The Ruan (阮) traditional Chinese plucked string musical instrument. It is very similar to a pipa, being a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings., but it has a round circle, rather than pear, shaped base.
In classical Chinese from Han to Tang, pipa referred to any plucked-string instrument. It is believed that ruan may have been descended from an instrument called xiantao (弦鼗) which was constructed by labourers on the Great Wall of China during the late Qin dynasty (hence the name Qin pipa) using strings stretched over a pellet drum. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian (about 684–704 AD), a copper instrument that looked like the Qin pipa was discovered in an ancient tomb in Sichuan. Since Ruan Xian was an expert and famous in playing an instrument that looked like the Qin pipa, the instrument was named after him as ruanxian (阮咸) when the copper Qin pipa was found. Today it is shortened to ruan.
