long neck, use two strings, and have an improvisational and flexible intonation practice; some Southern yueqin have also acoustical metal coils inside the soundboard to amplify the instrument. Northern yueqin have a very short neck, and have bamboo in both the front and back, requiring the performer to hold the instrument away from their body. The northern instruments range from single to four stringed instruments. Regardless of the neck size or strings, all yueqin are tuned around the same treble pitch level. A common technique in performance is "snapping" the pick on the string (similar to Japanese shamisen.) Yueqin is the loudest member of the plucked lute family of Chinese instruments; one instrument can easily be heard over a full Chinese orchestra. Gallery See also Đàn nguyệt Music of China Music of Taiwan References External links Yueqin page Yueqin photos (second and third rows) (Japanese yueqin page) kokone.to Page of a Japanese builder and repairer of yueqins Video Yueqin video: Qing Shen Yi Chang (情深谊长), performed by Fang Jinlong from The Musical Instruments E-book Chinese musical instruments Necked lutes Peking opera es:Yueqin#top