Historic Sitemap

(Obsolete as of February 2019)

Community

Blog and Projects - Blogs and personal projects devoted to the guzheng and guqin from enthusiasts and experts around the world.
Experts - Bios of some of the experts whose work have made this project possible.
Ensembles - A map of community and professional groups around North America.
Forum - a link to the guzheng forum run by Carol Chang.
Performers - brief blurbs on guzheng performers with a public presence in the United States.
Retailers - a map of retailers in North America.
Special Thanks (May 2018) - Recognition for the many people who have contributed to make this project possible.
Teachers (August 2018) - a map of teachers in North America with active websites.

Buying Used Guzheng (February 2019) - How to price used guzheng, what issues to look for.
Care and Maintenance (July 2018) - basic rundown on how to take care of and clean your guzheng.
Cost of Ownership (August 2018) - estimates for costs you'll pay buying, learning, and maintaining a guzheng.
Digitizing Scores - a guide for how you can use free tools to make digital copies of old sheet music, and get better-quality results then just photo-copying them.
Finger Techniques - a first attempt at recording the many, many ways a string can be struck or a pitch changed.
Tuning Guzheng (May 2018) - bridge placement and intended pitch for the common keys on 16, 18, 21, and 23-stringed guzheng.
Tuning 16, 18, 23, and 26-String Guzheng - Split off from Tuning Guzheng, December 2018.
Tuning Butterfly and Multitonic Guzheng (January 2019) - Guzheng Tuning guide for Butterfly and Multitonic instruments.
Key Changes (May 2018) - an explanation of common keys in guzheng music and instructions on how to change between them.
Shipping Guzheng (November 2018) - Guide to preparing your guzheng for the mail and costs to expect.

Guzheng in 90 Seconds - a fast look at facts about the instrument
The Guzheng Story - a long form description of the the instrument and its place in history.
Timelines - a plot of the major events in the history of the guzheng with pictures of the people who accomplished them.

Guzheng Varieties - photographs and discussions of different types of guzheng. Discusses older instruments and newer innovations.
Other Zithers - photographs and discussions of other long zithers in Asia that are often confused for guzheng.

How It’s Made - A general explanation of how guzheng are built. This does not contain enough information to build your own.
Import Issues, CITES - A discussion of import issues and wood species protected status that guzheng owners should be aware of. Separated from Wood Selection in December 2018.
Wood Drying - An explanation of how and why the wood used to produce guzheng is dried.
Wood Selection - Information about the different types of woods used to make guzheng, their common names, and their Latin names.

Cypher Notation (September 2018) - an introduction to 简谱(Jiǎnpǔ), cypher notation.
Examples - a few examples of guzheng music.
Repertoire (Expanded October 2018) - a list of song titles you might encounter, their rough translations, and their difficulty.
Sheet Music Sources (December 2018) - how to go about finding sheet music.
Virtual Instruments (February 2019) - a quick list of kontakt libraries / virtual guzheng instruments.

Nail Materials (December 2018) - a quick run down on the different materials one can find when looking for nails.
Nail Material Identification (December 2018) - Nondestructive tests to distinguish between man made guzheng nails and turtle shell guzheng nails.
Nail Shapes (November 2018) - an introduction to the different shapes and sizes of guzheng nails and how to pick between them.
Parts and Terms - Lists and diagrams of the names of all the different parts of the guzheng.
Strings (May 2018) - A discussion of different string materials used throughout history and tables of string diameter from wire and nylon instruments.

Product reviews for guidance when purchasing tuners, finger tape, etc.

Guzheng Alive - a summary of how and why this site came to be.
Contact - How you can get in touch.
Change Log- Summary of changes over time. Started December 2018.
Project Reach (September 2018) - a way to share the scope of this project.
Research Tools - a listing of tools and techniques that I have found necessary and useful. Most are free.
Sitemap - (December 2018) This page.

Bibliography - A listing of all sources I have cited so far.
Descriptions - Brief summaries of the works I reference the most. Also a discussion of Copyright and Fair Use.
Further Reading - Sources I have not read that may be of interest to visitors.
Glossary (November 2018) - list of guzheng-related terms and names.
List of Figures - List of the sources for all imagery and diagrams that I did not produce myself.
Minor Mentions - A catalog of how non-academic sources describe the guzheng. The sever lack of accessible information is what led me to create this site.