If you're in the market for a new pipa, ruan or liuqin, you may want to stop by the workshop of Yuen Shi-chun. As reported in this AP article, Yuen, a principal musician in the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, is obsessed with finding the perfect sound. Dissatisfied with the tone of today's traditional Chinese instruments, he traveled to Osaka, Japan to examine the world's only surviving Tang-Dynasty-era ruansand pipas, which were purchased for the Japanese emperor 1,200 years ago. When asked about the state of music today, Yuen gives the curmudgeonly response of the true purist: "The younger generation grew up on TV, electric pianos and guitars and pop songs that have very fake sounds. They've lost the ability to appreciate real music."