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In the Records of the Grand Historian《史記·封禪書》, a fretted zither plucked with a slender stick was attested as the form 空侯 (OC *kʰoːŋ ɡoː) during the reign of the Emperor Wu of Han . It is uncertain whether the name of the later instruments (angular harp and arched harp) bearing the (orthographically normalised) name 箜篌(kōnghóu) had inherited from the Han-era one. The name might have originated as transcription of a foreign term from the west.
(music, chiefly historical)a term used to refer to one of a number of different plucked string instruments (mostly harps) used in the music of ancient China
Usage notes
This instrument has been revived in modernized form in the 20th century.