1.
Music of China
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Music of China refers to the music of the Chinese people, which may be the music of the Han Chinese as well as other ethnic minorities within mainland China. It also includes music produced by people of Chinese origin in some territories outside mainland China using traditional Chinese instruments or in the Chinese language and it covers a highly diverse range of music from the traditional to the modern. These further developed into forms of music through succeeding dynasties. Chinese music continues to evolve in the times, and more contemporary forms have also emerged. A twelve-tone musical system was created based on the pitches of the pipes, and the first of these pipes produced the yellow bell pitch. Archaeological evidence indicates that music culture developed in China from an early period. During the Zhou Dynasty, a system of court and ceremonial music later termed yayue was established. The word dance similarly also refers to music, and every dance would have have a piece of associated with it. The most important set of music of the period was the Six-dynasty Music Dance performed in rituals in the royal court, correct music according to Zhou concept would involve instruments correlating to the five elements of nature and would bring harmony to nature. Around or before the 7th century BC, a system of pitch generation, Chinese philosophers took varying approaches to music. Some popular forms of music, however, were considered corrupting in the Confucian view, mozi on the other hand condemned music, and argued in Against Music that music is an extravagance and indulgence that serves no useful purpose and may be harmful. According to Mencius, a powerful ruler once asked him whether it was if he preferred popular music to the classics. The answer was that it mattered that the ruler loved his subjects. In ancient China the social status of musicians was much lower than that of painters, though music was seen as central to the harmony, almost every emperor took folk songs seriously, sending officers to collect songs to record the popular culture. One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing 詩經, contained many folk songs dating from 800 BC to about 400 BC, in subsequent dynasties, the development of Chinese music was strongly influenced by the musical traditions of Central Asia. The oldest extant written Chinese music is Youlan or the Solitary Orchid, composed during the 6th or 7th century, but has also been attributed to Confucius. The first major well-documented flowering of Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang Dynasty, through succeeding dynasties over thousands of years, Chinese musicians developed a large assortment of different instruments and playing styles. A wide variety of instruments, such as guzheng and dizi are indigenous, although many popular traditional musical instruments were introduced from Central Asia, such as the erhu
2.
Timeline of Chinese music
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This is a timeline that show the development of Chinese music by genre and region. It covers the historic China as well as the areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong. System of formal music yayue established, decline of yayue by the end of the Spring and Autumn period, increased popularity of new music from Wey and Zheng states. Establishment of the Music Bureau to collect folk music, the Drum and Pipes Bureau responsible for ceremonial music. Influence from Centra Asian, Persian and Indian music, oldest surviving notated music in China - Youlan. Revival of yayue due to the revival of Neo-Confucianism Increasing popularity of Chinese opera such as nanxi opera, the artform of Ci poetry which is meant to be sung reached its zenith in the Song Dynasty. Beginning of New Music in late the 19th century under influence of Western music, Hong Kong, Popular English and western classical music grew with British influence. Republic of China, The dynastic period ends, New China tries to find a national anthem. Beginning of active development of New Music in New Culture Movement, Republic of China, Shidaiqu started by Li Jinhui, which forms the basis of all Chinese pop music genres such as C-pop, mandopop and cantopop. Republic of China, Heyday of Shidaiqu in Shanghai which lasted until the 1940s, Taiwan, Japanese enka influence Hokkien pop for Taiwanese people. Peoples Republic of China, The Communist Party of China labeled pop music as yellow music, government control of music via censorship begins. Peoples Republic of China, Baak Doi leaves China in 1952, mao Zedong and CPC evolved patriotic music into revolutionary music. Hong Kong, Continuation of Shidaiqu in Hong Kong, Republic of China / Taiwan, Development of Taiwanese mandopop. Native Hokkien pop phased out by Kuomintang in favor of mandopop, popularity English pop around mid-1960s but beginning to fade by the late 1960s. Beginning of cantopop in the late 1960s with Roman Tam as the father of the new genre, popularizing of Hong Kong musical tongue twister. ROC Taiwan, Teresa Teng expanded mandopop in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Increasing popularity of cantopop. Peoples Republic of China, Tiananmen Square led to the popularizing of Northwest Wind, China begins the importation of gangtai music. Peoples Republic of China, Prison song became Chinese rock with Cui Jian as the father of the new genre, Hong Kong SAR, Karaoke culture begins
3.
Chinese musicology
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Chinese musicology is the academic study of traditional Chinese music. This discipline has a long history. The concept of music yue stands among the oldest categories of Chinese thought, however, the first musical scales were derived from the harmonic series. On the Guqin all of the positions are equal string length divisions related to the open string like 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4. The Guqin has a scale of 13 positions all representing a natural harmonic position related to the open string, the 12 lü approximate the frequencies known in the West as A, B-flat, through to G and A-flat. Most Chinese music uses a scale, with the intervals almost the same as those of the major pentatonic scale. The notes of this scale are called gōng 宫, shāng 商, jué 角, zhǐ 徵, by starting from a different point of this sequence, a scale with a different interval sequence is created, similar to the construction of modes in modern Western music. The effect of changing the point of a song can be rather like the effect of shifting from a major to a minor key in Western music. The scalar tunings of Pythagoras, based on 2,3 ratios, are a western near-parallel to the calculations used to derive Chinese scales. 一种体系 两个系统 Yi zhong ti-xi, liang ge xi-tong
4.
Chinese orchestra
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The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. The orchestra is divided into four sections - wind, plucked strings, bow strings, and percussion, and usually performs modernized traditional music called guoyue. The orchestra may be referred to as Minzu Yuetuan or Minzu Yuedui in mainland China, Zhongyuetuan in Hong Kong, Huayuetuan in South East Asia, or Guoyuetuan in Taiwan, all meaning Chinese orchestra. The term may also be used to describe ancient Chinese orchestras that existed since the Shang Dynasty and was used at royal court, archaeological findings suggest that ancient China has a highly developed and sophisticated music culture. Music was an important element in traditional ritualistic ceremonies during the Shang Dynasty, the ancient form of the orchestra was used to play a form of ceremonial music known as yayue. It featured an abundance of percussion instruments. There were also several wind instruments, but only a few string instruments were used. All the bowed string instruments and most of the string instruments first came to China from Central Asia after the Han dynasty. The Six Dynasties era following the collapse of Han Dynasty saw the first wave of influence from Central Asia. The Tang period was an important epoch in the evolution of Chinese music. The Tang imperial court also had an outdoor band of nearly 1,200 performers. Chinese music then continued to evolve during the Song dynasty with major development in yayue, traditional Chinese musical instruments were classified into eight groups according to their materials, gourd, earthenware, hide, wood, stone, bronze, silk and bamboo. It is said there were more than 70 different musical instruments. The modern large Chinese orchestra is a 20th-century development and is based on the Western symphony orchestra and it also emulates the Western orchestra in terms of the seating position of its musicians and composition techniques. The music produced by the Chinese orchestra however is unique and very distinct from any Western counterpart, in the early 20th century a number of Chinese musicians became interested in improving traditional Chinese music. While some such as Xiao Youmei, Yuen Ren Chao and He Luting promoted Western music, others defended traditional Chinese, Zheng experimented with increasing the number of player in a Jiangnan sizhu ensemble to 35, and separated the instruments into different sections. He also updated traditional instruments such as the sheng by increasing the number of pipes to increase its range and allow it to play harmony and chords. In the past each player may embellish their parts at will, one early signature tune of the music club was Spring Flowers on Moonlit River, arranged for the ensemble by Liu Raozhang in 1925 based on an older tune for pipa
5.
