Large and small ruan (round lutes)

With China’s economic reforms and the general rise in the standard of living, China’s music industry has experienced vigorous growth, and the level of cultural refinement has reached new heights. Over the last 50 years, China’s composers, performers, and instrument makers have carried out a campaign to reform traditional Chinese musical instruments, imbuing them with new luster and appeal. A case in point is the ruan (round lute), a plucked string instrument with a history going back over 2000 years. Today, newly de-veloped versions of this instrument include the large and small ruan, the bass ruan, and the soprano ruan,as well as the double resonating ruan, the electric ruan, the bowed ruan, and the six-string and eight-string ruan. The ruan now has its own section in traditional Chinese orchestras, greatly improving the expressive capability of the music. Another example is the Zheng (zither), which has a history spanning at least 2000 to 3000 years. Among the new types of Zheng developed since the 1950s are 18-string, 19-string, 21-string, 2 5-string, and 26-string versions, as well as various types of tunable Zheng. The Shanghai Musical Instrument Factory manufactures a series of Zheng ranging from soprano to bass that are used in large tra-ditional Chinese orchestras.

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