The guzheng, Chinese forerunner of the Japanese koto and Korean kayagum, originated over 2300 years ago and is one of the oldest plucked instruments in China. Because of its melodic qualities, the Guzheng was extremely popular for both court and folk music. The sound box is made of paulownia wood; the strings, varying in number from thirteen to twenty-five, used to be made of silk, but are nowadays metal or nylon. They are tuned to a pentatonic scale with a range of more than four octaves.

The modern-day guzheng is a plucked, half-tube zither with movable bridges and 21 strings, although it can have anywhere from 15 to 25 strings (a customized version exists with more than 44 strings). The guzheng's strings were formerly made of twisted silk, though by the 20th century most players used metal strings (generally steel for the high strings and copper-wound steel for the bass strings). Since the mid-20th century most performers use steel strings flatwound with nylon.

The guzheng has a large resonant cavity made from wu tong wood (Firmiana platanifolia). The guzheng has existed since the Warring States Period and became especially popular during the Qin dynasty. The number of strings on the guzheng has always fluctuated, as we have as few as 6 to as many as 23 strings during the Tang dynasty. The earliest record of the guzheng in Shi Ji is attributed to the historian Sima Qian in 91 BC.

Until 1961, the common guzheng had 16 strings, although by the mid-20th century 18-string guzhengs were also in use. In 1961 Xu Zhengao together with Wang Xunzhi introduced the first 21-string guzheng after two years of research and development. In 1961, they also invented the "S-shaped" left string rest, which was quickly adopted by all guzheng makers and is still used today, whether in the shape of the letter "S", "C", etc. This curve allows for greater ease in tuning the strings and, combined with strings of varied thickness, allows for greater resonance in both the deeper and higher pitch ranges; this timbre was a result of simply adding more strings to the instrument, a problem encountered in the making of the "improved" gayageums of North Korea. The 21-string zheng is the most commonly used, but some traditional musicians still use the 16-string, especially along the southeastern coastal provinces of China and in Taiwan.

The guzheng is tuned to a pentatonic scale, the 16-string zheng is tuned to give three complete octaves, while the 21-string zheng has four complete octaves.

The music is very boring, I don't think Chinese music instrument have something to say.

Quoting from [mohamad-nazari]:


The music is very boring, I don't think Chinese music instrument have something to say.

i don't think you have enough right to judge chinese instrument . i think some of chinese instrument you never see and never heard . do not use so rude words to something even you don't know