Luqi Xinsheng Preface

The (edition of) Xu Shiqi's specialized collection of qin tablature Luqi Xingsheng included in the Ming dynasty book collection Yimen Guangdu is now in the Beijing Library. Yimen Guangdu was published in 1597 (but) the date when this book was actually edited is not clear. The book is divided into three folios. There is no preface or afterword, but there are interlineal comments by the editor of Yimen Guangdu, Zhou Lüjing (?⁴). Before the (three) folios is only printed a table of contents, a small image of Xu Shiqi and "a chart of the five finger names". Within the folios, the first one at front there is What Must Be Discussed about Fingering, In Discussing Qin What Must Be Known, and a Playing Qin Primer (consisting of a series of statements about qin play and explanations of fingering symbols). The rest is all tablature for qin melodies, 13 in all.

Xu Shiqi called himself "the person at the end of Nanshan" (Zhongnanshan or zhong Nanshan?).⁵ He was well-known for qin. His qin melodies all have lyrics; several perhaps originated with him, some were perhaps his own creation. During the period 1522-1620 there was a well-known qin master named Xu Nanshan, who should be another person. This (other) person was also a qin master who created lyrics and melodies, and one must distinguish them (?⁶).

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Luqi Xinsheng
Luqi, the name of a famous old qin, can also stand for the qin itself. Thus the title could also be considered to mean New Sounds for the Qin. See further.
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3. 查阜西 Zha Fuxi; 吳釗 Wu Zhao
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4. Interlineal comments
The preface here says it has Zhou Lüjing's 校訂的行款. In fact, the only 行款 interlineal comments I find are those at the beginning of each folio, which say, Written by Xu Shiqi of/who Zhongnanshan; revised by Zhou Lüjing and Wu Xuezhou.
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5. "徐是琪自乘是終南山的人"
The source of this statement is unclear. According to my reading the "的" suggests that this should be translated, "Xu Shiqi called himself the person who zhong (completed?) Nanshan. Note also that the image at front refers to him only as "南山". On the other hand, although this edition of the handbook consistently refers to Xu as "終南山徐時琪 Zhong Nanshan Xu Shiqi", the editing was evidently not done by Xu himself, and so there seems to be no actual basis for a claim that Xu called himself anything. For more on this see Xu Shiqi.
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6. The original text for the last two sentences is:
嘉、萬間有名琴家徐南山，當另是一人。此人也是辭、曲並作的琴家，不可不辧。
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.