From Confucianist Meditative Tool to Maoist Revolutionary Weapon: The Seven-Stringed Zither (Qin) in the Cultural Revolution

n the existing literature on the Chinese seven-stringed zither qin, historical approaches often stop short of exploring post-1966 developments, while ethnographic approaches routinely elaborate findings from the 1980s onward. Consequently, the qin during China’s Cultural Revolution remains under-researched. In his 1982 history of the qin, Xu Jian (1923) only uses half a paragraph to describe what happened during this period, stating thus: Qin activities were very discontinuous in mainland China due to a group of older qin players tragically dying in this huge wave of opposition and even the few who were fortunately still alive at the end of this period were forced to give up their beloved instrument.