Guqin in the context of "Bridge (instrument)"

Yayue (Chinese: 雅樂; lit. 'elegant music') was a form of classical music and dance performed at the royal court and temples in ancient China. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou. Together with law and rites, it formed the formal representation of aristocratic political power.

The word ya (雅) was used during the Zhou dynasty to refer to a form of song-texts used in court and collected in Shijing. The term yayue itself appeared in Confucius's Analects, where yayue was considered by Confucius to be the kind of music that is good and beneficial, in contrast to the popular music originated from the state of Zheng which he judged to be decadent and corrupting. Yayue is therefore regarded in the Confucian system as the proper form of music that is refined, improving, and essential for self-cultivation, and one that can symbolize good and stable governance. It means the kind of solemn ceremonial music used in court, as well as ritual music in temples including those used in Confucian rites. In a broader sense, yayue can also mean a form of Chinese music that is distinguishable from the popular form of music termed suyue (俗樂) or "uncultivated music", and can therefore also include music of the literati such as qin music.

Playing a string harmonic (a flageolet) is a string instrument technique that uses the nodes of natural harmonics of a musical string to isolate overtones. Playing string harmonics produces high pitched tones, often compared in timbre to a whistle or flute. Overtones can be isolated "by lightly touching the string with the finger instead of pressing it down" against the fingerboard (without stopping). For some instruments this is a fundamental technique, such as the Chinese guqin, where it is known as fan yin (泛音, lit. "floating sound"), and the Vietnamese đàn bầu.