Chinese music

March of the Volunteers

2008-09-25T02:12:00.003-07:00

March of the Volunteers is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China , written by the noted poet and playwright Tian Han with music composed by Nie Er. This composition is a . The piece was first performed as part of a 1934 Shanghai play and its original lyrics are the official lyrics of the national anthem. In 2004, a provision that the March of the Volunteers be the national anthem was added to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China as Article 136.

Origins as National Anthem

''March of the Volunteers'' was written by Tian Han during the 1934 Republic of China era for a play he was writing at the time. Popular stories suggest, however, that he wrote it on a tobacco paper after being arrested in Shanghai and thrown into a Kuomintang jail in 1935. The song, with a minor alteration, became the theme song of the 1935 patriotic film ''Sons and Daughters in a Time of Storm'', a story about an intellectual who leaves to fight in the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was one of many songs that were promoted secretly among the population as part of the anti-Japanese resistance. The song was released as an album by the label of EMI in 1935.

It was used as the national anthem for the first time in an international conference in February 1949 held in Prague, Czechoslovakia. At the time Beijing had recently come into the control of the Chinese Communists in the Chinese Civil War. There was controversy over the line "The Chinese nation faces its greatest peril". Historian Guo Moruo changed the line to "The Chinese people have come to their moment of emancipation" .

In June, a committee was set up by the Communist Party of China to decide on an official national anthem for the soon-to-be declared People's Republic of China. By the end of August, the committee had received 6926 submissions. ''March of the Volunteers'' was suggested by painter Xu Beihong and almost unanimously supported by the members of the committee. There was contention, however, over the issue of the third line. On this Zhou Enlai made the conclusive judgement: "We still have imperialist enemies in front of us. The more we progress in development, the more the imperialists will hate us, seek to undermine us, attack us. Can you say that we won't be in peril?" His view was supported by Mao Zedong and on 27 September 1949, the song became the provisional national anthem, just days before the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Cultural Revolution and later history

During the Cultural Revolution, Tian Han was imprisoned, and the March of the Volunteers was therefore forbidden to be ''sung''; as a result there was a period of time when "The East Is Red" was used as the unofficial national anthem.

The March of the Volunteers was restored by the National People's Congress in 1978, but with different lyrics; however, these new lyrics were never very popular and caused a great deal of confusion. For example, the last sentence of the lyrics read "inherit the thinking of Chairman Mao", which was disgusting.

During China's 1981 volleyball World Cup victories, both the old and new lyrics were sung simultaneously amongst fans. On 4 December 1982, the National People's Congress resolved to restore the original 1935 version by Tian Han as the official national anthem. Significantly the current lyrics do not mention either the Communist Party of China nor Mao Zedong and the reversion of the lyrics was symbolic of the downfall of Hua Guofeng and the cult of personality of Mao and the ascendancy of Deng Xiaoping's openness reforms.

The National People's Congress made the song the official PRC anthem in a 2004 amendment of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. The anthem is mentioned immediately after the national flag.

Although popular among during the Sino-Japanese War , the song was banned in the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan, until the 1990s.

The anthem was performed in an official capacity in Hong Kong for the first time following the of the territory to the PRC in 1997, and the of Macau in 1999.

The use of the anthem in Macau, China is governed in Law n.o 5/1999 since 20 December 1999. Article 7 of the Law requires the national anthem to be accurately performed pursuant to the sheet music in Appendix 4 and prohibits the lyrics from being altered. Willfully failing to follow the sheet music or altering the lyric when performing the national anthem in public is criminally punishable by imprisonment of up to 3 years or up to 360 day-fines. The sheet music in Appendix 4 has the lyric in Chinese only without Portuguese translation even though both Chinese and Portuguese are official languages of Macau. Interestingly, there are no analogous laws in Hong Kong or in mainland China.

The anthem is written completely in Vernacular Chinese, while the "National Anthem of the Republic of China" is written in Classical Chinese.

Official lyrics

Altered lyrics

Lonely China Day

2008-09-25T02:12:00.001-07:00

Lonely China Day is an indie rock band from Beijing.

Music

The marquee band of the Tag Team Records label, Lonely China Day has a sound that has been compared to that of Sigur Rós, due to a use of methodical, droning guitars and non-English lyrics. Lead singer Deng Pei performs in the Mandarin language

Members

*Deng Pei - vocals, guitar
*Wang Dongtao - guitar
*He Feng - bass guitar
*Luo Hao - drums

List of guzheng players

2008-09-25T02:09:00.001-07:00

The following is a list of notable ''guzheng'' players in alphabetical order by surname. The ''guzheng'' or ''zheng'' is a Chinese musical instrument, it is a zither with movable bridges.

