instrument used in Movie hero

I recently watched Hero, and am curious about the instrament the old
man was playing in the first scene between jet li and snow. It was the
scene were they were fighting in the chess court and the camera kept
switching to the image of the water driping in the cups. At one point
jet li paid the old man to keep playing the instrument.

     If anyone could tell me the name of the instrument or type of
music that was i'd apreciate it i'd like to hear more of that