Chinese

The music of China dates back to the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC).

Today, the music continues a rich traditional heritage in one aspect, while emerging into a more contemporary form at the same time. In summary the commercialized segment is in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The more diverse and sophisticated genres and aspects are in mainland China. According to Mencius, a ruler had asked him whether it was moral if he preferred popular music to the classics.

The answer was that the only thing matters being whether or not he loved his subjects. The Imperial Music Bureau, first established in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), was greatly expanded under the Emperor Han Wu Di (140-87 BC) and charged with supervising court music and military music and determining what folk music would be officially recognized.

In subsequent dynasties, the development of Chinese music was strongly influenced by foreign music, especially that of Central Asia. The oldest written music is Youlan or the Solitary Orchid, attributed to Confucius (see guqin article for a sample of tablature).

The first major well-documented flowering of Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang Dynasty, though the qin is known to have been played since before the Han Dynasty. In ancient China the position of musicians was much lower than that of painters, though music was seen as central to the harmony and longevity of the state.

Almost every emperor took folk songs seriously, sending officers to collect songs to inspect the popular will. One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing (poets), contained many folk songs dating from 800 BC to about 300 BC.

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