appealing aspects of qin music, since much other music concerned with entertainment, social bonding or academic issues, the music of the qin offers a breath of fresh air, concerning with the individual and his/her connection with nature and surroundings. Of course, there is no reason why one cannot submit to a realist and/or idealistic view of the purpose of the qin music. It all depends on the player's preference of what s/he wants out of qin music. There is much comment in qin texts decrying "vulgar" music, but this really only means that there was much of it around. And it is interesting to hear people decry "popular and fast tunes" and then find out their favorite qin melody is Flowing Water. By focusing only on what the scholars have idealized, people can miss a lot of the reality and beauty of pure music. Some people (particularly the younger generation) find qin music difficult to appreciate upon first listening. The reason for this may be because they rate it against music that they only heard in their life, namely modern or popular music. Because qin music is very simple and plain (minimalist, some might say), they may find it boring when compared to the fast beat and sound saturated songs of the modern era. This can lead to a misunderstanding of the true nature of qin music and its aesthetic purposes. Perhaps some people's perceptions of qin music can be summed up in a quote: On the other hand, musicians and music lovers can easily appreciate qin music because they can hear music objectively and have a better understanding of music in an ethnomusicological context. There has also been a move to a more Western approach to qin music. A handful of professional players prefer to look at the qin from a purely realist and scientific approach, treating the qin as a purely musical instrument, rather than a cultural phenomenon. This is due to some traditionalists treating the instrument as an 'other-worldly' object than a 'this-worldly' one. This move to a much more technical approach signifies a progression in qin study and appreciation; holding on to too much old values tends to impede the transmission of qin. An example would be composition. Although around 60-odd new compositions have been composed for the qin since the 1960s, all in all, no one plays them. The reason is that many believe these