Chinese Musicians' Association
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The Chinese Musicians Association is Chinas largest and most important musical organization. It was established in July 1949 and currently has 8000 members, according to its website, the associations responsibilities include contact, coordination, and service. The association promotes new musical composition, organizes music competitions, provides rewards and commendations for prominent musical contributions, the CMA publishes several professional periodicals and publishes audio and video recordings. The CMA maintains nine specialized committees and a number of academic societies. The CMA is a member of the International Music Council
6.
C-pop
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C-pop is an abbreviation for Chinese popular music, a loosely defined musical genre by artists originating from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Others come from countries where the Chinese language is used by a number of the population, such as Singapore. There are currently three main subgenres within C-pop, Cantopop, Mandopop and Hokkien pop, the gap between cantopop and mandopop has been narrowing in the new millennium. Hokkien pop, initially influenced by Japanese enka, has been re-integrating into C-pop. However, the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1970 had significant impact on the country’s economy, therefore, popular music in China is very different from that in western countries due to different political structures and cultural and social values. The term shidaiqu is used to all contemporary music sung in Mandarin and other Chinese dialects recorded in China From 1920 to 1952. Shanghai was the hub of the Chinese popular music recording industry. Buck Clayton is credited with bringing American jazz influence to China, a number of privately run radio stations from the late 1920s to the 1950s played C-pop. Around 1927, Li Jinhui composed The Drizzle sung by his daughter Li Minghui, and it fuses jazz and Chinese folk music - the tune is in the style of a traditional pentatonic folk melody, but the instrumentation is similar to that of an American jazz orchestra. Around the time of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and the Chinese Civil War, after the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II C-pop has been marketed, produced and branded regionally. The Communist Party of China established the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, one of its first actions was to label the genre Yellow Music. The Shanghai pop music industry then took pop music to Hong Kong, the Kuomintang, relocated to Taiwan, discouraged the use of native Taiwanese Hokkien dialect from the 1950s to the late 1980s. As a result, mandopop became the dominant musical genre in Taiwan, in 2000 EolAsia. com was founded as the first online C-pop music portal in Hong Kong. The company survived the bubble and offered online legal music downloads in February 2005, backed by EMI, Warner Music. It primarily targets consumers in Hong Kong and Macau, some songs require Hong Kong Identity Cards to purchase, typhoon music made the purchase for an estimated HK$100 million. In February 2008 mainland Chinas top search engine Baidu. com was sued by local groups for providing music listening, broadcasting and downloading without approval. Piracy continues to exist in China but Google have since announced a cooperation deal offering free listening, top100. cn was founded by basketball star Yao Ming, agent Zhang Mingji and music insider Chen Ge via a 20 million yuan investment. Google mp3 became available in March 2009, the future of C-pop in mainland China is slowly emerging
7.
Cantopop
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Cantopop or HK-pop is a genre of Cantonese music made primarily in Hong Kong, and also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. Originating in the 1970s, Cantopop reached its height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s before its decline in the 2000s. The term Cantopop itself was coined in 1978 after Cantorock, a term first used in 1974, during its height, Cantopop had spread to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Cantopop is influenced by international styles, including jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, electronic music, Western pop music, Cantopop songs are almost invariably performed in Cantonese. Western-influenced music first came to China in the 1920s, specifically through Shanghai, Artists like Zhou Xuan acted in films and recorded popular songs and was possibly the first Chinese pop star. In 1949 when the Peoples Republic of China was established by the Communist Party, beginning in the 1950s, massive waves of immigrants fled Shanghai to destinations like North Point in Hong Kong. As a result, many first generation Cantopop artists and composers hail from Shanghai, by the 1960s, Cantonese music in Hong Kong was still limited largely to traditional Cantonese opera and comic renditions of western music. Tang Kee-chan, Cheng Kuan-min, and Tam Ping-man were among the earliest artists releasing Cantonese records, the generation at the time preferred British and American exports. Western culture was at the time equated with education and sophistication, conversely, those who preferred Cantonese music were considered old-fashioned or uneducated. Cheng Kum-cheung and Chan Chai-chung were two popular Cantonese singers who specifically targeted the younger generation, connie Chan Po-chu is generally considered to be Hong Kongs first teen idol, mostly due to her career longevity. Josephine Siao is also another artist of the era, local bands mimicked British and American bands. Two types of local Cantonese music appeared in the market nearly concurrently in 1973, the other was more western style music largely from Polydor Hong Kong. Notable singers from the era include Liza Wang and Paula Tsui, soap operas were needed to fill TV air time, and popular Cantonese songs became TV theme songs. Around 1971, Sandra Lang, a singer who had never sung Cantopop before, was invited to sing the first Cantonese TV theme song The Yuanfen of a Wedding that Cries. This song was a collaboration between songwriters Yip Siu-dak and the legendary Joseph Koo and it was ground-breaking and topped local charts. Other groups that profited from TV promotion included the Four Golden Flowers, Samuel Hui is regarded by some to be the earliest singing star of Cantopop. He was the singer of the band Lotus formed in the late 1960s. The song that made him famous was the song to Games Gamblers Play
8.
Mandopop
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Mandopop refers to Mandarin popular music. It is now used as a term to describe popular songs performed in Mandarin. Mandopop is categorized as a subgenre of commercial Chinese-language music within C-pop, Mandopop was the first variety of popular music in Chinese to establish itself as a viable industry. It originated in Shanghai, and later Hong Kong, Taipei, among the countries where Mandopop is most popular are mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. S. to record local music in Asia. The recordings were then manufactured outside China and re-imported by the Gramophone Company’s sales agent in China, the Moudeli Company dominated the market before the 1910s until the Pathé Records took over the leading role. Pathé was founded in 1908 by a Frenchman named Labansat who had started a novelty entertainment business using phonograph in Shanghai around the beginning of the 20th century. It originally recorded mainly Peking opera, but later expanded to Mandarin popular music, later other foreign as well as Chinese-own recording companies were also established in China. Early in the 20th century, people in China generally spoke in their own regional dialect, although most people in Shanghai then spoke Shanghainese, the recordings of the pop music from Shanghai from the 1920s onwards were done in Standard Mandarin, which is based on the Beijing dialect. Those involved in this movement included such as Li Jinhui. Mandarin popular songs started in the 1920s were called shidaiqu. The Mandarin popular songs of the Shanghai era are considered by scholars to be the first kind of popular music developed in China. Li Jinhui is generally regarded as the Father of Chinese Popular Music who established the genre in the 1920s, buck Clayton, the American jazz musician, also worked alongside Li. Li established the Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe, and amongst their singing stars were Wang Renmei, there was a close relationship between music and film industries and many of its singers also became actresses. Around 1927, Li composed the hit song The Drizzle recorded by his daughter Li Minghui, the song however was sung in a high-pitched childlike style, a style described uncharitably as sounding like strangling cat by the writer Lu Xun. This early style would soon be replaced by more sophisticated performances from better-trained singers, in 1931, the first sound film was made in China in a cooperation between the Mingxing Film Company and Pathé. Amongst the best-known of the singer-actress to emerge in the 1930s were Zhou Xuan, Gong Qiuxia, although later singing stars need not also have an acting career, the close relationship between the recording and film industries continued for many decades. Later Yao Lee, Bai Guang, Li Xianglan, Wu Yingyin also became popular, other notable singers of this period include Li Lihua and Chang Loo. In 1940 Yao Lee recorded Rose, Rose, I Love You which later became the first Chinese pop song to be covered by Western singers that was a hit
9.
