Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories known as (). The eight categories are

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earli ...

and

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other cuticle, animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have diffe ...

; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these groups. The grouping of instruments in material categories in China is one of the first musical groupings ever devised.

Silk (
絲 Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), cocoons. The be ...
)

Silk () instruments are mostly

stringed instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

(including those that are plucked, bowed, and struck). Since ancient times, the Chinese have used twisted silk for strings, though today metal or nylon are more frequently used. Instruments in the silk category include:

Plucked

Bowed

Paintings on north wall of Xu Xianxiu Tomb

Struck

Combined

* () – a combination of the , , and with 50 or more steel strings. * () - strucked and bowed zither from Shandong, China.

Bamboo ( 竹)

Bamboo () mainly refers to woodwind instruments, which includes;

Flutes

Free reed pipes

Single reed pipes

Double reed pipes

Wood (
木 Radical 75 or radical tree () meaning "tree" is one of the 34 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 4 stroke (CJK character), strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 1,369 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this ...
)

Most wood () instruments are percussion instruments of the ancient variety:

Percussion instruments

Stone

The stone () category comprises various forms of stone chimes.

Metal ( 金)

Clay ( 土)

Gourd ( 匏)

Hide-skin ( 革)

Others

Ethnic instruments

Playing contexts

Chinese instruments are either played solo, collectively in large orchestras (as in the former imperial court) or in smaller ensembles (in teahouses or public gatherings). Normally, there is no conductor in traditional Chinese music, nor any use of musical scores or tablature in performance. Music was generally learned aurally and memorized by the musician(s) beforehand, then played without aid. As of the 20th century, musical scores have become more common, as has the use of conductors in larger orchestral-type ensembles.

Musical instruments in use in the 1800s

These watercolour illustrations, made in China in the 1800s, show several types of musical instruments being played: Playing a dizi.jpg, Woman playing a dizi. Playing a jinghu.jpg, Woman playing a jinghu. Playing a luo.jpg, Woman playing a luo. Playing a pipa.jpg, Woman playing a pipa. Playing a sanxian.jpg, Woman playing a sanxian. Playing a shimianluo.jpg, Woman playing a yunluo. Playing a small drum.jpg, Woman playing a xiaoluo. Playing a wind instrument with a curved bell.jpg, Woman playing a haotou. Playing a xiao.jpg, Woman playing a xiao. Playing a zheng.jpg, Woman playing what looks like a yangqin or some sort of psaltery-like instrument.

References

;Notes ;Sources *Lee, Yuan-Yuan and Shen, Sinyan. ''Chinese Musical Instruments (Chinese Music Monograph Series)''. 1999. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. *Shen, Sinyan. ''Chinese Music in the 20th Century (Chinese Music Monograph Series)''. 2001. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. *Yuan, Bingchang, and Jizeng Mao (1986). ''Zhongguo Shao Shu Min Zu Yue Qi Zhi''. Beijing: Xin Shi Jie Chu Ban She/Xin Hua Shu Dian Beijing Fa Xing Suo Fa Xing. .

External links

Chinese musical instruments
Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong
Chime
A look at ancient Chinese instruments
Chinese musical instruments
(Chinese)
Chinese Instruments Website
(English)
The Musical Instruments E-bookWorld of Instrumental MusicChinese InstrumentChinese Musical Instruments
(The Modern Appearance) *https://www.britannica.com/art/qin-musical-instrument {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Chinese Musical Instruments

Traditional Chinese music ''Guoyue'' ( 國樂; literally "national music"; also ''minyue'' (民乐), ''huayue'' (華樂) or ''zhongyue'' (中樂)), nowadays refers to the music composed for Chinese musical instruments, which is an extension of the Chinese traditional ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Silk (絲 Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), cocoons. The be ...)