The guzheng or "gu zheng", also called zheng (箏) is a Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 plucked zither

Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...

. It has 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges.

The guzheng is the ancestor of several Asian zither instruments, such as the Japanese koto

Koto (musical instrument)

The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...

, the Mongolian yatga

Yatga

The yatga is a traditional Mongolian plucked zither, related to the Chinese guzheng.Yatga may vary widely in size, tuning, and number of bridges and strings; The body is a long wooden box, one end of which is angled downward. The performer plucks the strings with the fingernails of the right...

, the Korean gayageum

Gayageum

The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument, with 12 strings, although more recently variants have been constructed with 21 or other numbers of strings. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument...

, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The guzheng should not to be confused with the guqin

Guqin

The guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...

(another ancient Chinese zither but a fewer number of strings and without bridges).
There are many techniques used in the playing of the guzheng, including basic plucking actions (right or both hands) at the right portion and pressing actions at the left portion (by the left hand to produce pitch ornamentations and vibrato) as well as tremolo

Tremolo

Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...

 (right hand).