List of Chinese musical instruments

Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories (classified by the material from which the instruments were made) known as bā yīn (八音). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these groups. The grouping of instruments in material categories in China is one of the first musical groupings ever devised.

Silk

Silk (絲) instruments are mostly stringed instruments (including those that are plucked, bowed, and struck). Since ancient times, the Chinese have used twisted silk for strings, though today metal or nylon are more frequently used. Instruments in the silk category include:

Plucked

  • Guqin (Chinese: 古琴; pinyin: gǔqín) – 7-stringed zithers
  • Se (Chinese: 瑟; pinyin: sè) – 25-stringed zither with movable bridges (ancient sources say 14, 25 or 50 strings)[citation needed]
  • Zheng (古箏) – 16–26 stringed zither with movable bridges
  • Konghou (箜篌) – harp
  • Huluqin (葫芦琴) – four-stringed lute with gourd body used by the Naxi people of Yunnan
  • Huleiqin (忽雷琴) - pear-shaped lute slightly smaller than the pipa, with 2 strings and body covered with snakeskin; it was used during the Tang dynasty but is no longer used
  • Pipa (琵琶) – pear-shaped fretted lute with 4 or 5 strings
  • Liuqin (柳琴) – small plucked, fretted lute with a pear-shaped body and four and five strings
  • Ruan (Chinese: 阮; pinyin: ruǎn) – moon-shaped lute in five sizes: gaoyin-, xiao-, zhong-, da-, and diyin-; sometimes called ruanqin (阮琴)
  • Yueqin (月琴) – plucked lute with a wooden body, a short fretted neck, and four strings tuned in pairs
  • Qinqin (秦琴) – plucked lute with a wooden body and fretted neck; also called meihuaqin (梅花琴, literally "plum blossom instrument", from its flower-shaped body)
  • Sanxian (三弦) – plucked lute with body covered with snakeskin and long fretless neck; the ancestor of the Japanese shamisen
  • Duxianqin (simplified Chinese: 独弦琴; traditional Chinese: 獨弦琴) – the instrument of the Jing people (Vietnamese people in China), a plucked, monochord zither with only one string, tuned to C3.
  • Huobosi (火不思) – a plucked long-necked lute of Turkic origin, may also be bowed
  • Tembor (弹拨尔) – a fretted plucked long-necked lute with five strings in three courses, used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
  • Dutar (都塔尔) – a fretted plucked long-necked lute with two strings, used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
  • Rawap (热瓦普 or 热瓦甫) – a fretless plucked long-necked lute used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
  • Đàn tính (天琴) - a 3 strings plucked lute of Zhuang people in Guangxi.
  • Qiben (起奔) - a four strings plucked lute of Lisu people
  • Wanqin (弯琴: shaped like a dragon boat. Its shape is very similar to Myanmar's saung-gauk. Another variation of the wanqin held in the form of a harp with four strings was found in a painting of Feitian in Mogao caves, Dunhuang province.
  • Kongqin (孔琴): A pear-shaped ruan with five strings similar to ukulele

