CONTEMPORARY CHINA AND CHINESE

CULTURE
Reading 1

Traditional Chinese Music

Traditional Chinese music can be traced back 7,000 - 8,000 years based on
the discovery of a bone flute made in the Neolithic Age.
Over time, musical instruments have diversified, and most can be divided into
four categories: plucked string instruments, percussion instruments, bowed
instruments, and wind instruments. Among them, guqin (plucked seven-string
musical instrument of the zither family), pipa or Chinese lute (four-stringed
Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of
instruments), erhu (two-stringed bowed musical instrument) and flute are the
most famous ones. Most of Chinese classical music pieces feature these four
traditional instruments.
The top ten pieces of Chinese classical music are High Mountains and
Flowing Water, Guangling Melody, Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank,
Plum Blossom Melodies, Ambush from All Sides, Flutes and Drums at
Dusk, Dialogue between the Fisherman and the Woodcutter, Eighteen Songs
of a Nomad Flute, Autumn Moon over Han Palace and White Snow in Early
Spring.
According to expert research, most of the original music of these pieces has
been lost, and the existing ones are composed by posterities under famous
titles or allusions for a more powerful influence. Nonetheless, these classical
pieces are extremely valuable, and one can embrace the Chinese culture and
history by listening to or studying them.

Source：http://www.chinaculture.org/classics/2010-11/22/content_399845.htm

Music are from the album Famous music of China By Han Tinggui & Li
Tingsong.