According to the historical texts, there was an instrument named “Santur” which was very popular in the ancient Middle East like Persia before the Middle Ages. With friendly exchanges between West Asia and China by sea, “Santur” was introduced firstly into Guangdong area during the Ming Dynasty (1368~1644) and then everywhere. Later, Chinese folk artists did some reform work and made Santur” into today’s Yangqin. In the late Qing Dynasty, yangqin was joined in some local operas as accompany instrument, such as Yue opera(粤剧), Chao Opera,Min opera, Yue opera (越剧) and Hu opera.

During yangqin’s four hundred years in China, the creators of Chinese musical instruments have made many new types of yangqin, suh as Electro acoustical, yangqin with both high pitch and low pitch. When playing the trapezoidal yangqin, players will hold lightweight bamboo beaters (also known as hammers) with rubber tips in both hands and strike strings. The famous yangqin music are Lisao, Suwumuyang and Linchongyeben.