Qing (musical stone) was a kind of stone/jade percussion instrument in ancient China. It was not only a kind of musical instrument, but also the symbol of power and status. Commonly, Qing was composed of varied stones/jades with different tones.

A girl is playing Qing, the Warring States Period (475-221BC)

Historical records show that Qing originated from stone tools used in daily life by Chinese ancestors. During their laboring, they found that these tools could produce pleasant sounds and therefore used them as musical instruments for entertainment.

Archeological findings show that Qing came into being in the Xia Dynasty (over 4,300 years ago) and by the Zhou Dynasty (11^th century BC-256BC), a set of Qing, pending from a rack and each with a different tone, emerged and these Qing series were a native Chinese invention (the whole rack is called Bianqing).