Chinese Music is an Independent Development System

Music is a soul-touching art that has developed in the long process of human civilization. A wide variety of distinctive music cultures, such as Indian, Asian, Jewish, Gypsy and Latin American music, are like glittering and dazzling pearls that are scattered throughout the world. Chinese music is also among the shining stars and mainly includes folk songs, dance music, instrumental music, quyi and opera based on a wide array of folk music. 

Statistics indicate that the number of Chinese folk songs collected so far totals more than 300,000 pieces, musical instruments more than 200. Furthermore, combinations of various musical instruments, various songs and playing styles result in a great number of musical genres. Chinese quyi and opera are both forms of comprehensive art, with the former divided into more than 200 categories and the latter more than 360 categories. Chinese music, as an independently developed system, has grown as one of the Chinese people's early cultural heritages and an integral part of world music civilization by absorbing and incorporating music cultures of all the ethnic groups and regions in the past millenniums.