Music of China

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Music of China
Timeline
General topics
Instruments Musicology Orchestra
Genres
C-pop: (Cantopop, Mandopop, Hokkien pop) Rock Heavy metal Hip hop Opera
Specific forms
Taoist music Yayue
Media and performance
Music festivals Midi Modern Music Festival Music media Radio stations China Record Corporation
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem Historical anthems Patriotic / Revolutionary March of the Volunteers Three Principles of the People
Regional music
Anhui Fujian Gansu Guangdong Guangxi Guizhou Hainan Hebei Heilongjiang Henan Hong Kong Hunan Hubei Inner Mongolia Jiangsu Jiangxi Jilin Liaoning Macau Northeast Qinghai Shandong Shaanxi Shanxi Sichuan Tibet Xinjiang Yunnan Zhejiang
v t e

The music of China consists of many distinct traditions, often specifically originating with one of the country's various ethnic groups. It is produced within and without the country, involving either people of Chinese origin, the use of traditional Chinese instruments, Chinese music theory, or the languages of China. It includes traditional classical forms and indigenous folk music, as well as recorded popular music and forms inspired by Western culture.

Documents and archaeological artifacts from early Chinese civilization show a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC) that set the tone for the continual development of Chinese musicology in following dynasties.^[1] These developed into a wide variety of forms through succeeding dynasties, producing the heritage that is part of the Chinese cultural landscape today. Traditional forms continued to evolve in the modern times, and over the course of the last centuries forms appropriated from the West have become widespread. Today's Chinese music is both rooted in history and part of a global culture.