YANG-CH'IN

Pinyin Yangqin, Chinese dulcimer in which tone is produced by striking the strings with bamboo beaters covered with rubber or leather. The vibration of the strings is transmitted to a trapezoidal wooden soundboard by bridges, over which the strings are stretched. The yang-ch'in has four or five bridges with sets of strings on each bridge pitched whole steps apart and neighbouring sets of strings on adjacent bridges pitched a fifth apart, thus allowing a chromatic scale to be played in all keys. The range of this instrument covers one octave below middle C and two and a half octaves above it. The yang-ch'in was introduced to East Asia from the West about 1800 and is now an important feature in Chinese orchestras and ballad-singing accompaniments.