*Cao Zheng
*Levi Chen
*
*Chou Chih-Lin
*Choi Ngar Si
*Bradley Fish
*Gao Zicheng
*Guo Ying
*Mei Han
*Lou Harrison
*
*Hong See-wah
*Mike Hovancsek
*
*Jaron Lanier
*Liang Tsai-Ping
*Zi Lan Liao
*Lin Maogen
*
*Weishan Liu
*
*
*Luo Jiuxiang ,
*
*Mao Ya
*Qian Jing
*丘大成
*丘霁
*
*Su Wenxian
*
*Teng Chun Jiang
*Vi An
*Andreas Vollenweider
*Wang Changyuan
*Wang Fei
*Wang Xunzhi
*Wang Yong
*
* (吴非）
*Wu Nan
*吴丽
*
*
*
*
*Yang Xiuming
*Yuan Sha
*Zhang Yan
*Gangqin Zhao
*Zhao Yuzhai
*Zhou Yanjia
*Lunlun Zou

Note that in Chinese, the order is surname first followed by given name. See Chinese names.

In Love with Drama

2008-09-25T02:08:00.000-07:00

In Love With Drama is a CD which is produce by TVB Music Limited.This CD products at 30 May2007.

Songs

Historical Chinese anthems

2008-09-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

Historical Chinese Anthems are a number of official and unofficial national anthems composed during the early 20th century. Today, there are only two remaining:
:Republic of China - ""
:People's Republic of China - "The March of the Volunteers"

"Tune of Li Zhongtang"

''Quasi-official''

For purposes of diplomatic missions to Western Europe and Russia, Li Hongzhang employed in 1896 political lyrics combined with classical Chinese music -- later known as "The Tune of Li Zhongtang" .
{| BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="10"
|
金殿當頭紫閣重，

仙人掌上玉芙蓉，

太平天子朝天日，

五色雲車�br />

"Praise the Dragon Flag"

''Quasi-official''

After the Department of Army was established in 1906, it became the army song, and had been played at formal occasions overseas.

?兆 usually means one trillion , but it could mean one million , and should have that value here in the song for factual accuracy. See Chinese numerals for details.

"The Cup of Solid Gold"

The first and only official national anthem of the Qing Empire lived less than a month when the Wuchang Uprising occurred in 1911. It is in Classical Chinese. However, the Republic of China denies that "The Cup of Solid Gold" was ever a national anthem.

1912 Draft

''Provisional''

After the establishment of the provisional government in Nanjing, the Ministry of Education under Cai Yuanpei asked the public for possible anthem , and the one whose lyrics was written by Shen Enyun and music by Shen Pengnian was released as a draft in the newspaper.

"How Great is Our China!"

''Unofficial''

Also called "Patriotic Song" , "How Great is Our China!" has lyrics written by Liang Qichao and music by overseas Chinese in Datong School , Yokohama. Released in 1912, it was widespread especially among students.

"China Heroically Stands in the Universe"

''Official''

After Yuan Shikai took over China, his Ritual Regulations Office issued the new official anthem "China heroically stands in the Universe" on June 1915. Its lyrics were written by Yin Chang and music by Wang Lu .

"The Song to the Auspicious Cloud"

''Official''

This song has two versions, one is used in 1913 while another in 1920

First version of The Song to the Auspicious Cloud

In Apr.8th, 1913, the national anthem used in opening ceremony of the 1st regular council, the last line is added by Wang Baorong , others lines are from '''', and set to music by Jeans Hautstont.

Second Version of The Song to the Auspicious Cloud

In November 1919, Tuan Chi-jui established the National Anthem Research Committee , which adopted:
* The lyrics by Zhang Taiyan from the "The Song to the Auspicious Cloud" from ''''
* The music by a Beijinger professor, Xiao Youmei .
The anthem was released in July 1921 by the Department of National Affairs .

?糺 is sometimes written as 糾 or 織

The "Revolution of the Citizens" Song

''Provisional''

Written by officers of the Whampoa Military Academy, The "Revolution of the Citizens" Song , sung to the tune of "''Frère Jacques'' ," was released on July 1, 1926.

The Internationale

When the Chinese Soviet Republic was established in 1931, was decided to be its national anthem, since it followed the ideals of Communism, especially the Soviet Union.

Guerillas' Song

2008-09-25T01:54:00.003-07:00

The Guerillas' Song is a patroric song in Second Sino-Japanese War.

