Taigu zhengyin qinjing 太古正音琴經

Taigu zhengyin qinjing 太古正音琴經, also called Yangchuntang qinjing 陽春堂琴經, or Qinjing 琴經 for short, is a collection of tunes for the zither compiled during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Zhang Yougun 張右衮, courtesy name Xianyi 憲翼 or Daming 大命, from Fujian. He also wrote the collection Taigu zhengyin qinpu 太古正音琴譜, with a length of 4 juan.

Figures 1. Tablatures of the Taigu zhengyin qinjing 太古正音琴經

Tablature of the tune Xunfangyin 尋芳吟 (left), consisting of several parts (duan 段). On the right hand, an examination or warm-up sheet can be seen (diaoyin ru nong 調音入弄), to be played to the words de dao xian weng 得道仙翁.

The book of 14 juan length is divided according to types of musical instruments, namely the four categories "metal/bells" (ji 金), "sound-stones" (shi 石), "silk/string" (si 絲), and "bamboo/flutes" (zhu 竹), but the text only discusses issues related to the zither, like the origin of studies on the zither, formulas for finger techniques, symbols in tablatures, famous players and zither makers in history, grand melodies, and so on. The book ends with quotations on the zither from the book Gegu yaolun 格古要論, and some tunes from the play Langhuanji 琅嬛記. The book, printed in 1609 (or 1611), is famous for its many illustrations of famous zither players and charts of the musical instrument. The text includes 52 ancient tunes.