Chinese stringed instrument of the dulcimer, or struck zither, family. The yangqin is played with bamboo beaters having rubber or leather heads. Its trapezoidal wooden body is strung with several courses (from 7 to 18 sets) of strings on four or five bridges. The sets of strings on each bridge are pitched whole steps apart and neighbouring sets of strings on adjacent bridges are pitched a fifth apart; this arrangement enables a musician to play a chromatic scale in all keys. The range of the yangqin covers one octave below middle C and two and a half octaves above it.
Learn more about yangqin with a free trial on Britannica.com.