Ancient Chinese musical instruments

Chinese national musical instruments are well known not due to their long history, but more importantly because of the varieties and tones so that not a single country's national musical instrument can be comparable.

According to relevant records, more than 20 kinds of musical instruments emerged during the period of Yin and Shang dynasties,with percussion and wind instruments playing an important role. There were more than 70 kinds of musical instruments during the Zhou Dynasty, along with the percussion and wind instruments with fixed pitches. Until the early Qin period, according to the production of materials,musicians divided musical instruments into eight categories,known as the "eight instruments:gold, stone, earth, leather,silk, wood,gourd, and bamboo. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn period, playing such musical instruments as the sheng, yu,and se (wind instruments), five-string lute, and Qin zithers became popular in folk communities. After the Qin and Han dynasties,the guzheng, pipa,flute, suona, huqin, ruan (plucked string instrument),yangqin, and other instruments emerged in succession in China. Some of these instruments were derived locally from China, and some introduced from border ethnic groups or foreign countries to the Central Plains.