Ruan (instrument)

The instrument can be played using a plectrum similar to a guitar pick (formerly made of animal horn, but today often plastic), or using a set of two or five acrylic nails that are affixed to the fingers with adhesive tape.

Mainstream ruan players use plectrums, though there are some schools which teach the fingernail technique, similar to that of the pipa.

Plectrums produce a louder and more clear tone, while fingernails allow the performance of polyphonic solo music.

The name of "pipa" is associated with "tantiao" (彈挑), a right hand techniques of playing a plucked string instrument.

During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian (武則天) (about 684–704 AD), a copper instrument that looked like the Qin pipa was discovered in an ancient tomb in Sichuan (四川).

It was believed that it was the instrument which the Eastern Jin (東晉) musician Ruan Xian (阮咸) loved to play.

[7] Ruan Xian was a scholar in the Three Kingdoms Eastern Jin (三國東晉) dynasty period (3rd century).

He and six other scholars disliked the corrupt government, so they gathered in a bamboo grove in Shanyang (山陽, now in Henan [河南] province).

[9] The famed Tang poet Bai Juyi (白居易) once penned a poem about the ruan, entitled "Having a Little Drink and Listening to the Ruanxian with the Deputy Minister of Linghu" 《和令狐仆射小饮听阮咸》 (He Linghu Puye Xiao Yin Ting Ruanxian): 《和令狐仆射小饮听阮咸》 Having a Little Drink and Listening to the Ruanxian with the Deputy Minister of Linghu (He Linghu Puye Xiao Yin Ting Ruanxian) 作者：白居易（唐） by Bai Juyi (Tang dynasty, 772–846) A small pipa was found in murals of tombs in Liaoning (遼寧) province in northeastern China.

The date of these tombs is about late Eastern Han (東漢) or Wei (魏) period (220–265 AD).

[10] During the Han period (206 BC-220 AD), Lady Wang Zhaojun (王昭君, known as one of the Four Beauties [四大美人] in ancient China) departed mainland to the west and married the Grand Khan of the Huns.

This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult.

This work finally established the zhongruan as an instrument capable of playing solo with the Chinese orchestra.

A ruan as seen from the front
A ruan as seen from the front
A bass daruan (大阮) or contrabass diyinruan (低音阮)
Long-necked lute, which could possibly be a zhongruan (中阮, lit. "medium ruan"), except it has only two courses of strings instead of four individual strings, and no large soundholes. Another possibility is a southern yueqin .
Depiction of Ruan Xian playing a Ruan (figure on right) found in an Eastern Jin or Southern dynasties tomb near Nanjing, dated around 400 AD.
This is a part of the Dunhuang fresco. Two pipa players are shown at the left-hand corner.
Bowed ruan
An ancient ruan