Embodiment Relationship Of Chinese Guqin Technique

From the perspective of Don Ihde’s phenomenology of technique, embodiment relationship is the most common type of relationships between human and technology. This relationship shows the interaction between human and technology. On the one hand, human enhance self-perception through the utilization of technology; On the other hand, while using technology, human are constrained by technology. Such interaction is similar with the relationship between human and musical instruments. Although the sound world constructed through musical instruments is not like the physical world, such technique still fulfills the function of enhancing or decreasing human’s self-perception.Chinese Guqin is one of the representatives of ancient Chinese musical instruments. Playing the Guqin obviously reveals the embodiment relationship. This kind of embodiment relationship is decided by the following two aspects:the characteristics of the sound world which is constructed by imitating the physical world; the characteristics of transparency reflected in the process of the design and manufacturing of Guqin, and the transparency reflected in the harmony between man and Guqin in the performance in which the player loses himself in the sound world.This kind of embodiment relationship is similar to the embodiment relationship proposed by Don Ihde. But there is still some difference. According to the embodiment relationship of Don Ihde, as the medium that changes and transforms human perception from the perspective of the subject’s natural sense practical, the technology cannot work without human’s perception. By contrast, there are two kinds of different embodiment relationships between human and Guqin which show multiplestability. One relationship manifests in "Qi", which enhances people’s perception; the other manifests in "Tao", which expands people’s transcendental spirit. The latter one account for "QinTao" in Chinese Guqin.