Chinese Music

Dynastic Era

Chinese music became increasingly relevant to Chinese culture during the Qin Dynasty, which lasted from 221 to 7 BCE. Emperor Han Wu Di expanded the traditional forms of court music and military music to encompass folk music. The first extant Chinese song is called Youlan or, in English, “Solitary Orchid,” and was written as an homage to Confucius. The social rank of the musician in ancient China was the lowest of the artists. At the same time, music was seen as a bringer of peace and longevity to the Empire.

Traditional Chinese instruments are mostly stringed instruments that are plucked or bowed. Accompanying rhythm is provided by many styles of drums as well as gongs. Like Western instruments, ancient China also had reed, brass, and bamboo instruments.

Republic of China

In the 1920s, the New Culture Movement in China sparked a cultural interest in Western Music. Many Chinese musicians began to study Western classical music abroad. Symphonic orchestras were created in most major Chinese cities and Western-influenced music began to become popular on the radio. During the 1930s, jazz found Chinese soil and performers like Lu Wencheng and Li Jinhui composed a fusion of traditional Chinese music and jazz by incorporating xylophones and violins. The early 1940s were marked by social unrest in China. In order to gain support from the widely illiterate peoples, the Communist party began spreading propaganda through folk songs like “The East is Red” and “Yellow River Canata.”

People’s Republic of China to Current

The Maoist implementation of the Cultural Revolution denounced Chinese popular music and saw any pop music as a corruption. According to the Communists, the only appropriate music was the Revolutionary songs and other forms of “revolutionary music” that strictly supported party politics. Up until 1989, when the Tiananmen Square protests happened, revolutionary music was the dominant form. Protesters began a fast tempo music called Northwest Wind, which was started in order to undermine government policy, and eventually evolved into Chinese rock music. Since the government controls all the media outlets, Chinese rock has been kept underground and has not reached a mainstream audience in China. There are, however, two major annual music festivals held in China that have received worldwide recognition; the Midi Modern Music Festival in Beijing and the Snow Mountain Music Festival (the “Chinese Woodstock”) in the Yunnan province.