Guqin music, characterized by its distinct acoustic structure and cultural symbolism, offers a significant framework for examining culturally specific musical emotions. This research examined the relationship between acoustic features (tempo, pitch, rhythm) of Guqin music and the affective responses of 230 music students, introducing an integrated Biocultural-BRECVEMA model to elucidate these interactions. A 10-cluster emotion instrument, adapted from the Hevner Adjective Checklist (RHAC), was developed and validated for this purpose. While initial analyses showed individual associations, severe multicollinearity among acoustic features (VIF > 50) emerged as a critical finding. Consequently, linear mixed-effects models (LMEM) were employed, revealing slower tempi as the most robust predictor of increased calmness (β = -0.077, p = .003). This research highlights multicollinearity not as a mere statistical problem but as an integral feature of Guqin’s expressive structure. The proposed integrated model and the validated RHAC represent valuable new tools for future cross-cultural music-emotion research.