author of Qin Cao. Cai Wenji: Cai Yong's daughter, associated with the piece Hujia Shiba-pai, etc. Sima Xiangru: Han poet, 179-117 BCE. Zhuge Liang (181–234): Chinese military leader in the Three Kingdoms, one legend has him playing guqin calmly outside his fort while scaring off the enemy attackers. Ji Kang: One of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, musician and poet, writer of Qin Fu. Li Bai: Tang poet, 701–762. Bai Juyi: Tang poet, 772–846. Song Huizong: Song emperor famous for his patronage of the arts, had a Wanqin Tang ("10,000 Qin Hall") in his palace. Guo Chuwang: Patriot at the end of the Song dynasty, composer of the piece Xiaoxiang Shuiyun. The classical collections such as Qin Shi, Qinshi Bu and Qinshi Xu include biographies of hundreds more players. Contemporary Contemporary qin players extend from the early twentieth century to the present. More so than in the past, such players tend to have many different pursuits and occupations other than qin playing. There are only a few players who are paid to exclusively play and research the guqin professionally and nothing else. Qin players can also be well-versed in other cultural pursuits, such as the arts. Or they can do independent research on music subjects. Often, players may play other instruments (not necessary Chinese) and give recitals or talks. Performance During the performance of qin, musicians may use a variety of techniques to reach the full expressing potential of the instrument. There are many special tablatures that had developed over the centuries specifically dedicated to qin for their reference and a repertoire of popular and ancient tunes for their choice. Playing technique The tones of qin can be categorized as three characteristic "sounds". The first type is san yin (散音), which literally means "unfettered sound". It's the fundamental frequency produced by plucking a free string with the fingers of the right hand. The second type, made by plucking a string with the right hand and gently tapping specific note positions on the string with the left hand, will create a crisp sound named fan yin (泛音, lit. "floating sound") or overtone harmonics (the equivalent technique in Western music is the string harmonic or flageolet). Important scale notes, called hui (徽), are marked by 13 glossy white dots made of mica or seashell inset in the front surface of the qin, occur at integer divisions of the string length.