page_title: Chinese musical notation
section_title: Guqin notations
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese musical notation / Guqin notations
caption_attribution_description: English: "Elegant Orchid" in the Jieshi Tuning (Jieshidiao Youlan) (碣石調幽蘭, kessekichōyūran) vol. 5
context_page_description: Systems of musical notation have been in use in China for over two thousand years. Different systems have been used to record music for bells and for the Guqin stringed instrument. More recently a system of numbered notes has been used, with resemblances to Western notations.
context_section_description: The earliest music notation discovered is a Guqin music named Jieshi Diao Youlan (Chinese: 碣石調·幽蘭) during the 6th or 7th century. The notation is named “Wenzi Pu,” which means “written notation”.  
  The tablature of the guqin is unique and complex. The older form is composed of written words describing how to play a melody step-by-step using the plain language of the time, i.e. descriptive notation (Classical Chinese). The early pieces of music are all written by words to explicitly explain the fingerings. Later on, to simplify the method of recording, “Jianzi Pu,” which means “abbreviated character” notation is invented in the late Tang dynasty by Cao Rou (曹柔), a famous Guqin player.   
  This newer form of guqin notation is composed of bits of Chinese characters put together to indicate the method of play is called prescriptive notation. Rhythm is only vaguely indicated in terms of phrasing. It is used to record fingering actions and string orders, without recording the pitch and tempo, thus make the piece look simpler and give more flexibility to the Guqin Player.
  Tablatures for the qin are collected in what is called qinpu.
caption: The Tang manuscript, Jieshidiao Youlan (碣石調·幽蘭)
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