The guzheng is ancestral to several other Asian zithers such as the Japanese koto,[1][2][3] the Korean gayageum and ajaeng,[2][3] Mongolian yatga,[3] the Vietnamese đàn tranh,[2][3] the Sundanese kacapi,[citation needed] and the Kazakhstan jetigen.

It has a light timbre, broad range, rich performance skills, and strong expressive power, and it has been deeply loved by many Chinese people throughout history.

An early guzheng-like instrument is said to have been invented by Meng Tian,[6] a general of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), largely influenced by the se.

[8] The guzheng was originally developed as a bamboo-tube zither as recorded in the Shuowen Jiezi, which was later replaced by larger curved wooden boards with movable bridges.

Other guzheng techniques include harmonics (Fanyin) where one plucks a string while tapping it at the same time, producing a note in a higher octave.

[15][16] Meanwhile, Shandong songs are "glamorous ... melodic lines often rise and fall dramatically ... Its music is characteristically light and refreshing.”[12] Slide descending notes are not used as often as Henan.

[13] Many pieces composed since the 1950s have used newer techniques and also mix elements from both northern and southern styles, ultimately creating a new modern school.

[12] Examples of modern songs include "Spring on Snowy Mountain" (Xue Shan Chun Xiao) by Fan Shang E, and "Fighting the Typhoon" (Zhan Tai Feng) by Wang Changyuan.

[12][15] In 2021, Chinese/Australian guzheng composer and player Mindy Meng Wang collaborated with Australian electronic musician Tim Shiel, releasing a single, "Hidden Qi 隐.气", in February,[18] followed by an EP, Nervous Energy 一 触即发, in March of that year.

[20] Notable 20th-century players and teachers include Wang Xunzhi (王巽之, 1899–1972), who popularized the Wulin zheng school based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang; Lou Shuhua, who rearranged a traditional guzheng piece and named it Yu Zhou Chang Wan; Liang Tsai-Ping (1911–2000), who edited the first guzheng manual (Nizheng Pu) in 1938; Cao Dongfu (1898–1970), from Henan; Gao Zicheng (born 1918) and Zhao Yuzhai (born 1924), both from Shandong; Su Wenxian (1907–1971); Guo Ying (born 1914) and Lin Maogen (born 1929), both from Chaozhou; the Hakka Luo Jiuxiang (1902–1978) and Cao Guifen and Cao Zheng (曹正, 1920–1998), both of whom trained in the Henan school.

Contemporary guzheng works have also been written by non-Chinese composers such as Halim El-Dabh, Kevin Austin, David Vayo, Simon Steen-Andersen, and Jon Foreman.

[citation needed] Zhang Yan (张燕, 1945–1996) played the guzheng, performing and recording with Asian American jazz bandleader Jon Jang.

Other musicians playing in non-traditional styles include Wu Fei, Xu Fengxia, Randy Raine-Reusch, Mohamed Faizal b. Mohamed Salim, Mei Han, Bei Bei He, Zi Lan Liao, Levi Chen, Andreas Vollenweider, Jaron Lanier, Mike Hovancsek, Chih-Lin Chou, Liu Le, David Sait.

Also, Koto player Brett Larner developed innovative works for the guzheng and played the instrument in a duet with electronic musician Samm Bennett on his CD Itadakimasu.

[citation needed] In the television drama series My Fair Princess, actress Ruby Lin's character Xia Ziwei plays the guzheng (although she mimes to the music).

[citation needed] In the film Kung Fu Hustle, the assassins known as The Harpists play a long zither to generate bladed and percussive attacks.

[21] The guzheng has been used in rock music by Chinese performer Wang Yong of Cui Jian, the English musician Jakko Jakszyk (on the 2011 Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins album A Scarcity of Miracles), J.B. Brubaker of August Burns Red on "Creative Captivity" from the 2013 album Rescue & Restore, and the virtual band Gorillaz on "Hong Kong" (from the 2005 Help!

Jerusalem-based multi-instrumentalist Bradley Fish used the guzheng with a rock-influenced style and electronic effects on his 1996 collaboration "The Aquarium Conspiracy" (with Sugarcubes/Björk drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson), and is the most widely recorded artist of loops for the instrument.