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The ''liuqin'' (Chinese: , p ''liǔqín'') is a four-stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. It is small in size, almost a miniature copy of another Chinese plucked musical instrument, the ''pipa''. The range of its voice is much higher than the ''pipa'', and it has its own special place in Chinese music, whether in orchestral music or in solo pieces. This has been the result of a modernization in its usage in recent years, leading to a gradual elevation in status of the ''liuqin'' from an accompaniment instrument in folk Chinese opera, to an instrument well-appreciated for its unique tonal and acoustic qualities. The position of the instrument is lower than the pipa, being held diagonally like the Chinese ruan and yueqin. Like the ruan and unlike the pipa its strings are elevated by a bridge and the soundboard has two prominent soundholes. Finally, the instrument is played with a pick with similar technique to both ruan and yueqin, whereas the pipa is played with the fingers. Therefore, the liuqin is most commonly played and doubled by those with ruan and yueqin experience. Historically, the ''liuqin'' was commonly made of willow wood (柳 ''liǔ'' literally meaning "willow"), while the professionals used versions constructed with a higher-quality red sandalwood or rosewood. In contemporary versions, however, the front board is made of ''tong'' wood (桐木) and for the reverse side, of red sandalwood, as comparable to historical types. ==History== The ''liuqin'' has gone by various names, firstly the ''liuyeqin'' (柳葉琴), meaning willow-leaf-shaped instrument. This was the original term for the ''liuqin'', which is visibly an abbreviation of the term ''liuyeqin''. The other reference to the ''liuqin'' is the ''tu pipa'' (土琵琶), literally meaning unrefined ''pipa'', because of the aforementioned diminutive size and resemblance of the ''liuqin'' to the ''pipa''. Throughout its history, the ''liuqin'' came in variations ranging from two (which only had a range of one and a half octaves) to four strings. However, the earliest precursor of the modern four-stringed version of the instrument appeared and experienced popularity during the Qing Dynasty . This version had two strings, and was only used for accompaniment purposes in traditional operas, as mentioned before. The two-stringed ''liuqin'' remained in use for much of dynastic China from the Qing Dynasty until the late 20th century. With the modernization of traditional Chinese music in the 1970s, the four-stringed ''liuqin'' was developed as an improvement to its musical range, and the body of the instrument was enlarged to allow the player to handle the instrument with greater ease. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Liuqin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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