Uyghur Chang
The Uyghur chang is a trapezoid dulcimer with thirty-eight courses of strings played with a pair of beaters. It is chiefly used in Uyghur classical music ensembles in today’s Xinjiang in China.
The origins of the chang is unclear. We know that a similar instrument appeared in France and Germany in the early 15th century, and was first seen depicted in Iran in the late 15th century. Among the Uyghurs, it is known to have first appeared between the 17th and the 18th century. It is unclear from which direction it reached them. However, it could have been from a coastal region in China, from where a variant of the yangqin was introduced; or it could have been from Central Asia, as the Uzbeks also have a dulcimer called the chang. Today, it is almost exclusively used for performing the classical muqam repertoire.
The chang has a wooden body and two beaters made of bamboo. Each of its thirty-eight courses of metal strings consists of four strings.
