But, through history, the arrow has also symbolized war, power, swiftness, the rays of the sun, knowledge... as well as deities such as the Greek god Apollo and goddess Artemis (both hunters), the Hindu weather god, Rudra; and various gods of sexual attraction: Eros (Greek), Cupid (Roman), Kama (Hindu)....
The sanxian is most popular in the north. Ruan ()- commonly referred to as Chinese guitar, is an ancient four-stringed moon-shaped lute with long and straight neck and various number of frets, dated back at least to Qin Daynasty (around 200 BC). Ruan is used to be called p'i-p'a (pipa) or qin-pipa.
Traditional Chinese music instrument. The pipa is a four stringed lute (or Chinese guitar) with a pear-shaped body. Its short, bent neck has 30 frets which extend onto the soundboard, offering a wide range (3.5 octavos).This instrument appears in texts dating up to the second century B.C.owadays, the pipa is more and more used in contemporary compositions for ensemble, orchestra, and various combinations with both Chinese and western instruments, including works for pipa and orchestra (pipa concertos). (more about the history of pipa). A brief demonstration about the pipa playing techniques.