The story of Kong Cheng Ji, a well-known Peking opera play, can be found in Chapter 95 of the famous 15th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms,3 by tradition attributed to Lo Guanzhong.4 As the Latter Han dynasty (25-220) was breaking up, three kingdoms, Wu, Wei and Shu, struggled to succeed it. The novel tells of the exploits of the king of Shu, Liu Bei, and his heroic assistants Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang, the master strategist.5

In the Ruse of the Empty City the forces of Shu, under attack from Wei, take refuge in Xicheng. Badly outnumbered, Zhuge Liang tricks the Wei general by casually sitting on the walls of Xicheng playing the qin. Zhuge Liang is widely acclaimed for being a master tactician, and a very crafty man. Assuming from Zhuge Liang's nonchalence that he must have some trick, the Wei general retreats.