When did Guzheng originate as a national musical instrument?

Guzheng is an ancient national musical instrument, which prevailed in the Qin Dynasty during the Warring States Period. The materials quoted in Biography of Lisi Zhuke in Sima Qian's Historical Records are worthy of our attention. A passage about the music and dance of Qin State in Li Si's "The Book of Departing Guests" says: "The husband hits the urn, knocks it, plays it, fights it, and the song is screaming. So is the real Qin Zhisheng. Between Zheng Weisang, Yu Shao and Wu Xiang, they are also happy in a foreign country. Today, I won't knock on the urn. I will get sick and defend myself. I will take back my piano and take good care of it. What if it is? I am very satisfied with the present, but I am just very comfortable. "

Zheng is a "real" figure, so he has always been called "Qin Zheng". However, from the perspective of writing, there is one thing that deserves our scrutiny, that is, Knocking on an urn and Between Zheng Weisang, while Playing Zheng Doufa is opposite to Yu Shao and Wu Xiang. Obviously, the confrontation here is not aimed at literary talent, but at the form and content of "music" and "dance". The so-called "Voice of Zhengwei" is the folk music of Guo Zheng and Guo Wei, so it can be seen that "knocking on the urn" was the folk music of Qin State at that time, that is, "Yu Shao" was "Shaoxiao"

It is said that this joy was made by Dayu. The above refers to music; This music is obviously not folk music, but court music. Thus, when Ying Zheng was in power at the latest, Qin had replaced the Zheng with Shao Xiao, which was a musical instrument used by the court at that time and should be more elegant than the post and urn. As for "fighting", what I want to improve is "the image of a soldier". This kind of "dance", that is, "big dance", is a music and dance sung by Zhou people to praise the attack on Zhou. It can be seen that "beating" is the court music and dance of Qin State. Li Siju's example proves that the songs, dances and music used by the Qin court are all from other countries, so there is no need to refute politics. As mentioned in that article, Li Sijin submitted the book of remonstration and expulsion in 237 BC. Therefore, Zheng's popularity in Qin was before this. Zheng's appearance is relatively perfect, which should be earlier than Li Sishu's "The Book of Departing Guests".

There are two opinions about the naming of Zheng, one is that the harp is split, and the other is that it is named after the clank of pronunciation. "Ji Yun" holds the saying of "Qin fen": "Qin customs are thin and evil, and father and son have their own opponents, and everyone is half, which was called at that time." Of course, in addition to the argument that father and son are fighting, there are also arguments that brothers are fighting and sisters are fighting. These similar legends just show that these statements are unreliable. In addition, as far as common sense is concerned, if an instrument is divided into two, it becomes a broken instrument. How can it be regarded as a guzheng? I'm afraid it's much harder to repair a broken piano in two. Another way of saying it is named after the nature of its pronunciation. Liu Xi's Ming Shi holds the view that the piano sounds high and natural. It is said that the zither is pronounced "Zheng Zhengran" because of its "high chord". This timbre is obviously made for the soothing timbre of the zither, which connects the zither with the zither. Indeed, our national musical instruments can be named after their origins (such as the Huqin), development methods (such as the Pipa) and even timbre (such as the Bawu). The Zheng here is named after its timbre is pronounced "Zheng Zhengran". As can be seen from the following article, at first, guzheng and guzheng were not close, which lost the significance of comparing the timbre of guzheng and guzheng, which made it difficult for people to believe it completely.

The naming of the Zheng mentioned above also involves the origin of the Zheng. Since the theory of "dividing musical instruments into pianos" is not credible, then the piano in trouble is not made of broken musical instruments. So, how did the Zheng come into being?

Han. Ying Shao's "Customs Pass" contains the article: Zheng, "I sincerely press" Rites and Music ",five strings, and build a whole. Nowadays, the Zheng in Binhe and Liangzhou looks like a harp. I don't know who changed it. It was made by Meng Tian. "

According to Ying Shao's "Custom Pass", the Zheng system before the Han Dynasty should be "five strings, with a built body", but at that time, "the Zheng in Longzhou and Liangzhou was shaped like a harp". I don't know who made it in Ying Shao, and also recorded the rumor that it was made in Meng Tian. It can be seen that the harp-shaped Zheng has spread in the northwest of the Han Dynasty.

Du You of the Tang Dynasty said in the Four Music Classics: "The sound of the piano is also the sound of the piano. Fu Xuan's Fu Zhengxu said, "This was made by Montaigne". Today, it looks like the sky on the top, flat on the bottom, hollow and quasi-six-in-one, and the string column is planned for December. If it is set, it will have four images and the drum will have five sounds. It is a tool of kindness and wisdom. How could Meng Tian, the minister of national subjugation, think of it? There is also a note saying: "Today, I am happy to have ten strings, and I hope that there will be three strings in ten. To roll the A Zheng, wet the end with bamboo pieces and roll it up. The bone claws used to play the Zheng are more than an inch long and can replace fingers. "

The above two materials deserve our attention. Ying Shao was born in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century). His "five-string fitness" was recorded in the Book of Rites, but he didn't witness it. But what he saw was that "the two countries are harmonious and cool, and the Zheng is shaped like a harp", but he did not mention whether there are differences in the shape of the Zheng in other regions. Du You, a man from the late Tang Dynasty and the ninth century, explained in detail the shape of Zheng at that time, which also met the standard of orthodox ritual vessels. Of course, Du You also questioned the legend of "Meng Tianzao Zheng".

