During my fellowship period at the IIAS, I will revise my doctoral thesis into a book-length publication focusing on the modern performance practice of the Chinese seven-stringed zither qin (or guqin) and its connection to the issues of musical change and intangible heritage. The proposed book project will address the lacuna in English language scholarship on the subject of the qin, and it will also offer an alternative approach to the concept of musical change (which is often viewed as the mere reflection of social/cultural changes), by looking at how different material aspects of this practice (such as the instrument itself and its notation) can reveal the changing sensory receptions of modern-day players, who are often unaware of this change themselves. Understanding the relationship between musical change and the human senses is vital for further contextualisation of the ways in which the cultural practice of the ancient Chinese elite has been transformed into the intangible cultural heritage of the present-day China, and has also been reconfigured to move from the scholarly chamber to the world stage. My book will not only make a valuable contribution to the study of the relationship between musical change and sensory changes in musical perception, it will also serve as an alternative approach for the study of musical aesthetics and identity (re)formation (with special focus on the material culture of music). This project shall problematise the dichotomy of “tangible” and “intangible” and provide a close examination of their relationship.