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GuZheng

Image: GuZheng
  The guzheng, also spelled gu zheng or gu-zheng (Chinese: 古箏; pinyin: gǔzhēng) or zheng (箏) (gu-, 古 means "ancient") is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither family of string instruments.
The guzheng is the parent instrument of the Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The parent instrument of the guzheng is the se.

The guzheng should not to be confused with the guqin (another ancient Chinese zither but without bridges).

The modern-day guzheng is a plucked, half-tube zither with movable bridges and 21 strings, although it can have anywhere from 15 to 25 strings (a customized version exists with more than 44 strings ). The guzheng's strings were formerly made of twisted silk, though by the 20th century most players used metal strings (generally steel for the high strings and copper-wound steel for the bass strings). Since the mid-20th century most performers use steel strings flatwound with nylon.

Twelve Girls Band is a contemporary Chinese instrumental group that features the guzheng as well as other traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa. They perform traditional Chinese music as well as Western popular and classical music.
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