CHINESE MUSIC

Chinese Music dates back to the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing
evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC – 256 BC). Today,
the music continues a rich traditional heritage in one aspect, while emerging into a more contemporary
form at the same time.

LEGEND

 The legendary founder of music in Chinese mythology was Ling Lun, who made bamboo pipes
tuned to the sounds of birds.

 He also created the first reed instrument, the bamboo pipe, sometime between 3000 and 2501
B.C. By 2500 B.C.

 In ancient China, music was seen as central to the harmony and longevity of the state. Almost
every emperor took folk songs seriously, sending officers to collect songs to inspect the popular
will. One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing, contained many folk songs dating from 800 BC to
about 300 BC.

 One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing (The Classic of Poetry), contained many folk songs
dating from 800 BC to about 400 BC.

 The first European to reach China with a musical instrument was Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci who
presented a Harpsichord to the Lee imperial court in 1601, and trained four eunuchs to play it

DRAGON DANCE

Dragon Dance

 The famous dragon dance with music is also a remembered tradition. It is seen on Chinese New
Year across the world by millions. It is not known when the tradition started, but it is believed to
be thousands of years ago, as entertainment of former emperors, royals and nobles.

The New Culture Movement of the 1910s and 1920s evoked a great deal of lasting interest in Western
music. A number of Chinese musicians returned from studying abroad to perform Western classical
music, composing work hits on Western musical notation system.

 Symphony orchestras were formed in most major cities and performed to a wide audience in
the concert halls and on radio. Many of the performers added jazz influences to traditional
music, adding xylophones, saxophones and violins, among other instruments.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA ERA
(1949–1990s)

 Musical forms considered superstitious or anti-revolutionary were repressed,

and harmonies and bass lines were added to traditional songs.

 One example is The East Is Red, a folksong from northern Shaanxi which was adapted into a
nationalist hymn. Of particular note is the composer, Xian Xinghai, who was active during this
period, and composed the Yellow River Cantata which is the most well-known of all of his works.

The East is Red

The east is red, the sun is rising.

China has brought forth a Mao Zedong.
He works for the people's welfare.
Hurrah, He is the people's great savior!
(Repeat last two lines)

Chairman Mao loves the people.

He is our guide
To build a new China.
Hurrah, he leads us forward!
(Repeat last two lines)

The Communist Party is like the sun.

Wherever it shines, it is bright.
Wherever there is a Communist Party,
Hurrah, there the people are liberated!
(Repeat last two lines)

YELLOW RIVER CANTATA

Yellow River Cantata is known by every Chinese. Composed by Xian Xinghai in 1940's, this
cantata praises the courage and fighting spirit of the country.

 Song of the Yellow River boatmen (Chorus)

 Ode to the Yellow River (male vocal solo)

 Yellow River ditty (chorus)

 Reponsorial Singing by Yellow River

 Lament to the Yellow River chorus (piano concerto)

 Song of the Yellow River boatmen

  Ode to the Yellow River

 Anger of the Yellow River

 Defend the Yellow River

XIAN XINGHAI

 Chinese people will always remember the name of one musician, Xian Xinghai, for works which
moved and inspired them to fight against the Japanese invaders of World War II. As 2005 marks
the 100th year since his birth, as well as the 60th anniversary of the culmination of World War II,
Chinese people hold various activities to commemorate this great Chinese musician.

Chinese Traditional Music

Traditional Instruments

 The Eight Sounds (八音)

 The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. There are
other instruments which may not fit these classifications.

 Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and

bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums.

 The scale is pentatonic. 

 Bamboo pipes and qin are among the oldest known musical instruments from China.

Categorised based on their material of composition:

 Silk

 Earth/clay

 Metal and stone

 Animal skins

 Gourd
  Bamboo

 Wood

Instruments

Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed strings, woodwinds, plucked

strings and percussion.

