Pipa in the context of "Yulin Caves"

Lutes are stringed musical instruments that include a body and "a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body".

The lute family includes not only short-necked plucked lutes such as the lute, oud, pipa, guitar, citole, gittern, mandore, rubab, and gambus and long-necked plucked lutes such as banjo, tanbura, bağlama, bouzouki, veena, theorbo, archlute, pandura, sitar, tanbur, setar, but also bowed instruments such as the yaylı tambur, rebab, erhu, and the entire family of viols and violins.

Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum.

Most plucked string instruments belong to the lute family (such as guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, balalaika, sitar, pipa, etc.), which generally consist of a resonating body, and a neck; the strings run along the neck and can be stopped at different pitches.

The bipa (Korean: 비파; Hanja: 琵琶) is a pear-shaped lute that is a traditional Korean musical instrument. It is derived from Chinese pipa and was introduced through the Silk Road to Goguryeo and Silla. There are two major types of bipa: the four stringed dang-bipa (당비파 / 唐琵琶) and the five stringed hyang-bipa (향비파 / 鄕琵琶). While dang-bipa and hyang bipa was a Tang-style pipa first introduced from the Chinese Tang dynasty and localized over time to have Korean characteristics

The bipa was popular in court music until it fell out of use in the early 20th century during the Japanese Colonial period. In 1988–1989, there was the first attempt to revive the two bipa that was unsuccessful in commercialization. This revived bipa used the existing modern Chinese pipa as a basis but was modified to the Korean form, and followed Joseon style and Chinese style use of fake nails and Chinese techniques. It also reintroduced the two sound holes on the front characteristic of the two Korean bipa as well as the five strings characteristic of the hyang-bipa. The strings used are of twisted silk, rather than the metal-nylon used for the Chinese pipa. Following this recreation, there were many reinvented modern bipa.

The đàn tỳ bà or đàn tì bà (Vietnamese: [ɗàːn tì ɓàː], Chữ Nôm: 彈琵琶) is a Vietnamese traditional plucked string instrument derived from the Chinese pipa, That first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Vietnam sometime during the Trần dynasty.

It is made of wood, with a pear shape and four strings made of nylon (formerly twisted silk). The instrument is held in a near-vertical position when playing and its playing technique involves frequent bending of the tones with the fingers of the left hand. The strings are plucked with a small plectrum similar to a guitar's but larger. It was associated with the royal court and is still used in the ensemble that performs at the Imperial Palace at Huế.