Chinese rock
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Chinese rock is a wide variety of rock and roll music made by rock bands and solo artists from native Chinese-speaking regions. Typically, Chinese rock is a fusion of forms accompanying the presentation of traditional Chinese music. Chinese Rock had its origins in Northwest Wind style of music, the new style was triggered by two new songs, Xintianyou and Nothing To My Name, both of which drew heavily on the folk song traditions of northern Shaanxi. They combined this with a western-style fast tempo, strong beat, in contrast to the mellow cantopop style, Northwest Wind songs were sung loudly and forcefully. It represented the musical branch of the large-scale Root-Seeking cultural movement that also manifested itself in literature, Cui Jians Northwest Wind album Rock N Roll on the New Long March, which included Nothing To My Name, has been called Chinas first rock album. Many Northwest Wind songs were highly idealistic and heavily political, parodying or alluding to the songs of the Communist state, such as Nanniwan. It is, however, associated with the non-Communist national music side instead of the revolutionary side, the music reflected dissatisfaction among Chinese youth, as well as the influence of western ideas such as individuality and self-empowerment. Both music and lyrics articulated a sense of pride in the power of the northwests peasantry, Songs such as Sister Go Boldly Forward came to represent an earthy, primordial masculine image of Mainland China, as opposed to the soft, sweet, polished urban gangtai style. The birthplace of Chinese rock was in Beijing, as the nations capital, the music was highly politicised and open to a range of foreign influences. It was marginal for most of the 1980s, consisting of performances in small bars. The music was almost exclusively for the domain of university students, in late 1989 and early 1990 Chinese rock partially emerged into mainstream music as a combination of the Northwest Wind and prison song fads. The first Chinese rock song was arguably the Northwest Wind anthem Nothing To My Name, first performed in 1984 by Cui Jian, the song introduced into post-revolutionary China a whole new ethos that combined individualism, direct and bold expression. It soon came to symbolise the frustration harboured by a generation of young intellectuals who grew cynical about Communism and critical of Chinas traditional. It also expressed, even for older Chinese, a dissatisfaction with unrealized promises of the Chinese regime, in the spring of 1989, Nothing To My Name became the de facto anthem of the student protestors at Tiananmen Square. Additionally, in May and July of that year, three of Chinas famous rock bands were established, Breathing, Cobra, and Zang Tianshuos 1989, prison Songs became popular in 1988 and early 1989, parallel to the Northwest Wind style. The fad was initiated by Chi Zhiqiang, who wrote lyrics about his time in jail, in contrast to Northwest Wind songs, prison songs were slow, weepy and invoked negative role models, often using vulgar language and expressing despair and cynicism. Their non-conformist values are apparent in songs as Mother Is Very Muddle-Headed. The popularity of these reflected the fact that many Chinese during the 1980s became tired of official artistic representations
10.
Chinese heavy metal
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Chinese heavy metal is commonly used to describe a wide variety of forms of heavy metal music, in connection with the rock bands and solo artists from native Chinese-speaking regions. Typically, Chinese heavy metal bands adhere to one subgenres of metal such as death metal, thrash metal, and power metal. Chinese heavy metal had its origins in hard rock and Heavy Metal music genres, as a main genre in Mainland China. The genre of Chinese Heavy Metal music emerged with the formation of the Chinese band, following their initial formation in 1988 Tang Dynasty utilized both elements introduced in the new wave of British heavy metal as well as elements of classical Chinese music in the music they wrote. In 1990 Tang dynasty was hired to play at the, Festival of modern music / 90s Modern Music Concert, the success gained from their performance eventually led to them obtaining a record contract with the Taiwanese record label, Magic Stone. In December 1992 Tang Dynasty released their album, entitled 梦回唐朝. In the time following the success of Tang Dynasty a number of other Chinese heavy metal bands began to emerge throughout China. 1997–1999 saw a rise in the amount of metal bands in China as the amount of new metal bands being formed every year increased from roughly 1-2 to 15 by 1999. The new bands being formed also began to diversify in terms of musical subgenre of metal as many bands began to explore a more Extreme Metal sound rather than the traditional 80s metal sound. In 1999, the first metal magazine 极端音乐was founded in Nanjing, Extreme Music Magazine articles feature metal bands and metal culture especially underground metal bands. Extreme Music moved to Beijing in 2006, in September 2000, the first heavy-metal-oriented magazine, Painkiller, was founded in Beijing. During June 2001, the record label Mort Productions is founded by some of the involved in the production. From the year 2005 and onwards, China began to have several high-profile metal concerts with foreign bands headlining, along with local Chinese bands supporting, the band Labyrinths performance in Beijing marked the first official metal concert in China by a foreign band. Furthermore, Rock in China released the compilation record CORE IN CHINA that attracted global attention online and is regarded as a milestone for Chinese metal, in August, three Chinese metal bands performed on the Wacken Open Air 2012. Midi Modern Music Festival Chinese Rock Rock in China Mort Productions Mort Productions release timeline Guitarchina Article on Tang Dynasty Report about Heavy Metal in China
11.
Chinese hip hop
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Chinese hip hop is a relatively new phenomenon, in Chinese music, “Hip-Hop as a movement emerged around the year 1990 via British, Filipino and Congolese DJs. The first DJs in China to play rap music on a daily basis were residents at Chinas first nightclub/club Julianas in Beijing during 1984, in 1992 China got its first regular Hip Hop nights at Beijings Kunlun Hotel Crystal Disco <DJs Florient Obesse, Carol >. 1994 saw the first nightly Hip Hop club open in China at Shanghais Broadway club in the port area and this was the first phase of HIP HOP in China, developed by DJs, Rap enthusiasts and B-Boys - it flourished without mass media support, sponsorship or exposure. Distribution was via Crossline Records, BPM of Shanghai and again Julianas of London, Rap in China later became more mainstream in 2003 with the opening of Beijings Vics and Mix nightclubs. The first Chinese language song to feature rap style content was by rock artist Cui Jian in the early 90s though viewed as experimental as opposed to credible Hip Hop in the eyes of enthusiasts. Early Taiwanese rap groups such as The Party and TTM had limited success due to a market that was more ballad focused and it also contained Chinas first Jungle/drumnbass track, also written by Herbie. In addition to full length articles by the LA Times, the China Daily, Music Magazine and the NY Times, Chinese DJ V-Nutz notes, I would say we don’t have a Chinese style yet. If you really want me to say, what is Chinese style, I would say its young, then maybe after 10 or 15 years, maybe they can have their own style. ”XIV of the rap group Yin Ts’ang put it clearly. “I can tell you about what we don’t rap about, gangbangin, pushin drugs, or the government, that’s a good way to not continue your career. ”A big and important part of the localization of Chinese hip-hop “is encouraging Chinese rappers to rap in Chinese”. When Eminem’s movie,8 Mile, came out in 2002 the art of freestyling was popularized in China, movies have played a major role in fostering the growth of hip-hop culture in China, from the music itself to dance, the art of graffiti and style of dress. However, there was considerable uptake of Dakou CDs - “surplus CDs created in the West that were supposed to be destroyed but were smuggled into China. The Lab is a studio to foster hip-hop culture and teach aspiring young MCs about the types of music that don’t make it onto the radio”. Dana Burton, also American, arrived in China in 1999, made connections at a club in Shanghai, hip-hop began to develop a following at the club and eventually a new club was created to play only hip-hop. Since then more clubs playing exclusively hip-hop music have emerged, Burton also started the Iron Mic competition in 2001, an annual rap battle which encouraged more freestyling and less karaoke style performances. Burton recorded, The few rappers I met were rapping in English, i’d say, ‘Let me hear you rap’, and they’d just do a karaoke thing, repeating a few lines of Eminem or Naughty by Nature. As an American that was so odd for me, you can’t say anyone else’s rhymes and they like karaoke and doing someone else’s songs. Rappers of Chinese heritage have achieved success in the United States, the most recent of whom is the Miami-born, NYs 106 and Park hall of famer Jin. Another Chinese American rap group was Mountain Brothers, based in Philadelphia in the 1990s, floridas Smilez and Southstar under Trans Continental Records and Hong Kong-based hip hopper Edison Chen has also gained some popularity in the US
12.
Yayue
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Yayue was originally a form of classical music and dance performed at the royal court in ancient China. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou, together with law and rites, it formed the formal representation of aristocratic political power. The word ya was used during the Zhou dynasty to refer to a form of used in court collected in Shijing. Yayue is therefore regarded in the Confucian system as the form of music that is refined, improving, and essential for self-cultivation. It means the kind of ceremonial music used in court. The court yayue has largely disappeared from China, although there are attempts at its reconstruction. In Taiwan yayue is performed as part of a Confucian ceremony, other forms of yayue are still found in parts of East Asia, notably the gagaku in Japan, aak in Korea, and nhã nhạc in Vietnam. Although the same word is used, the music not necessarily correspond to Chinese yayue. The Korean aak however preserved elements of Song dynasty yayue long lost in China, according to tradition, yayue was created by the Duke of Zhou under commission from King Wu of Zhou, shortly after the latters conquest of Shang. Incorporated within yayue were elements of shamanistic or religious traditions, as well as early Chinese folk music, Dance was also closely associated with yayue music, each yayue pieces may have a ceremonial or ritual dance associated with it. The most important yayue piece of the Zhou dynasty were the Six Great Dances, each associated with a legendary or historical figure - Yunmen Dajuan, Daxian, Daqing, Daxia, the Book of Rites records a number of situations where yayue might be performed. These included ceremonies in honour of Heaven and Earth, the gods or the ancestors, there were also detailed rules on the way they were to be performed at diplomatic meetings. Yayue was also used in activities, such as aristocratic archery contests, during hunting expeditions. Yayue was characterised by its rigidity of form, when performed, it was stately and formal, serving to distinguish the aristocractic classes. It was sometimes accompanied by lyrics. Some of these are preserved in the Book of Songs, with the decline of the importance ceremony in the interstate relations of the Spring and Autumn period, so did yayue. Confucius famously lamented the decline of music and the rites. Marquess Wen of Wei was said to prefer the popular music of Wey and Zheng to the ancient court music, much of the yayue of the Zhou dynasty continued into the Qin dynasty
13.
Midi Music Festival
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The Midi Music Festival, sometimes also called Midi Modern Music Festival or simply Midi Festival is among Chinas largest rock music festivals and is hosted by the Beijing Midi School of Music. Since its inauguration in 1997 it has held each year in Beijing during the May holiday. The 2008 festival was delayed to October for reasons related to the 2008 Summer Olympics, the festival currently is held annually in three Chinese cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The 2006 festival, held in Beijings Haidian Park, hosted 40-80 thousand visitors, the artists represented the genres of rock, electro, and DJ. The 2007 festival included UK acts the Crimea, Kava Kava, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, the festival regularly features environmental themes as their slogan, such as raising awareness for animals threatened with extinction and PM2.5 for their 2012 festivals. Since 2008, Rock in China is providing the English language website for the Midi Modern Music Festival, the Australian band The On Fires played at the 2011 festival. The 2012 festival featured Australian band Arcane Saints
14.
Historical Chinese anthems
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Historical Chinese anthems comprise a number of Chinese official and unofficial national anthems composed during the early 20th century. Present day Chinese national anthem is March of the Volunteers in Peoples Republic of China National Anthem of the Republic of China in Republic of China. Quasi-official After the Department of the Army was established in 1906, Praise the Dragon Flag became the army song, ¹ 兆usually means one trillion, but it could mean one million, and should have that value here in the song for factual accuracy. Official The Cup of Solid Gold became the national anthem of the Qing Empire in less than a month when the Wuchang Uprising occurred in 1911. It lasted for one year until the end of the establishment of the republic. Unofficial Also called Patriotic Song, How Great is Our China, has lyrics written by Liang Qichao and music by overseas Chinese at Datong School, Yokohama. Released in 1912, it quite popular, especially among students. Official The Song to the Auspicious Cloud has two versions, one used in 1913 and another after 1920. In November 1919, Tuan Chi-jui established the National Anthem Research Committee, the music by Beijing professor, Xiao Youmei. The anthem was released in July 1921 by the Department of National Affairs and its lyrics were written by Yin Chang and music by Wang Lu. Provisional Written by officers of the Whampoa Military Academy, the Revolution of the Citizens song, sung to the tune of Frère Jacques, was released on July 1,1926. When the Chinese Soviet Republic was established in 1931, the Internationale in Chinese was decided to be its national anthem, since it followed the ideals of Communism, especially the Soviet Union. Tibetan National Anthem National Anthem of Manchukuo This links to several of these anthems, including Audio, lyrics, and sheet music
15.
Guoyue
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Guoyue, in its broadest sense, is any music composed for Chinese musical instruments. It is also referred to variously as minyue, huayue and zhongyue, in its modernized form, it is often Chinese traditional music written or adapted for some form of grand presentation through a large Chinese orchestra. The term guoyue appeared in ancient texts and had various different meanings before the 20th century. It was used as early as the Sui-Tang period to refer to music or yayue. In the Music Record section of History of Liao, it was used to distinguish the music of the Khitan rulers from that of the Han Chinese. During the Qing Dynasty it was used to refer to the kind of ceremonial court repertoire that was seen as a representation of China. In the early 20th century, guoyue became a term used loosely to include all music written for Chinese instruments in response to a particular nationalistic consciousness. In Taiwan it continues to be known as guoyue, but in other Chinese communities, in the early 20th century, the term guoyue was widely used to distinguish between imported Western music and traditional Chinese music. It therefore included all Han Chinese music but excluded anything written for Western instruments, in its broadest term it includes all Chinese instrumental music, opera, regional folk genres, and solo pieces. Not everyone however agrees on its definition, and what constitutes guoyue changes with time. Originally it only referred to the music of Han Chinese, later it included the music of various ethnic minorities in China. Some argued that it should refer to music of Confucian rituals. In the new Republic of China in Taiwan, Guoyue emphasized the traditional music of mainland China over the Taiwanese local traditions, the guoyue that was envisioned in the early 20th century however was not entirely traditional. To many, part of the idea was to reshape Chinese folk, some also made a distinction between the regional music as performed by untrained folk musicians, i. e. the raw material from which guoyue is drawn, and the more polished national music. In this view guoyue is therefore a polished, modernized form of traditional Chinese music, some forms of traditional music were also excluded at various times. In mainland China after 1949, folk music was promoted but classical Chinese music was condemned as decadent and reactionary. During the Cultural Revolution classical Chinese music virtually disappeared, and some only survived by being reworked in a light style, in the early part of the 20th century after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese intellectuals were interested in modernizing and revitalizing traditional Chinese music. As part of the New Culture Movement of the period, the music genre emerged to promote greater patriotism In the 1920s
16.
March of the Volunteers
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The March of the Volunteers, is the national anthem of the Peoples Republic of China, including its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Unlike most previous Chinese anthems, it is entirely in the vernacular. Its lyrics were composed as a poem by the poet and playwright. It was adopted as the PRCs provisional anthem in 1949 in place of the Republican Three Principles of the People and the Communist Internationale. On 9 May, Gu and Yuan recorded it in more standard Mandarin for Pathé Orients Shanghai branch ahead of the movies release, so that it served as a form of advertising for the film. Although Tian Han was imprisoned for two years, Nie Er fled toward Russia only to die en route in Japan, the singing campaign continued to expand, particularly after the December 1936 Xian Incident reduced Nationalist pressure against leftist movements. The Pathé recording of the march appeared prominently in Joris Ivenss 1939 The 400 Million, the New York Times published the songs sheet music on 24 December, along with an analysis by a Chinese correspondent in Chongqing. In exile in New York City in 1940, Liu Liangmo taught it to Paul Robeson, Robeson began performing the song in Chinese at a large concert in New York Citys Lewisohn Stadium. Reportedly in communication with the original lyricist Tian Han, the pair translated it into English and its 3-disc album included a booklet whose preface was written by Soong Ching-ling, widow of Sun Yat-sen, and its initial proceeds were donated to the Chinese resistance. The March of the Volunteers was used as the Chinese national anthem for the first time at the World Peace Conference in April 1949, originally intended for Paris, French authorities refused so many visas for its delegates that a parallel conference was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia. At the time, Beijing had recently come under the control of the Chinese Communists in the Chinese Civil War, the song was personally performed by Paul Robeson. In June, a committee was set up by the Communist Party of China to decide on a national anthem for the soon-to-be declared Peoples Republic of China. By the end of August, the committee had received 632 entries totaling 694 different sets of scores, the March of the Volunteers was suggested by the painter Xu Beihong and supported by Zhou Enlai. Opposition to its use centered on the line, as The Chinese people face their greatest peril suggested that China continued to face difficulties. Zhou replied, We still have imperialist enemies in front of us, the more we progress in development, the more the imperialists will hate us, seek to undermine us, attack us. Can you say that we wont be in peril and his view was supported by Mao Zedong and, on 27 September 1949, the song became the provisional national anthem, just days before the founding of the Peoples Republic. Although the song had been popular among Nationalists during the war against Japan, as a result, there was a time when The East Is Red served as the PRCs unofficial anthem. Following the 9th National Congress, The March of the Volunteers began to be played again from the 20th National Day Parade in 1969
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National Anthem of the Republic of China
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The latest National Anthem of the Republic of China was adopted in 1937, previously, Song to the Auspicious Cloud was used as the official anthem of the Republic of China. It remains the national anthem of the ROC government of Taiwan which remains there, but in mainland China, the national anthem of the Peoples Republic of China is the March of the Volunteers. The anthems words are adapted from a 1924 speech by Sun Yat-sen, the lyrics relate to how the vision and hopes of a new nation and its people can be achieved and maintained. Informally, the song is known as San Min Chu-i from its opening line which references the Three Principles of the People. The text of was the collaboration between several Kuomintang party members, Hu Hanmin, Dai Jitao, Liao Zhongkai, and Shao Yuanchong. The text debuted on July 16,1924, as the opening of a speech by Sun Yat-sen at the ceremony of the Whampoa Military Academy. After the success of the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang party chose the text to be its party anthem, cheng Maoyun won in a contest of 139 participants. On March 24,1930, numerous Kuomintang party members proposed to use the speech by Sun as the lyrics to the national anthem, the national anthem of the republic was the Song to the Auspicious Cloud. Due to opposition over using a symbol of a party to represent the entire nation, the National Anthem Editing and Research Committee was set up. On June 3,1937, the Central Standing Committee approved the proposal, and in 1943, the lyrics are in classical literary Chinese. For example, ěr is an equivalent of both singular and plural you depending on the context. In this case, it is plural you, fěi is a classical synonym of not. And zī is a classical, archaic interjection, and is not used in this sense in the vernacular language. As well as being written in classical Chinese, the national anthem follows classical poetic conventions, the ancient Fu style follows that of a four-character poem, where the last character of each line rhymes in -ong or -eng, which are equivalent in ancient Chinese. The official translation by Du Tingxiu appears in English-language guides to the ROC published by the government, reed W. L. and Bristow M. J. National Anthems of the World,10 ed. London Cassell, p.526. ISBN 0-304-36382-0 Taiwan, ROC, National Anthem of the Republic of China - Audio of the anthem of Taiwan, with information
18.
Music of Anhui
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Anhui is a province of China, known musically for a wide array of folk and classical styles. The Huangmei opera, though originally from Hubei, has a history in Anhui, especially Anqing City, from which it spread to Beijing, Shanghai. A notable Huangmei opera figure was Yan Fengying, there is also a less common form of Anhui opera. Anhuis folk styles have been brought to new audiences by the singer Baoluo, who was also a major figure in the 1980s Beijing punk rock scene
19.
Music of Fujian
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Traditional music include a variety of folk and classical styles. Nanyin is a style of music that dates back to the period between the Sui and Tang eras, in the 7th century. The city of Quanzhou was a city at the time. The result was what is now known as music, regarding as a living fossil of ancient Chinese music. The cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou have applied to UNESCO for recognition as masterpieces of the oral, hakka music is literary and laid-back in tone, and consists entirely of five notes, many folk songs only use three notes. Shifan is a kind of music that dates to the Qing Dynasty, over time, string and wind instruments were added. Chanhe arose at the Chanhe School of Buddhism, from the chanting accompanied by instruments like chimes. In the early 1920s, wind and string instruments were added, modern musical institutions in Fujian include the Quanzhou Nanyin Music Ensemble, founded in the early 1960s, and the Fuzhou Folk Music Ensemble founded in 1990. There is also a Music and Dance Festival of Fujian Province and a Baihua Arts and Cultural Festival of Fuzhou Municipality
20.
Music of Gansu
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Gansu is a region in northwest China. The capital is Lanzhou, a city with a vibrant musical life, the daoqing folk tradition is an important part of the music of Gansu, especially in Huanxian, daoqing is also found in Yichi in Ningxia and Dingbian in Shaanxi. Daoqing is used to accompany shadow play theater, daoqing comes from the Tang Dynasty and was originally a cappella Taoist music. Beginning with the Southern Song Dynasty, however, percussion instruments like the jianban and yugu have been used, other instruments used include gongs, cymbals, suona, dina, shuibangzi, flute, sixian, bangu and erhu. Wild Children, a band from Lanzhou but based in Beijing, blended Gansu folk songs with more contemporary sounds until the death in 2004 of its co-founder. ^ China Daily ^ China Daily
21.
Music of Guangdong
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It gradually evolved into a string ensemble format by the 1960s, led by the gaohu with ruan, qinqin, yangqin, sanxian, yehu, and various woodwind and percussion instruments. Formerly, bowed stringed instruments such as the erxian and tiqin were used, compositions by the noted gaohu player Lü Wencheng remain particularly popular. Cantonese opera is popular in Pearl River Delta, musical institutions in Guangdong include the Guangdong International Summer Music Festival. Teochew music and Teochew opera is pupular in Chaoshan, hakka music is literary and laid-back in tone, and consists entirely of five notes, many folk songs only use three notes
22.
Music of Hong Kong
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The Music of Hong Kong is an eclectic mixture of traditional and popular genres. Cantopop is one of the more prominent genres of music produced in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta regularly perform western classical music in the city. There is also a tradition of Cantonese opera within Hong Kong. In colonial Hong Kong, pipa was one of the instruments played by the Chinese, Western classical music was, on the other hand, the principal focus amongst British Hong Kongers with the Sino-British Orchestra being established in 1895. In the beginning of 20th century, Western pop music became popular, Mandarin pop songs in the 1920s were called Si Doi Kuk. They are considered the prototype of Chinese pop songs, in 1949 the Peoples Republic of China was established by the communist party. One of the first actions taken by the government was to denounce popular music as pornography, beginning in the 1950s massive waves of immigrants fled from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Along with it was the Pathé Records record company, which ended up becoming one of the most significant popular record companies in Hong Kong. The 1960s was marked by the rise of Hong Kong English pop which peaked until the mid-1970s among both British and Upper Middle/Upper class ethnic Chinese Hong Kongers, traditional Chinese Huangmei opera, on the other hand, had peaked in the 1960s amongst the general Chinese population. As an open economy, a vast variety of music is available in Hong Kong. Most retail music stores in Hong Kong carry Cantopop, Mandopop, imported English language pop music, Japanese pop music, larger music stores, such as HMV in Hong Kong, stock a more extensive range which includes classical music, Cantonese opera in addition to the aforementioned genres. Like Japan, audio cassettes have never been big sellers in Hong Kong, the art form is one of the first organised forms of entertainment in Hong Kong. The art form still exists today in its traditional format despite the changing trends in other industries, beginning in the 1950s, massive waves of immigrants fled Shanghai to destinations like North Point, boosting its fanbase. Cantonese Naamyam is a unique narrative singing tradition in Cantonese dialect/language, a singer would be engaged for a single performance or for regular performances over an extended period of time. Before the first half of the 20th century, naamyam sung by blind singers was a form of entertainment in Hong Kong. Prior to the development of music in the 1960s, Hong Kongs musical output was dominated by Cantonese opera. Prominent singers included Tang Kee-chan, Cheng Kuan-min, the godfather of Cantopop Roman Tam made significant strides in the industry. The youth began to gravitate towards Cantonese pop in the 70s, around 1971, Sandra Lang was invited to sing the first Cantonese TV theme song, The Yuanfen of a Wedding that Cries and Laughs
23.
Music of Inner Mongolia
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Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China, with traditions related to Tuvan music and Mongolian music. Musically, it is known for the Han shanxi opera tradition, popular musicians including the yangqin player Urna Chahar-Tugchi, formerly of Robert Zollitsch’s Gaoshan Liushui, a world music ensemble. The singer-songwriter Tengger has been known throughout China since his 1986 hit I am a Mongolian. Musical institutions include the China Inner Mongolia Nationality Music and Dance Opera Troupe and this genre is called Long song because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. A four-minute song may only consist of ten words, lyrical themes vary depending on context, they can be philosophical, religious, romance, or celebratory, and often use horses as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song. Eastern Mongols typically use a morin khuur as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute named limbe, oirat groups of the Western Mongols typically sing long songs unaccompanied or accompanied with the igil. Mongolian court music is being revived in Inner Mongolia, in 1984 in the Ar Khorchin Banner of Inner Mongolia an important discovery was made. 15 notated chapters of the music of the last Mongolian Great Khan Ligdan was found in a temple near the ruins of his palace Chagan Haote. It was already known that the Qing Dynasty greatly valued Mongol court music and made it a part of its royal ceremonies. In the Da Qing Hui Dian it is recorded, Emperor Taizong pacified Chakhar and he included it in the section of the music of Yan. The Manchu emperors Hong Taiji, Kangxi and Qianlong all compiled musical encyclopedias that incorporated the old Mongol court music of Ligdan Khan, in the Lulu Zhengyi Houbian compiled in 1741 by the Qianlong Emperor, Mongolian music is divided into Jia Chui Yue Zhang and Fan Bu He Zou. The Jia Chui Yue Zhang was used in the Mongol courts to praise the Khan, in 1814 the royal musical handbook Xiansuo Beikao was compiled by the Mongolian nobleman, scholar and musician Rong Zhai. A brief excerpt of it can be heard on YouTube, in July 2010 it had 57 performers led by Professor Hugjiltu. A video of the Ensemble can be found at Youku, in July 2012 the All China Research Conference was held to study Mongolian court music. It brought professors from different organizations. In 2011 Mongolian court music was inscribed in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritages of Inner Mongolia, surviving court songs from the 15 chapters of the string-bound old paper book include Ikh Shivan, Bagsh dokhio and Aduu khuraakhui. There are about 80 melodies and 18 instruments and two kinds of dance called Bichgiin Bujig and Tsergiin Bujig. The content of the songs mainly reflect emperor praise, state praise, religious customs, philosophical teachings and this court music dates back to Genghis Khans first regnal year and was further developed during the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan
24.
Music of Jilin
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Jilin is a northeastern province of China. The region is home to many kinds of musical theater, especially opera and these include styles like Huanglong opera, Xincheng opera, Jilin opera and errenzhuan. Errenzhuan is a kind of opera that evolved from a folk dance called dongbeidayangge and folk songs like lianhualao. Jilin opera is a recent invention, coming from 1959, while Fuyu Countys Xincheng opera is based on Man octagonal drum music, the Huanglong opera of Nongan County is based on shadow play. Jilins folk heritage includes Han wind music and dongbei dagu, yangge music, the wuliger and halaibo singing traditions of the Mongols, and Korean gudaling and pansori
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Music of Macau
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Macau is a Special Administrative Region of the China. It was formerly a colony of Portugal, which left a legacy of linguistic, the music is called Macanese music, a mixture of Chinese and Portuguese music. This kind of music had its boom in early 20th century. The repertoire consisted of carnival marches, ballads, waltzes, cantonese-inspired ballads, fados, polkas, one of the most known songs from this period was the version in Patuá for the Brazilian carnival march Mamãe eu Quero, which received the title Mama Sa Filo. The Macanese group Tuna Macaense, with which Adé was closely associated, emerged in 1935 and still perform today, the Macao International Music Festival is an important annual event. One of the most important Chinese musicians, Xian Xinghai, was born in Macau, the pop music in Macau is still in an early period. However, the boy band Soler has gone to Hong Kong develop their music career, throughout the years since the 80s, the indie scene has been considered a minor scene in Macau. Currently the live venue Live Music Association is the only Live House in Macau which is hosting regular shows, list of bands Special Force - awarded the Champion in Carlsberg music festival 1991 and also took the Best Vocal, Best Guitars & Best Bass Guitar awards. The members are, brothers Lawrence Lei & Leo Lei, John Ho & Jose da Silva, Special Force disbanded in 1993 Dr. - released their debut album OD in 2003 although theyve been act as the main alternative music pioneer for several years. - the name of the band is made up by the first letter of the band members Leo, Angelo, Vincent, started songwriting in 2008 with lyrics about personal experiences. The band, featuring pithy, melodious songs that are good at bringing out the elegance in rock music. Released their debut album My Lonely Journey in late 2012, produced by Macau based Producer Eric M. Y. Chan who is known for fronting the Alternative Rock band Forget the G. Forget the G -3 piece band formed with Eric Chan aka e, ch, Frog Wong and their unique approach and variation on music styling has been widely praised by fellow artists and music critics in the region over the years. The vocalist/ guitarist of the band Eric is also known as Producer & Engineer for other bands in Macau
26.
Music of Northeast China
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The music of Northeast China is influenced by the folk traditions of the Manchu and other ethnic groups in the region. There is a variety of music in the region, with the most well known throughout China possibly being the Youyouzha. Prominent performers from the Northeast include the film composer Lei Zhenbang and pop stars Xiao Ke. Ethnic Manchu music is dominated by instruments and it has largely been influenced by their native shamanism. Two forms of drum prevail, the wooden framed imcin, the dangu is the instrument most strongly identified with Manchu shamans. During the Qing Dynasty, the instrument spread to Beijing and Tianjin, and is still known there
27.
Music of Qinghai
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The music of Qinghai, a province of China inhabited by Tibetans, Mongolians, Salar, Han, Monguor, and others, includes huaer, a type of song found in certain areas of northwest China. This informal music is often competitive in nature, with singers interacting and improvising topical and love lyrics, Qinghais folk music is known for its intervallic leaps in melody. The Salar people of Xunhua Salar Autonomous County are known for music, especially the song Flowers. They are also known for an instrument called the kouxuan. The composer Bright Sheng worked in Qinghais Folk Dance and Music Theatre and he has used elements of local folk music in his compositions. How I Came to Be a Composer, archived from the original on October 12,2005. Archived from the original on August 31,2011, ^ Two Essays by Bright Sheng ^ Tibet. Ethno. Info ^ Tibet. Ethno. Info ^ Living Composers Project
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Music of Shaanxi
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Shaanxi is a province of China that has a long history of folk music. The Shaanxi Music and Dance Troupe has toured across the world, there is also a Shaanxi Provincial Song, qinqiang is the most well-known opera style from Shaanxi, said to date back to the Qin emperor during the Tang dynasty. Folk dances from Shaanxi include the tichangzi, Ansai waist drum dance, shaanxis folk songs include Lan Huahua, and come in more than twenty styles, including most commonly xiaodiao and xintianyou. Wang Xiangrong is the most widely known singer of Shaanxi folk music, more recently, modern Chinese rock emerged from the Northwest Wind style folk song of Shaanxi
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Shanxi
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Shanxi is a province of China, located in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is 晋, after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring, the name Shanxi means West of the Mountains, a reference to the provinces location west of the Taihang Mountains. Shanxi borders Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, the capital of the province is Taiyuan. In the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Jin was located in what is now Shanxi and it underwent a three-way split into the states of Han, Zhao and Wei in 403 BC, the traditional date taken as the start of the Warring States period. By 221 BC, all of states had fallen to the state of Qin. The Han Dynasty ruled Shanxi as the province of Bingzhou, during the invasion of northern nomads in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, several regimes including the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin, and Later Yan continuously controlled Shanxi. They were followed by Northern Wei, a Xianbei kingdom, which had one of its earlier capitals at present-day Datong in northern Shanxi, the Tang Dynasty originated in Taiyuan. During the Tang Dynasty and after, present day Shanxi was called Hédōng, empress Wu Zetian, Chinas only female ruler, was born in Shanxi. Shanxi was initially home to the jiedushi of Hedong, Li Cunxu, shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin, the third of the Five Dynasties, ceded a piece of northern China to the Khitans in return for military assistance. This territory, called The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, included a part of northern Shanxi, the ceded territory became a major problem for Chinas defense against the Khitans for the next 100 years, because it lay south of the Great Wall. He founded his dynasty by launching a coup against the Turkic Later Han Emperor. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. Later the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned all of North China, including Shanxi, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Shanxi as a province. Shanxi only gained its present name and approximate borders during the Ming Dynasty which were of the same landarea, with the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Shanxi became part of the newly established Republic of China. During most of the Republic of Chinas period of rule over mainland China, Yan Xishan devoted himself to modernizing Shanxi and developing its resources during his reign over the province. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan occupied much of the province after winning the Battle of Taiyuan, Shanxi was also a major battlefield between the Japanese and the Chinese communist guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army during the war. The soldiers of Shanxi province under Yan Xishan viciously fought against the invading Japanese, right after the defeat of Japan, much of the Shanxi countryside became important bases for the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the ensuing Chinese Civil War. Shanxi was eventually conquered by the communists, resulting in the warlord Yan Xishans retreat to Taiwan Island, for centuries, Shanxi served as the center of trade and banking, the Shanxi merchants were once synonymous with wealth
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Music of Sichuan
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Sichuan is a province of China which has a long history of both folk and classical music. Sichuan opera is an ancient tradition that is well-known across China, the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu is one of the older establishments of musical education in China, having been established in 1939. It is the only institution in southwest China. There is deeply religious music in Sichuan, played by Daoist priests in their temples, married lay priests have their own kinds of music, performed at various rituals. Folk ensembles may include instruments like the flute, pan and cymbals, gong
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Music of Taiwan
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The music of Taiwan reflects the diverse culture of Taiwanese people. Taiwan has undergone several economic, social and changes through its cultural history, the music of this country has adopted a mixed style. As a country rich in Chinese folk culture and with indigenous tribes with their own distinct artistic identity. In addition, Western classical music and pop music in various forms are highly appreciated by the Taiwanese population, Taiwan is an important Mandopop hub. With the arrival of the Kuomintang-led Republic of China government in 1949, native Taiwanese culture was suppressed and this led to a break in tradition in parts of the island, and ended in 1987, when martial law was lifted and a revival of traditional culture began. Instrumental music includes multiple genres, such as beiguan and nanguan, nanguan originally hails from Quanzhou, while it is now most common in Lukang and is found across much of the island. Holo folk music is most common today on the Hengchun Peninsula in the southernmost part of the island, where performers sing accompanied by yueqin, which is a type of two-stringed lute. While the Hengchun yueqin plays only five tones, the music can become diverse. Famous folk singers include Chen Da and Yang Hsiuching, Taiwanese opera is popular among the Hakka, and has influenced the tea-picking opera genre. The most distinctive form of Hakka music are mountain songs, or shange, bayin instrumental music is also popular. Of the two divisions of Taiwanese aborigines, the plains-dwellers have been largely assimilated into Han culture. The Amis, Bunun, Paiwan, Rukai and Tsou are known for their polyphonic vocals, once dying, aboriginal culture has undergone a renaissance since the late 20th century. A full-time aboriginal radio station, Ho-hi-yan was launched in 2005 with the help of the Executive Yuan and this came on the heels of a New wave of Indigenous Pop, as aboriginal artists such as A-mei, Difang, Pur-dur and Samingad became international pop stars. Return to Innocence was made by Enigma, a musical project and sampled the voices of an elderly Amis couple, Kuo Ying-nan. When the couple found out that their recording had become part of a hit, they filed suit and, in 1999. The Bununs original home was on Taiwans west coast, in the central and northern plains, unlike the other indigenous peoples of Taiwan, the Bunun have very little dance music. The best-studied element of traditional Bunun music is improvised polyphonic song, folk instruments include pestles, five-stringed zithers and the jaw harp. In modern times, David Darling, an American cellist, created a project to combine cello and Bunun traditional music, the Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation, founded in 1995, was the first organization established to help promote and sustain Taiwanese aboriginal culture
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Music of Tibet
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The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region, centered in Tibet but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found in Nepal, Bhutan, India and further abroad. First and foremost Tibetan music is music, reflecting the profound influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the culture. The Lama Mani tradition – the telling of Buddhist parables through song — dates back to the 12th century, the songs were performed by wandering storytellers, who travelled from village to village, drawing on their own often humble origins to relate to people from all backgrounds. Vividly illustrated Buddhist thangka paintings depicted the narrative and helped the audience understand what was essentially a teaching. They provided political and social commentary and satire and are an example of a bardic tradition, akin to that in medieval Europe or, more recently. As song lyrics in Tibet usually contained stanzas of 4 lines of 6 syllables each, secular Tibetan music has been promoted by organizations like the Dalai Lamas Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. This organization specialized in the lhamo, a style, before branching out into other styles, including dance music like toeshey. Nangma is especially popular in the bars of the urban center of Tibet. Another form of music is the classical gar style, which is performed at rituals. Lu are a type of songs that feature glottal vibrations and high pitches, there are also epic bards who sing of Tibets national hero Gesar. Tibetans have a very strong popular-music culture, and are well represented in Chinese popular culture. Tibetan singers are known for their strong vocal abilities, which many attribute to the high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau. Tseten Dolma rose to fame in the 1960s for her music-and-dance suite The Earth is Red, kelsang Metok is a popular singer who combines the vocal traditions of Tibet with elements of Chinese, Indian and Western pop. Purba Rgyal was the 2006 winner of Jiayou Haonaner, a Chinese reality talent show, in 2006, he starred in Sherwood Hus Prince of the Himalayas, an adaptation of Shakespeares Hamlet, set in ancient Tibet and featuring an all-Tibetan cast. Amdo stars are among others Sherten and Yadong, who both have reached outside the borders of China with their music, the first fusion with Western music was Tibetan Bells, a 1971 release by Nancy Hennings and Henry Wolff. The soundtrack to Kundun, by Philip Glass, has helped to popularize Tibetan music, foreign styles of popular music have also had a major impact within the Tibetan diaspora, where Indian ghazal and filmi are very popular and American rock has produced the India-based Rangzen Shonu. Within Tibet itself, among rock groups the bilingual Vajara sextants are the oldest and most famous act, gaoyuan Hong in particular has introduced elements of Tibetan language rapping into their singles. Alan Dawa Dolma is the first and currently only artist of Tibetan ethnicity to be active in both Chinese and Japanese music industry, Music of Tibet Music of Bhutan Dungchen Last Train to Lhasa Aku Pema Tibetan Music Awards Melinda Jin
33.
Music of Xinjiang
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There is much variation in the music of Xinjiang, including unique regional differences in Ili, Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu Prefecture. The southern area includes the songs of Hotan, the dance-oriented music of the Kuqa. Ili has perhaps the most well-known musical tradition in Xinjiang, including a number of tunes that are narrative in form. The best-known musical form of the Uyghur people is the On Ikki Muqam and these complex symphonies vary wildly between suites in the same muqam, and are built on a seven-note scale. Instruments typically include dap, hammered dulcimers, fiddles and lutes, performers have some space for personal embellishments, however, there is much variation on the number and kind of instruments used in the performance of a muqam. In November 2005 the Art of Uyghur Muqam was named a Masterpiece of the Oral, the sanam tradition is a kind of dance music popular among the Uyghurs, while spoken songs like Maida, Eytishish and Qoshaq are popular love songs with simple tunes. The most popular performer of recent times is Turdi Akhun, who recorded most of the muqams in the 1950s, a regional popular music industry arose in the 1980s, alongside Deng Xiaopings loosening of cultural restrictions. The resulting pop industry produced bands like Shireli, whose 1995 was a version of a local folk song. Jans father was also a folk musician, known as Tursun Tanbur due to his skill with the tanbur. Rock and heavy metal bands like Täklimakan and Riwäyat are also known in Xinjiang
34.
Music of Yunnan
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The music of Yunnan, a province in southwestern China, includes the tradition music of many ethnic groups, including the Miao, Hani and Nakhi, the last being the most numerous in the area. The lusheng is a type of mouth organ used by the Miao of Guizhou for pentatonic antiphonal courtship songs, the Hani of Honghe are known for a unique kind of choral, micro-tonal rice-transplanting songs. The Nakhi of Lijiang play a type of song and dance suite called baisha xiyue, Nakhi dongjing is an ancient type of music related to southern Chinese forms, and is popular today. Both these styles are quite old, which has led Nakhi music to be called a fossil of Chinese music. In addition to donjing and baisha xiyue, a style called huangjing yinyue also has an ancient history in the area, but is no longer known. Supposedly introduced to the Nakhi by Kublai Khan when he conquered the Kingdom of Dali and received help from a Nakhi leader named Mailiang, there are 24 simple, energetic qupai in use. Dongjing uses a type of musical notation called gongchepu. There are traditional dongjing operas, such as Song of the Water Dragon, Waves Washing the Sands, dongjing is a type of ritual music, said to have been sung by Taoist monks in the area. It was introduced at least by the AD 13th century, and is now only in Yunnan. Dongjing is traditional performed during the Chinese Lunar New Year, the President of the Dayan Naxi Ancient Music Association, Xuan Ke, has claimed that donjing originated from the religious and imperial music of the Tang and Song dynasties. This same period saw the developed of ci poetry, which accompanied music led by stringed instruments, by the 1980s, dongjing had mostly died out. It has since been revived, however, and its popularity among the generation is rebounding, especially in Chuxiong, Lijiang, Baoshan, Dali. The Dayan Naxi Ancient Music Association was formed in 1987 to help revive donjing, renowned modern performers include Peng Youshan and Lei Hongan
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Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
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Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
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Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
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Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
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Cantonese
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Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a variety of Chinese spoken in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China. It is the prestige variety of Yue, one of the major subdivisions of Chinese. In mainland China, it is the lingua franca of the province of Guangdong and some neighbouring areas such as Guangxi. In Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese serves as one of their official languages and it is also spoken amongst overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and throughout the Western World. When Cantonese and the closely related Yuehai dialects are classified together, Cantonese is viewed as vital part of the cultural identity for its native speakers across large swathes of southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares some vocabulary with Mandarin, the two varieties are mutually unintelligible because of differences in pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, sentence structure, in particular the placement of verbs, sometimes differs between the two varieties. This results in the situation in which a Cantonese and a Mandarin text may look similar, in English, the term Cantonese is ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton and this narrow sense may be specified as Canton language or Guangzhou language in English. However, Cantonese may also refer to the branch of Cantonese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang. In this article, Cantonese is used for Cantonese proper, historically, speakers called this variety Canton speech or Guangzhou speech, although this term is now seldom used outside mainland China. In Guangdong province, people call it provincial capital speech or plain speech. In Hong Kong and Macau, as well as among overseas Chinese communities, in mainland China, the term Guangdong speech is also increasingly being used among both native and non-native speakers. Due to its status as a prestige dialect among all the dialects of the Cantonese or Yue branch of Chinese varieties, the official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, as defined in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Chinese language has different varieties, of which Cantonese is one. Given the traditional predominance of Cantonese within Hong Kong, it is the de facto official spoken form of the Chinese language used in the Hong Kong Government and all courts and it is also used as the medium of instruction in schools, alongside English. A similar situation exists in neighboring Macau, where Chinese is an official language along with Portuguese. As in Hong Kong, Cantonese is the predominant spoken variety of Chinese used in life and is thus the official form of Chinese used in the government. The variant spoken in Hong Kong and Macau is known as Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese first developed around the port city of Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region of southeastern China
