zhong ruan

The ruan (Chinese: 阮; pinyin: ruǎn) is a traditional Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its four strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel (flatwound for the lower strings).

The Zhongruan 中阮 is also known as the moon guitar that appears much later in Chinese history compared to other Chinese traditional instruments. It is fitted with four strings and frets with a wooden soundboard.

Notated in either bass or alto clef, with 24 frets, the zhong ruan's range spans 3.5 octaves. It is popular both as a solo and ensemble instrument, providing the mid range in ensembles.

The ruan comes in multiple sizes but the most popular of which is the zhongruan (medium/middle ruan) and daruan (large ruan). The zhongruan is typically tuned to G-D-G-D and the daruan to D-A-D-A. The zhongruan and daruan are typically used in the orchestra to fill in the lower sound sections of the orchestra.

张思安Djang San (inventor of the electric zhongruan)

The Ruan is a lute with four strings, a fretted neck, 23 frets and is similar to the Pipa. The Ruan existed about 2000 years ago in the Western Jin Dynasty. It produces a sound just like the Pipa.

The zhonghu (Chinese: 中胡; pinyin: zhōnghú), short for zhongyin erhu (Chinese: 中音二胡; pinyin: zhōngyīn èrhú; lit. 'alto erhu') is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. Together with the erhu and gaohu, it is a member of the huqin family.

In ancient China, the ruan was called Qin pipa (Qin [Dynasty] pipa, 秦琵琶) or Ruan xian (阮咸). Now the ruan has expanded to different sizes and the zhongruan is the "medium" one.

The standard tuning for Zhongruan is G2, D3, G3, D4. The Liuqin shares the same standard tuning as the Zhongruan, but one octave higher, so it's G3, D4, G4, D5. The standard tuning for Pipa is the most different amongst the three instruments, it's A2, D3, E3 and A3 .

张思安Djang San (inventor of the electric zhongruan)

Ruan - Chinese Plucked String Instrument Once one of China's most ancient but extinct plucked string instruments, the Chinese ruan (moon guitar) as we know of today was developed for the modern Chinese orchestra in the 1970s. This occurred as a result of a deficiency in lower registers among plucked string instruments.

The strings are plucked by either the fingers or a small plectrum. The instrument's characteristic sound is produced when a metal plate that is hung inside the body vibrates against it when the instrument is played.