the tones of a regular stringed instrument. Such was, in short, the origin of our first musical instruments, the kin and the ché, which were both invented by the same person and at the same time, and both give the peculiar sound of silk.[1]
The construction of the instrument kin affords matter for an interesting study. It is made of toung-wood. The upper part is rounded, to represent the sky; the lower part is flat, and represents the earth. The abode of the dragon—that is, the upper part, from the bridge, eight inches down—represents the eight areas of the wind; and the nest of Foung-Hoang, or the same part at four inches in its height, represents the four seasons of the year. It is furnished with five cords, representing the five planets and the five elements. Its total length is seven feet and two inches, representing the universality of things. The inventor, by means of this instrument, first regulated his own heart and restrained his passions within just limits. He then labored to civilize men. He made them capable of obeying the laws; of doing acts worthy of reward; and of engaging in peaceful industry, by which they acquired the arts. Besides these five cords which give the five full tones, there are two others that give the half-tones and represent the sun and moon.
Concerning the construction of the ché, I will only mention that it had fifty and still has twenty-five cords; for I perceive that I am saying too much about the music of silk. It was, how-ever, proper to give a full account of the kin, for it represents the first application of this music.[2]
- ↑ The engravings accompanying this article are from photographs from an edition of the poem of the Emperor Kang-Hi, published at Shanghai. They show most evidently that the artist has depicted customs of a very remote antiquity. Men are employed only for operations that require strength, like the cultivation of the mulberry-tree, the collection of leaves, etc. The legends beneath the designs are free translations of the Chinese verses above them.
- ↑ The inventor of the kin and the ché was no other than the Emperor Fo-Hi, who reigned about two hundred years before Hoang-Ti. The invention of thread and of fire is attributed to him; and he taught men, who had previously eaten their meat raw, to cook it. The ché kept its fifty cords till the time of Hoang-Ti, when a young maiden played it before the emperor with such effect that he concluded that it was a dangerous instrument to hear, and too liable to excite the passions of the people. Instead of throwing himself at the feet of the siren, as a European monarch would have done, he in his wisdom decreed that the ché should in future have only twenty-five cords. Notwithstanding Hoang-Ti's edict, the number of cords has been varied several times. There have been sometimes twenty-seven, sometimes twenty-three, and sometimes only nineteen, but no one has ventured to go back to fifty; the changes having been instigated by considerations of the significance of numbers, to which the Chinese are much addicted. The ché has now twenty-five strings. Each string is held by a colored bridge. The first five are always blue; the next five red; the next yellow; the next white; and the last series black. The bridges are movable, and each one is adjusted according to considerations that we shall not enter into. There are four kinds of ché's, which are of different length, but of identical construction. They are played at court and in the Confucian temple. In the latter case four instruments