History

This song Describes the Guerilla of China Communist Party, writed and musiced by He lvting

Lyrics

Simplified Chinese

我们都是神枪手

每一颗子弹消灭一个敌人

我们都是飞行军

哪怕那山高水又深

在密密的树林里

到处都安排同志们的宿营地

在高高的山岗上

有我们无数的好兄弟

没有吃，没有穿，

自有那敌人送上前

没有枪，没有炮

敌人给我们造

我们生长在这里

每一寸土地都是我们自己的

无论谁要抢占去

我们就和他拼到底！

哪怕日本强盗凶

我们的弟兄打起来真英勇

哪怕敌人枪炮狠

找不到我们的踪和影

让敌人乱冲闯

我们的阵地建立在敌人侧后方

敌人的战线越延长

我们的队伍越扩张

不分穷，不分富

四万万同胞齐武装

不分党，不分派

大家都来抵抗

我们越打越坚强

日本强盗正在走向灭亡

待到最后胜利日

世界的和平见曙光

Traditional Chinese

我們都是神槍手

每一顆子彈消滅一個敵人

我們都是飛行軍

哪怕那山高水又深

在密密的樹林裏

到處都安排同誌們的宿營地

在高高的山崗上

有我們無數的好兄弟

沒有吃，沒有穿，

自有那敵人送上前

沒有槍，沒有炮

敵人給我們造

我們生長在這裏

每一寸土地都是我們自己的

無論誰要搶占去

我們就和他拼到底！

哪怕日本強盜兇

我們的弟兄打起來真英勇

哪怕敵人槍炮狠

找不到我們的蹤和影

讓敵人亂沖闖

我們的陣地建立在敵人側後方

敵人的戰線越延長

我們的隊伍越擴張

不分窮，不分富

四萬萬同胞齊武裝

不分黨，不分派

大家都來抵抗

我們越打越堅強

日本強盜正在走向滅亡

待到最後勝利日

世界的和平見曙光

Hanyu Pinyin

wǒ mén dōu shì shén qiāng shǒu

měi yī kē zǐ dàn xiāo miè yī gè dí rén

wǒ mén dōu shì fēi xíng jūn

nǎ pà nà shān gāo shuǐ yòu shēn

zài mì mì de shù lín lǐ

dào chǔ dōu ān pái tóng zhì mén de sù yíng dì

zài gāo gāo de shān gǎng shàng

yǒu wǒ mén wú shù de hǎo xiōng dì

méi yǒu chī ， méi yǒu chuān ，

zì yǒu nà dí rén sòng shàng qián

méi yǒu qiāng ， méi yǒu pào

dí rén gěi wǒ mén zào

wǒ mén shēng zhǎng zài zhè lǐ

měi yī cùn tǔ dì dōu shì wǒ mén zì jǐ de

wú lùn shuí yào qiǎng zhàn qù

wǒ mén jiù hé tā pīn dào dǐ ！

nǎ pà rì běn qiáng dào xiōng

wǒ mén de dì xiōng dǎ qǐ lái zhēn yīng yǒng

nǎ pà dí rén qiāng pào hěn

zhǎo bù dào wǒ mén de zōng hé yǐng

ràng dí rén luàn chōng chuǎng

wǒ mén de zhèn dì jiàn lì zài dí rén cè hòu fāng

dí rén de zhàn xiàn yuè yán cháng

wǒ mén de duì wǔ yuè kuò zhāng

bù fēn qióng ， bù fēn fù

sì wàn wàn tóng bāo qí wǔ zhuāng

bù fēn dǎng ， bù fēn pai

dà jiā dōu lái dǐ kàng

wǒ mén yuè dǎ yuè jiān qiáng

rì běn qiáng dào zhèng zài zǒu xiàng miè wáng

dài dào zuì hòu shèng lì rì

shì jiè de hé píng jiàn shǔ guāng

English Translation

We are sharpshooters,

wipe out one enemy by only one bullet,

We are pilots,

No matter how high the mountain is, no matter how deep the water is,

In the tight forest,

comrade's dorm is all over.

On the high mountain,

There's unlimited brothers of us,

If we haven't food and clothes,

Enemy will give us,

If we haven't weapon,

enemy will supply us.

We are born in here,

every inch of the land is ourselves,

no matter who want to occupy it forcely,

We will struggle with him.

No matter how inhuman of the Japanese Robber,

Our brother act bravely in the war.

Though enemy's weapon is advance,

they can not find us.

We let enemy's walk without aim.

Our base is in the back of enemy.

When the battle line of enemy extends,

Our team is grow big, too.

No matter poor or rich,

400 million people become armed.

No matter which party,

We all struggle Japanese,

We become stronger in the war,

Japanese Robber is go to lose.

When the last victory day comes,

the sunshine of World Peace will come out.