Instruments

 Woodwind and percussion

 dizi, sheng, paigu, gong, paixiao, guan, bells, cymbals

 Bowed strings

 erhu, zhonghu, dahu, banhu, jinghu, gaohu, gehu, yehu, cizhonghu, diyingehu, leiqin

 Plucked and struck strings

 guqin, sanxian, yangqin, guzheng, ruan, konghou, liuqin, pipa, zhu

Woodwind

The Sheng, also called the Chinese mouth organ, is one of the oldest Chinese instruments. The sheng
is the instrument that inspired the invention of the concertina, accordion and harmonica.

Percussion

The paigu ("row of drums") was developed and used in folk music, which came in small, medium and
large sizes. In the paigu, 5 or 6 tang gu of different sizes and pitches are arranged in a row of adjustable
metal stands.

Bowed

The gaohu (高胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument. Used in Cantonese music and Cantonese opera.
It belongs to the huqin family of instruments, together with the zhonghu, erhu, banhu, jinghu, and sihu,
its name means "high pitched huqin". It has two strings and its soundbox is covered on the front
(playing) end with snakeskin (from a python).
Plucked

The sanxian ( (絃?), literally "three strings") is a Chinese lute — a three-stringed fretless plucked musical
instrument. Its body is traditionally made from snakeskin stretched over a rounded rectangular
resonator.

Plucked and Strucked

The yueqin (Chinese: 月琴) and also called moon guitar, is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a
lute with a round, hollow wooden body which gives it the nickname moon guitar. It has a short fretted
neck and four strings tuned in courses of two (each pair of strings is tuned to a single pitch), generally
tuned to the interval of a perfect fifth.

According to legend, the instrument was invented in China during the Qin dynasty. It is an important
instrument in the Beijing opera orchestra, often taking the role of main melodic instrument in lieu of the
bowed string section.

Made of Stones

The "stone" category comprises various forms of stone chimes.

• Bianqing - a rack of stone tablets that are hung by ropes from a wooden frame and
struck using a mallet.

Music Timeline

Dynastic Times

China:

 Chinese opera

 is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as
the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which
the Beijing opera (Jingju) is one of the most notable.

 Yayue

 Yayue (Chinese: 雅樂, literally "elegant music" (雅=elegant, 樂=music), was originally a
form of Chinese classical music that was performed at imperial courts.

1900s
  Hong Kong:

 English popular and western classical music grew with British influence.

1910s

 Republic of China:

 The dynastic period ends. New China tries to find a national anthem.

1920s

 Republic of China:

 Shidaiqu started by Li Jinhui.

1930s

 Republic of China:

 Shidaiqu grew into C-pop.

 Taiwan:

 Japanese enka influence Taiwanese pop for Taiwanese aboriginals.

1940s

 People's Republic of China:

 The Communist Party of China (CPC) labeled C-pop as yellow music (pornography).

 CPC promote national music.

 Government control of music via censorship begins.

1950s

 People's Republic of China:

 Baak Doi leaves China.

 Hong Kong:

 C-pop becomes cantopop.

 Republic of China / Taiwan:

 C-pop becomes mandopop.

  Native Taiwanese pop phased out by Kuomintang in favor of mandopop.

1960s

 Hong Kong:

 English pop faded

 Cantopop grew with Roman Tam as the father of the new genre.

 Popularizing of Huangmei tone.

 Popularizing of Hong Kong musical tongue twister.

1970s

 ROC Taiwan:

 Teresa Teng expanded mandopop in Taiwan. Beats censorship in the mainland.

 People's Republic of China:

 Mao Zedong and CPC evolved patriotic music into revolutionary music.

1980s

 People's Republic of China:

 Tiananmen Square led to the popularizing of Northwest Wind.

 Northwest wind became prison song.

1990s

 People's Republic of China:

 Prison song became Chinese rock with Cui Jian as the father of the new genre.

 China imports gangtai culture.

 Hong Kong SAR:

 Karaoke culture begins.

 ROC Taiwan

 Taiwanese pop re-emergence.

2000s
 People's Republic of China:

 Punk rock begins in China.

 Hong Kong SAR and ROC Taiwan

 Chinese hip hop begins in Hong Kong and Taiwan.