The Qinshi 琴史 (History of the Qin) by Zhu Changwen 朱長文 (1041–1098)

The Qinshi (History of the Qin), written by the Song scholar Zhu Changwen (1041–1098), may justly be considered as the earliest diachronic collection of biographies of persons closely related to the qin zither. The work comprises altogether six chapters, five of which are devoted to qin players, their life stories and the qin pieces they have composed, and the sixth chapter provides a more systematic approach to various aspects of the qin, such as the construction of the instrument, the techniques of playing and the aesthetics related to it.

This is the first translation of the Qinshi into a Western language, and it is richly annotated and introduced by the author who is an accomplished qin player himself.