The chinese Rua
 

has anyone seen/played one of these ? it seems to be played like a blues guitar.

The Ruan, yes I own two sizes and have palyed it in a local Chinese Orchestra. Fun to play but the large ones are a bit cumbersome due to their size.

The ruan comes in a family of five sizes:
soprano: gaoyinruan (高音阮, lit. "high pitched ruan"; tuning: G3-D4-G4-D5)
alto: xiaoruan (小阮, lit. "small ruan"; tuning: D3-A3-D4-A4)
tenor: zhongruan (中阮, lit. "medium ruan"; tuning: G2-D3-G3-D4)
bass: daruan (大阮, lit. "large ruan"; tuning: D2-A2-D3-A3)
contrabass: diyinruan (低音阮, lit. "low pitched ruan"; tuning: G1-D2-G2-D3)

The ruan is now most commonly used in Chinese opera and the Chinese orchestra, frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers never touch the actual body—distinctively different from western fretted instruments. This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult.