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Chinese History and Culture

Producing one of the most beautiful and haunting sounds in Chinese music, the erhu is one of the most popular Chinese bowed-string instruments.

The two-stringed, vertical fiddle -- China's answer to the western violin -- has a history of more than 1,000 years. It became popular in southern China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when it was called nanhu . Capable of producing music with a flexibility approaching that of the human voice, the erhu is extremely popular in China today as a medium for both traditional and contemporary music and plays an important role in both solo and orchestral performances.

Hailed as a Chinese violin, the erhu is quite different from a western fiddle. There is a vertical post with a fingerboard crosses the sides of a resonator at its base. This resonator is covered with a piece of stretched

History of Dizi (Bamboo Flute)

Dizi, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, became popular as early as the Warring States Period (475-221BC). It first appeared in Hemudu Clan (in present-day Hubei Province) 7,000 years ago. This transverse bamboo flute has a blowing hole, a stop hole and six finger holes. The two holes furthest from the player and fundamental tone holes and next to them are two auxiliary tone holes. Its range is two and a half octaves. During the blossoming of the art of opera in the late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, Dizi was adopted as an accompanying instrument for various kinds of stage dramas. There are two basic kinds of Dizi -- Bangdi, which was the
Last Updated on Thursday, 28 August 2008 12:12
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The History of Guqin

Guqin is also called the seven-stringed Qin. The body is a long and narrow sound box made of wood. Generally speaking, it is 130cm long, 20cm wide and 5cm thick. The surface is generally made of paulownia wood or China fir, and has seven strings stretched along it. On the edges are 13 inlaid jade markers. Catalpa wood is used for the base, and there are two holes, one big and one small (called the "phoenix pool" and "dragon pond", respectively) to emit the sound. The fingering techniques are known as recital, rubbing, plucking, concentration, floating notes and harmonious notes (same measure, five measure and octave). The instrument is rich in tone color, with airy, floating notes, and simple and solid scattered notes. Guqin is a representative instrument of traditional Chinese musical culture. Because it embodied
Last Updated on Thursday, 28 August 2008 12:08
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Konghou

Konghou, also called Kanhou, is an ancient plucked stringed instrument in China. There are mainly three kinds of Konghou: one is played lying flat, one is played upright and another one is the phoenix-headed Konghou.
As early as the Spring and Autumn (770-476BC) and Warring States (475-221BC) period, there appeared the rudiment of Konghou played lying flat in the Chu Kingdom in southern China.
Konghou was originally used in Yayue (court music), and was used in Qingshangyue (a music genre) in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). It was used in Yanyue (music played in court banquets) in the Sui Dynasty (581-618), and gradually prevailed among the ordinary people and in places inhabited by ethnic minorities.