contact wear along the piano surface outside the moon mountain. The patent leather no longer exists. Due to the rotation of the harp, there is circular wear around the string hole in the pond. It is estimated that there is little difference in playing techniques between this piano and the existing one. Because of the surface material difference between Zimu and Tongmu, it is "qualitative" different from a single wooden and bronze piano. Different from the modern guqin, it still has the above two characteristics: 1 and 3. Judging from this piano, Guqin has been shaped like this, and the legend that Cai Yong modified the shape of Guqin is reliable. But the guqin at the end of the Han dynasty still has no real thing. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the guqin was changed from wood lacquer to grey tire, which is more conducive to preservation and can last for thousands of years. The early unearthed guqin is as follows:

1. Ten-stringed Qin at the Tomb of Zeng Houyi in the Early Warring States Period-Collected by Hubei Provincial Museum

This piano is painted with thick black paint and is 67 cm long. The panel is 4 1.2 in length and 18. 1 cm in width, and floats on the bottom plate to form a sound box. 1977 TombNo. Leigudun 1 was unearthed in Suixian County, Hubei Province (now Suizhou City). The tail is solid, 25.8 cm long and 6.8 cm wide. There are ten chord grooves on the Moon Mountain on the piano face, and there are ten chord holes at the root of the Moon Mountain, which lead to the crescent groove (that is, the pool) in the panel. There are ten hammers here. You can fine-tune the strings by turning the violin. The way to pull the string is to pass one end of the string through the Moon Mountain and tie it to the foot of the piano below through the tail end. The face of the piano is uneven, slightly undulating, and the end is inclined. When playing, you can only play scattered sounds (empty string sounds), overtones or small-scale sliding sounds.

2. Hubei Provincial Museum collects banjo from the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Sui County, Hubei Province in the early Warring States Period.

Piano length 1 15cm, head width 7cm, tail width 5cm and height 4cm. The whole body is dark and the edges are decorated with painted patterns. The piano body is carved from a piece of wood, which is hollow and forms a sound box. There are two mountains at both ends. The hidden space (the effective chord length between two mountains) is about 106 cm. There are five strings on the Moon Mountain, and the average distance is about 1. 1 cm. There are five chord holes on the outer piano surface of Yueshan Mountain, and there is a square-headed cylinder outside the end chord hole. The strings have rotted. According to the structure of the piano, the method to infer its string tension is to fix the strings below the first string hole, then stretch them on the moon mountain on the piano surface, turn them up from the bottom of the piano tail through the tail string hole and tie them on the piano column. "Poetry Book": "Shennong plays the piano. Shennong's piano is three feet, six inches and six minutes long, and there are five strings on it, namely Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu, plus two strings, namely Shaogong and Shaoshang. This instrument may be an early piano. However, its shape is too long and narrow, which is inconsistent with the records and cannot be played with fingers. Moreover, there are several kinds of banjo in ancient times, and the shapes are similar, so it is difficult to determine. Judging from the shape of the objects, it is closer to the "building" unearthed from Mawangdui No.3 tomb. Temporarily named Banjo.

3. The lyre of Guodian, Jingmen, Hubei Province in the middle of the Warring States Period was collected in Jingmen Museum, Hubei Province.

In the Warring States Period, the total length of the lyre in Guodian, Jingmen was 82. 1cm, the panel length was 50.8, and the length of the lyre was 12.4cm. It was unearthed from the tomb of Guodian Village, Jingmen, Hubei Province, and its shape was similar to that of the ten-string lyre in Zeng Houyi's tomb. This is the earliest lyre found.

About the lyre made by Guodian, the total length is 82. 1 cm, and its size and structure are slightly similar to those unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province in 973. Mawangdui Qin is 82.4 cm long. The Qin unearthed in the two lakes also has a nine-stringed Qin from the Warring States Tomb in Wuli, Changsha, which is 79.5 cm long.

These pianos are short and small, with wide heads and narrow tails. They only have one goose foot, and the thread is tied to one foot. The harp is hidden in the abdomen, unlike the seven strings of the piano tied to two feet now, and there is no sound hole in Longtan Fengnuma of the piano now. There is no progress in production at present, but Guodian Qin is really seven-stringed. Some people set the date a little later, inferring that it might be in the period before Xiang Wang, while others said it was after Bai Qi's break.

4. Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, Hunan Provincial Museum houses the Western Han Dynasty lyre.

Harp of Mawangdui No.3 Han Tomb in the Western Han Dynasty. The length of this piano is 82.4cm, the panel length is 50.8cm, and the head width is 1 1.5cm. 1973 Han Tomb No.3 Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province was unearthed and kept in Hunan Provincial Museum. The piano panel floats on the bottom plate to form a sound box, and the tail is a long and narrow plate-shaped entity. The panel has traces of wear, and the seriously worn part is at the elastic rope, which is the inside of Yueshan Mountain. It can be explained that this is a practical musical instrument that started playing a long time ago.

The "Qin" unearthed from Mawangdui Tomb in the Western Han Dynasty, with seven strings and a length of 82.4 cm, belongs to the same musical instrument as the "Qin" unearthed from Zenghouyi Tomb. Although there are still shallow groove marks on the piano surface, the wear marks from the inside of the piano to one third of the whole length of the piano tail (about the position of five-degree press) may increase the performance of five-degree press. These two unearthed "Qin" and the existing guqin since the Tang Dynasty, both in structure and playing method, are in the same strain. As the predecessor of guqin, it has developed into guqin since the Tang and Song Dynasties, which conforms to the logical track of musical instrument development from simplicity to complexity and from polymorphism to similarity. Records in the Book of Songs and other documents are similar to those of Qin unearthed, so it can be said that ancient Qin has a history of nearly 3000 years.

5. Mawangdui of the Western Han Dynasty in Changsha, Hunan Province was "built" in Hunan Provincial Museum.

The tomb of Changsha was built in the Western Han Dynasty, and 93.4cm 1993 was unearthed from the tomb of Changsha, Hunan. Hunan Provincial Museum, this instrument has five strings. Column yards and wooden bowstrings were also unearthed in the same tomb. It's a practical instrument made for the first time. Painted coffins of Mawangdui 1 Han Tomb, painted with anthropomorphic gods and monsters, sat in colorful clouds and struck with sticks (or bows); A lacquer food container was unearthed from the Western Han Dynasty tomb in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, and a person knocked on it in the decoration, which provided vivid playing images.