Guqin is an about 1, 000-year-old instrument from the Tang dynasty. At first, guqin' s name is "qin". As many western instruments came into China, people added the "gu", meaning "the ancient". The history of guqin started from 3, 000 years ago in the Zhou dynasty. At first it had five strings（弦）, with two added later by the emperor of the Zhou dynasty.
In ancient times, guqin was considered as an important part of Chinese high culture. It was a matter that only noblemen（贵族） would be able to play it. It is no doubt the most important shown-up subject matter in Chinese culture.
Many stories and idioms（成语）came from Chinese guqin music. For example, the idiom "high mountains and flowing water", which is used to describe a pair of friends, is about the story of Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi. Their friendship was set up by the same understanding of guqin music.
Guqin has three types of sounds. They are Sanyin, Fanyin and Anyin. All these sounds are believed to have one thing in common：giving people a sense of peace. If you listen to them, you will be call and quiet.
The Chinese believe that guqin has included the sounds of the universe（宇宙）. When the Voyager 2 was launched into space, a record was taken. It included a piece of guqin music Flowing Streams played by a Chinese guqin master.