Bowed

Re-enactment of an ancient traditional music performance
A mural from the tomb of Xu Xianxiu in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, dated 571 AD during the Northern Qi dynasty, showing male court musicians playing stringed instruments, either the liuqin or pipa, and a woman playing a konghou (harp)
  • Huqin (胡琴) – family of vertical fiddles
  • Erhu (二胡) – two-stringed fiddle
  • Zhonghu (中胡) – two-stringed fiddle, lower pitch than an erhu
  • Gaohu (高胡) – two-stringed fiddle, higher pitch than an erhu; also called yuehu (粤胡)
  • Banhu (板胡) – two-stringed fiddle with a coconut resonator and wooden face, used primarily in northern China
  • Jinghu (京胡) – two-stringed fiddle (piccolo erhu), very high pitched, used mainly for Beijing opera
  • Jing erhu (京二胡) – erhu used in Beijing opera
  • Erxian (二弦) – two-stringed fiddle, used in Cantonese, Chaozhou, and nanguan music
  • Tiqin (提琴) – two-stringed fiddle, used in kunqu, Chaozhou, Cantonese, Fujian, and Taiwanese music
  • Yehu (椰胡) – two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used primarily in Cantonese and Chaozhou music
  • Daguangxian (大广弦) – two-stringed fiddle used in Taiwan and Fujian, primarily by Min Nan and Hakka people; also called datongxian (大筒弦), guangxian (广弦), and daguanxian (大管弦)
  • Datong (大筒) – two-stringed fiddle used in the traditional music of Hunan
  • Kezaixian (壳仔弦) – two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used in Taiwan opera
  • Liujiaoxian (六角弦) – two-stringed fiddle with hexagonal body, similar to the jing erhu; used primarily in Taiwan
  • Tiexianzai (鐵弦仔) – a two-stringed fiddle with metal amplifying horn at the end of its neck, used in Taiwan; also called guchuixian (鼓吹弦)
  • Hexian (和弦) – large fiddle used primarily among the Hakka of Taiwan
  • Huluhu (simplified Chinese: 葫芦胡; traditional Chinese: 葫盧胡) – two-stringed fiddle with gourd body used by the Zhuang of Guangxi
  • Maguhu (simplified Chinese: 马骨胡; traditional Chinese: 馬骨胡; pinyin: mǎgǔhú) – two-stringed fiddle with horse bone body used by the Zhuang and Buyei peoples of southern China
  • Tuhu (土胡) – two-stringed fiddle used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi
  • Jiaohu (角胡) – two-stringed fiddle used by the Gelao people of Guangxi, as well as the Miao and Dong
  • Liuhu (六胡) - six-stringed fiddle of Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia
  • Sihu (四胡) – four-stringed fiddle with strings tuned in pairs
  • Sanhu (三胡) – 3-stringed erhu with an additional bass string; developed in the 1970s
  • Zhuihu (simplified Chinese: 坠胡; traditional Chinese: 墜胡) – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
  • Zhuiqin (simplified Chinese: 坠琴; traditional Chinese: 墜琴) – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
  • Leiqin (雷琴) – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
  • Dihu (低胡) – low pitched two-stringed fiddles in the erhu family, in three sizes:
    • Xiaodihu (小低胡) – small dihu, tuned one octave below the erhu
    • Zhongdihu (中低胡) – medium dihu, tuned one octave below the zhonghu
    • Dadihu (大低胡) – large dihu, tuned two octaves below the erhu
  • Dahu (大胡) – another name for the xiaodihu
  • Cizhonghu – another name for the xiaodihu
  • Gehu – four-stringed bass instrument, tuned and played like cello
  • Diyingehu (低音革胡) – four-stringed contrabass instrument, tuned and played like double bass
  • Laruan (拉阮) – four-stringed bowed instrument modeled on the cello
  • Paqin (琶琴) – bowed pear-shaped lute
  • Dapaqin (大琶琴) – bass paqin
  • Niutuiqin or niubatui (牛腿琴 or 牛巴腿) – two-stringed fiddle used by the Dong people of Guizhou
  • Matouqin (馬頭琴) – (Mongolian: morin khuur) – Mongolian two-stringed "horsehead fiddle"
  • Xiqin (奚琴) – ancient prototype of huqin family of instruments
  • Shaoqin (韶琴) - electric huqin
  • Yazheng (simplified Chinese: 轧筝; traditional Chinese: 軋箏) – bowed zither; also called yaqin (simplified Chinese: 轧琴; traditional Chinese: 軋琴)
  • Wenzhenqin (文枕琴) – a zither with 9 strings bowed
  • Zhengni (琤尼) – bowed zither; used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi
  • Ghaychak (艾捷克) – four-stringed bowed instrument used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang; similar to kamancheh
  • Sataer (萨塔尔 or 萨它尔) – long-necked bowed lute with 13 strings used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang. 1 playing string and 12 sympathetic strings.
  • Khushtar (胡西它尔) – a four-stringed bowed instrument used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang.

Struck

  • Yangqin (揚琴) – hammered dulcimer
  • Zhu (筑) – a zither similar to a guzheng, played with a bamboo mallet
  • Niujinqin (牛筋琴) – a zither used to accompany traditional narrative singing in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. Similar to a se but played with a bamboo mallet.

Combined

  • Wenqin (文琴) – a combination of the erhu, konghou, sanxian and guzheng with 50 or more steel strings.

Bamboo

A half-section of the Song dynasty (960–1279) version of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, original by Gu Hongzhong; the female musicians in the center of the image are playing transverse bamboo flutes and guan, and the male musician is playing a wooden clapper called paiban.
A bawu in the key of F

Bamboo (竹) mainly refers to woodwind instruments, which includes;

Flutes

Free reed pipes

Single reed pipes

Double reed pipes

Wood

A set of muyu, or Chinese wooden slit drums. The sound produced is affected by the instrument's size, type of wood, and how hollow it is.

Most wood (木) instruments are of the ancient variety:

Stone

The stone (石) category comprises various forms of stone chimes.

Metal (金)

Clay (土)

Gourd (匏)

Hide-skin (革)

A Chaozhou dagu (large drum)
A Chinese Bolang Gu

Others

Playing contexts

Chinese instruments are either played solo, collectively in large orchestras (as in the former imperial court) or in smaller ensembles (in teahouses or public gatherings). Normally, there is no conductor in traditional Chinese music, nor any use of musical scores or tablature in performance. Music was generally learned aurally and memorized by the musician(s) beforehand, then played without aid. As of the 20th century, musical scores have become more common, as has the use of conductors in larger orchestral-type ensembles.

Musical instruments in use in the 1800s

These watercolour illustrations, made in China in the 1800s, show several types of musical instruments being played:

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Don Michael Randel, ed. (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.). Harvard University Press. pp. 260–262. ISBN 978-0-674-01163-2.
  2. ↑ "少数民族拉弦乐器 : 艾捷克". www.chinamedley.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Patricia Ebrey (1999), Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 148.
  4. ↑ "photo". Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Chinese Musical Instrument-Bolanggu
  6. ↑ Endymion Wilkinson (2000), Chinese history, Harvard Univ Asia Center, ISBN 978-0-674-00249-4
Sources