For them, real luxury lies in the enlightened way of life associated with guqin, rather than its monetary value.

"Ancient Chinese life was 70 percent spiritual," says Pei.

He cites Ji Kang (AD 224-263), a great thinker, musician and man of letters, who wrote "An Ode to Qin." The guqin used to be called qin.

"More than 1,700 years ago, Ji Kang perfectly described an enlightened spiritual life represented by the guqin," Pei says. Ji called the qin the "most virtuous instrument."

"The Chinese art of life beyond food and drink was much richer and earlier than that in the West," Pei explains. "And it was not just guqin. We had everything from guqin to calligraphy to furniture to flower arrangement."

"We never thought of it as luxury. It was our way of being," he says. "But playing and appreciating guqin is certainly a luxury way of life for the modern man."

In Pei's view, in the old way of life, people would always help each other, a good family would always prosper, and money was never worshipped.

Five years ago, one of Pei's students asked to buy one of his guqin. "She wanted the best I had ever made (since the 1980s)," Pei recalls. "I sold it to her for only 10,000 yuan. Now I tell her: ‘If you no longer need it, sell it back to me for 300,000 yuan, and I'll immediately sell it for 600,000 yuan'."

Indeed, long before Wang Peng made his fame and fortune, Pei was already one of China's two best guqin makers, but Pei has always kept a low profile. Some of his guqin were so superior that they were once auctioned as Ming Dynasty instruments.

Yang Qing, a renowned painter and guqin performer in Suzhou, compares Pei's guqin to high-quality raw, aged Pu'er tea — the longer you play them, the better they are. She also belongs to the Wu Family of Guqin.

Her traditional landscapes are so famous that she has been urged to go on commercial tours, but she declines. For her, a quiet moment to herself is the ultimate luxury.

"At work or in public, you're hopelessly exposed to noises, but at home, ensure your mind is pure," she said when we visited her home last week.

My wife and a friend wanted to learn from Yang how to sing while playing the guqin — that's another skill.

Unlike many guqin teachers who require payment and purchase of their expensive guqin, Yang was generous in teaching us the basics of singing as we played, during our first visit. She treated us as old friends.

The real luxury of guqin, as Ji wrote 1,700 years ago, is that even if you're poor and lonely, you'll find comfort in its celestial music.