Dutch Sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-1967) was a scholar well versed in oriental culture and fascinated with the Chinese guqin (the Seven-stringed zither which Gulik translated into the Chinese lute),thus he was the author of one book titled The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay in the Ideology of the Ch'in. This paper takes this book as the subject of examination, and analyzes issues such as the book's connotations, van Gulik's concept of guqin studies, and his writing strategy. The Lore of the Chinese Lute is the earliest English writing that focuses on the study of a single Chinese musical instrument in early Twentieth Century. Although there are polarized views on its evaluation, it is still historically meaningful and important in the discourse of Chinese music research. This paper will be presented in four sections. First, I will discuss van Gulik's contact and study of guqin, second, the contents of The Lore of the Chinese Lute and its assessment in China and abroad. Third, I will analyze van Gulik's concept of guqin studies through his work. Finally, I will examine van Gulik's writing strategy in the context of the book's creation, how van Gulik fulfilled his imagination of the traditional Chinese literati, and furthermore, how van Gulik understood and studied Chinese guqin music and culture through the life of a diplomat in foreign lands.