Entertainment Juncture of Two Castes: The identity and representation of Guqin and Guzheng

Abstract

Similar physical features of two traditional Chinese musical instruments, Guqin and Guzheng, have mistakenly led the general public to discern them as complementary duos. Contrary to this belief, both instruments have different historical backgrounds and purposes. Therefore, this research is conducted to (i) identify the identity of the two instruments and (ii) signify the representations of each instrument. This qualitative research adapted the descriptive comparative research design and used individualizing as an analysis method. In conclusion, despite the similarities in shape and playing techniques, these two instruments depict different messages, leading to other representations and purposes.
 Keywords: Guqin, Guzheng, Musical Identity, Musical Representation
 eISSN: 2398-4287© 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
 DOI