Liuqin - small plucked lute with four strings

Guzheng - plucked zither with movable bridges

Pengling – a pair of small bells

The instrumentation is not fixed, and so may vary according to the musicians who are available for a particular performance. Usually only one of each instrument is used, and an ensemble can range from as few as two to as many as ten or more musicians, with the erhu, dizi or xiao, pipa, and yangqin being the core instruments.

By Xie Fang