History Tidbits of the Guqin 古琴

This is a brief introduction to the history of the Chinese classical plucked string instrument, the “guqin” 古琴. In my soon-to-be-published historical novel Tales of Ming Courtesans, one of the protagonists, famed courtesan Liu Rushi 柳如是, is a skillful guqin player, apart from being a brilliant poetess and painter. In one scene, she smashes her guqin, which is a gift from one client, in a blinding fit of fury.