Benlei: A Song-Dynasty Guqin

The Benlei qin is a guqin of the Zhongni style from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279). It is currently housed in the Palace Museum (the Forbidden City) in Beijing. The instrument measures 126.6 cm in total length, 20 cm in shoulder width, 15.6 cm in tail width, and 5.2 cm in thickness. 

It features a rectangular soundhole (dragon pool) and a square soundhole (phoenix pond), shell inlays for the thirteen position markers, buffalo-horn pegs, and fittings made of red sandalwood at the head and tail. Above the dragon pool on the back of the instrument, the two characters Benlei are carved in seal script. One particularly unusual feature is that this qin has no "phoenix tongue" (a small wooden piece inside the soundhole)—a rare detail that sets it apart from most other qins.

In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic period, a Tianjin collector named Song Jinghan acquired this qin. He inscribed two poems beside the dragon pool to express his joy at obtaining it and his deep bond with the instrument. In 1983, Song Jinghan's descendants donated the Benlei qin to the Palace Museum, where it has remained in the collection ever since.