Is this Zheng made in Montaigne? In recent years, some people think that Meng Tian is an all-rounder, and it is entirely possible for him to build A Zheng. However, according to the date, it is impossible for Meng Tian to establish A Zheng. Meng Tian's grandfather Meng Ao died in 240 BC (the seventh year of the reign of the King of Qin). At this time, Montaigne was only a young man in his twenties. Even if Meng Tian, a young man, had the talent to make guzheng, it seemed impossible to make it popular in Qin State in just a few years and become a court musical instrument of Qin State at that time. Some people even say that Zheng was built by Meng Tian when he was building the Great Wall. This statement is even more impossible. Because Meng Tian built the Great Wall in the 26th year of the Qin Dynasty (22 BC1year), it was at least sixteen years later than Li Sicheng's "Order to Drive Away"! It is also said that Meng Tian made a "pen", and the ancient traditional "pen" is similar to "Zheng". This is wrong because of the recording error.

According to Shao's "Custom Pass", the zither is "five strings, integrated". However, the literature of the past dynasties is vague about what style "architecture" is. 1973, a Han Dynasty ritual vessel was unearthed in Mawangdui No.3 Han Tomb in Changsha. This building is called an funerary ware because it was painted with black paint, but it was carved from a piece of wood. Solid, not conducive to * * *, if used to play, you can't get enough volume. In addition, the length of the instrument is about 34 cm, which is obviously too short for playing. According to Tongdian, the length of buildings in the Tang Dynasty is four feet three inches. Although there are differences in the evolution of architecture from Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, the differences are not so great. These reasons are enough to prove that it is an open vessel, just like a small vessel with a handle. The first nail on the surface of the building is a row of five bamboo nails, which is consistent with the record in Custom Pass. The style of this funerary wares is the same as that of musical instruments, which seems to show that musical instruments, musical instruments and Zheng are very similar.

If the styles of musical instruments, architecture and Zheng are really the same, then we can only draw the conclusion that the difference between musical instruments and musical instruments lies in the number of strings other than timbre, that is, musical instruments are divided into 25 strings and 50 strings, while the Zheng in Tang Dynasty only has 12 strings and 13 strings, and the architecture at that time also developed into 12 strings and 13 strings. So what's the difference between a musical instrument and a Zheng? "Tongya" means under the Zheng that "the bone claw used to step on the Zheng is more than one inch long, which is called"; In Annotating the Building, I quoted Ming Shi as saying: "The building is also based on bamboo drums". From this point of view, the main difference is that the Zheng is just a plucked instrument. Of course, the buildings under "Tongya" are still marked with "details like the same", and this "detail" has become the main reason why Zheng's architecture is different. It turns out that the first trial of the building is to hold the neck with the left hand and play with it with the right hand, so the "fine item" in the Tang Dynasty is more than four feet long, which is obviously impossible to hold. This exquisite article seems to have retained the old system. "Tongya" is also recorded under the item "Zheng": "The Zheng is rolled with bamboo pieces and played with bone claws. Long inch, to refer to ". This note is to show that CHOU and Zheng are the same object, and the difference in name is only one for playing and the other for playing.

Of course, some people think that China's Zheng originated in foreign countries. In the History of Oriental Music, Japan's Uexiong Tanabe put forward the view that the Zheng was introduced to Qin from the west at the end of the Warring States Period. Qian Lin San, another Japanese scholar, thinks that Tanabe's argument is not sufficient.

As can be seen from the above discussion, Zheng's initial trial form is still unclear, whether it is to build an image or an image. Therefore, the origin of Zheng is still a mystery, and we need to continue to explore. Obviously, the search for the origin of Zheng Can cannot be based on documents, so it seems that we must turn to new archaeological discoveries.

In a word, the Zheng probably comes from a simple musical instrument made of five or less big bamboo tubes. S when in the Spring and Autumn Warring States or before the Spring and Autumn Warring States, it is impossible to be in the Qin Dynasty after Qin Shihuang unified China. The relationship between Zheng, Zhu and Se is neither divided into Zheng nor evolved from Zhu to Zheng, but it is likely that Zheng and Zhu are of the same origin, and Zheng and Se coexist. The five-stringed bamboo zither evolved into a twelve-stringed wooden zither, and the tubular structure evolved into a long box structure, which may be based on the structure of the zither.