Here's a picture of Yang Cheng Fu in "play the pipa" position. Pipa is pronounced (pee, with an upward rising tone and paw, another upward rising tone)
This Chinese woman is playing a pipa. You can see by her hand position why they named the moved after it.
Sometimes the taiji(pinion spelling) position is called "play the lute". A lute is an English Renaissance instrument that is similar to a pipa.
