Ancient Legacy. Five volumes. Ming Jingbao color illustrated book. Collection of the National Library of Taipei

There are 5 volumes and 111 pages of complete edition, 22 pieces of electronic version, 120 yuan for the copy of the thread-bound book

Volume 1, \”Ren\”, describes the method of building the zither and the momentum of holding and stringing the zither.
Volume 2, \”Yi\”, describes the various ancient zither styles, such as fuxi, jiao-wei, ling-ji, ling-qi, lian-zhu, etc.
Volume 3, \”Rites\”, contains the gestures for playing the qin, such as the \”Shen Feng Shu\” gesture, the \”Cicada Crossing the Branches\” gesture, and the \”Wind Sending Light Clouds\” gesture.
Volume 4, \”Wisdom\”, is the treatise on the qin, such as the fugue on playing the qin, the treatise on the qin material, the treatise on the body of the qin, the seven essentials of playing the qin, the nine virtues, and the four vapors.
Volume 5, \”Letter\”, is a general description of the qin score, including fingerings, handwriting and character scores.

Since ancient times, \”qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting\” have been the means and methods used by literati to cultivate their bodies and nourish their temperament in order to achieve the unity of heaven and man. Among these four arts, the Guqin has the longest history. According to legend, Fuxi and Shennong already \”cut tung trees to make zither and strings to make strings\”, while Shun made a five-stringed zither to sing \”South Wind\”, which shows the long history of the Guqin in Chinese history.

Tian Zhi Weng, a native of the Southern Song Dynasty, was the author of 《Tai Gu Legacy of Music. Yuan Junzhe, a Ming dynasty native, wrote a commentary on the 《Taigu Legacy of Yin》, which can be found in 《Ming Shi‧Yiwen Zhi》 and 《Guo Shi Jingwu Zhi》, but the rest of his life is not known.