Guqin, also called the Seven-Stringed Qin, is a traditional Chinese musical instrument with a history of over 3000 years and has been chosen by China for the joint issue stamp. The plucked instrument belonging to the zither family creates delightful harmonics, and symbolizes the essence of Chinese traditional music. It was so revered in ancient China that it was given the name of "Ancestor of Chinese Music".
The guqin in the stamp is called the Da Sheng Yi Yin Qin; it was produced in the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618–907) and is now kept in the Beijing Palace Museum. With its sonorous and ancient tones, exquisite designs, the ornate lacquer of primitive simplicity and its elaborate and vivid engravings, it is a perfect treasure among the guqins bequeathed to China. The background of the stamp shows the Guqintai monument, located near the Guishan Mountain of Wuhan City. The monument was built in commemoration of the story of Encountering a Bosom Friend through Music. The walls of the monument are inlayed with the lifelike relief of the story of Boya Breaking his Guqin as a Farewell to His Bosom Friend Ziqi, the only person who could understand his music. The music title "High mountains and Running Waters" was used to symbolize the friendship and "One who could understand the music" became a substitution for the phrase "bosom friend". In 2003, the guqin was included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. And the music – High Mountains and Running Waters – selected as one of the representatives of the world culture, has been taken to remote outer space by the Universe Exploration Satellite to seek out the distant bosom friends of human beings. The text in the background of the stamp is a verse by Song Xiang (1748–1826), a poet of the Qing Dynasty.
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