China is located in Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam.
Chinese musical genres
Taoist music – In China, Taoism, including its music, was originally taught from master to pupil, from generation to generation. According to historical archives, the Taoist temples in Shanghai were built around 1100 AD, during the time of the Song Dynasty (960 – 1127). Taoist monks, however, would have appeared in the region much earlier. Taoist music in the Shanghai area originated at the same time and is known to have adapted the style and tradition of the local folk music of the greater Shanghai area or the so-called “Jiang-Nan” or “South Long River area”.
During the Cultural Revolution many of the Taoist temples and heritages were destroyed. The priests were forced to resign from their priesthood and to abandon their priest names. Very little of the tradition was preserved. After Taoism was recognized as a religion by the People’s Republic of China however, the temple in Shanghai was rebuilt and young priests were allowed to once more embrace the Taoist religion.
Over more than eight hundred years Shanghai Taoist music developed its own distinctive style and character: melodies with continuously rising and falling tunes, instrumental interludes between sentences to allow the singers to breathe, and utilizing many traditional wind, string and percussion instruments to refine the pieces.
Chinagrass have been applied recently to a growing number of Chinese and North American musicians who play acoustic music on stringed instruments, playing music that has its roots in Chinese music and includes bluegrass and other western elements.
Chinese Musicians
12 Girls Band
Anna Guo
Badma-Khanda
Bao Jian
Cheng Yu
Gao Hong
Geling Jiang
George Gao
Gong Linna
Guilian Liu
Guo Yue
Hanggai
He-Cheng Liu
Hong Ting
Hu Bin
Jia Peng Fang
Jiebing Chen
Lei Qiang
Li Xiangting
Lingling Yu
Liu Fang
Lunlun Zou
Mamer
Mei Han
Mengmeng Wu
Min Xiao-Fen
Sa Dingding
San Chuan
Shao Rong
The Taoist Music Orchestra of the Shanghai City God Temple
Urna Chahar-Tugchi
Wang Ciheng
Wang Fei
Wu Man
Xu Ke
Zhipeng Shen
Zhou Jinyan
Chinese Musical instruments
Some of the most common musical instruments in China are: pipa, zheng and xiao.
The Miao community in southwestern China play the following musical instruments: lusheng (reed pipe or mouth organ); yueqin (short-necked plucked lute); and cugenao (tree leaf).
Chinese Music Books
Chinese Music and Musical Instruments by by Xi Qiang, Shanghai Press, 2011. ISBN-10: 1602201056, ISBN-13: 978-1602201057.
Chinese Music (Introductions to Chinese Culture) by Jie Jin, Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN-10: 0521186919, ISBN-13: 978-0521186919.
