Ancient Chinese Musical Instruments

One can easily recognize ancient Chinese music by their distinct tunes. This is regarded as one of the oldest forms of traditional music. Many instruments still in use is proof of the commitment in the people to safe-guard their tradition and culture. Some of these instruments have since been modified. Musical instruments are classified as wind, string or percussion instruments. The material they are made of includes bamboo, clay, metal or wood.

Amongst the first instruments made was ‘flute’. ‘Dizi’ is a variety in the flute category made out of bamboo which is still used to generate traditional music. Some stories claim that this musical instrument was conceptualized by the Yellow Emperor, while others believe that it was imported when the Hun dynasty ruled China.

‘Qin’ is another variety which was associated with many renowned scholars and the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. It is since used during rituals and regarded as symbol denoting high culture.

‘Pipa’ was an instrument which generated melodies in olden times. While this came in to use under Qin rule, it flourished in Tang dynasty.

‘Ruan’ is believed to have been made almost 2000 years back by the 7 sages of ‘Bamboo Grove’. The newer version has a slightly different structure.

‘Zhu’ was a percussion instrument which is non existent now. People believe that sound was generated by either plucking or by bouncing a stick on the string.

‘Muyu’ or wooden fish has legends linked to it. This is usually used by monks’ during rituals.

‘Yumluo’ is a musical instrument with gongs. The ancient version is believed to have had 5 gongs while the modern version has almost 29 gongs.