Gongche notation

2008-09-25T01:54:00.001-07:00

Gongche'' notation or gongchepu is a traditional musical notation method, once popular in ancient China. It uses Chinese characters to represent musical notes. It was named after two of the Chinese characters that were used to represent musical notes, namely "工" ''gōng'' and "尺" ''chě''. Since the pronunciation ''chě'' for the character "尺" is uncommon, many people call it gongchi'' notation or gongchipu by mistake.

Sheet music written in this notation is still used for traditional Chinese musical instruments and Chinese operas. However the notation is becoming less popular, replaced by mostly ''jianpu'' and sometimes the standard western notation.

The notes

Basic characters

The notation usually uses a system. There are variations of the character set used for musical notes. A commonly accepted set is shown below with its relation to ''jianpu'' and solfege.

Usual variations

The three notes just below the central octave are usually represented by special characters:

Sometimes "士" ''shì'' is used instead of "四" ''sì''. Sometimes "一" ''yī'' is not used, or its role is exchanged with "乙" ''yǐ''.

To represent other notes in different octaves, traditions differ among themselves. For ''Kunqu'', the end strokes of "上" "尺" "工" "凡" are extended by a tiny slash downward for the lower octave, a "亻" is added for one octave higher than the central. For Cantonese opera, however, "亻" means an octave lower, while "彳" means an octave higher.

Some other variations:
* "尺" is replaced by "乂" in Taiwanese tradition.
* "凡" is replaced by "反" in Cantonese tradition.
* "彳上", the "do" just above the central octave, is usually replaced by "生" in Cantonese tradition.

The following are two examples.

Pronunciation

When the notes are sung in different opera traditions, they do not sound as how the characters are usually pronounced in the respective . Instead, they are pronounced in an approximation of Standard Mandarin pronunciaton. The following is an example from Cantonese opera.

Rhythm

''Gongche'' notation does not mark the relative length of the notes. Instead, marks for the percussion, understood to be played at regular intervals, are written alongside with the notes. Gongche is written in the same format as how Chinese was traditionally written; from top to bottom and then from right to left. The rhythm marks are written to the right of the note characters.

The diagram at the left illustrates how the tune "Old McDonald Had a Farm" will look like if written in ''gongche'' notation. Here, "。" denotes the stronger beat, called "板" ''bǎn'' or "拍" ''pāi'', and "、" denotes the weaker beat, called "眼" ''yǎn'' or "撩" ''liáo''. In effect, there is one beat in every two notes, ie two notes are sung or played to each beat. These notes in solfege with markings will show a similar effect:
:do do do sol la la sol mi mi re re do

Using this method, only the number of notes within a beat can specified. The actual length of each note is up to tradition and the interpretation of the artist.

Notice that the actual rhythm marks used differ among various traditions.

History and usage

''Gongche'' notation was invented in the Tang Dynasty. It became popular in the Song Dynasty. It is believed to have begun as a tablature of certain musical instrument, possibly using a fixed "do" system. Later it became a popular pitch notation, using usually a movable "do" system.

The notation is not accurate in modern sense. It provides a musical skeleton, allowing an artist to improvise. The details are usually passed on by oral tradition. However, once a tradition is lost, it is very difficult to reconstruct how the music was supposed to sound. Variations among different traditions increased the difficulty in learning the notation.

The system was also introduced to Korea in ancient times and many traditional musicians still learn their music from such scores .

Gong Jin'ou

2008-09-25T01:53:00.003-07:00

Gong Jin'ou was the first official national anthem of China, though it was used only for a short time due to the Republic of China overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.

The song was composed by Bo Tong , a high-ranking officer of the . The lyrics, in Classical Chinese, were penned by Yan Fu, commander of the Qing Navy. Guo Cengxin , Master of Ceremonies, made some minor adjustments and arranged the music. Gong Jin'ou was adopted by the Qing government on the 13th Day and 8th Month of the 3rd Year of the Xuantong Emperor's reign . However, only six days later was the Wuchang Uprising, which effectively led to the end of the Qing Dynasty with the declaration of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912 and the abdication of the emperor on February 12, 1912. As a result, the anthem never gained any notability. Since it praises the Qing dynasty specifically, it is also a Royal anthem.

Chinese lyrics

:鞏金甌，
:承天幬，
:民物欣鳧藻，
:喜同袍，
:清時幸遭。
:真熙皞，
:帝國蒼穹保。
:天高高，
:海滔滔。

Hanyu Pinyin

:Gǒng jīn'ōu
:Chéng tiānchóu,
:Mínwù xīn fúzǎo,
:Xǐ tóngbāo,
:Qīng shí xìngzāo.
:Zhēn xī hào,
:Dìguó cāngqióng bǎo.
:Tiān gāogāo,
:Hǎi tāotāo.

English translation

:Solidify our golden empire,
:Underneath the aegis of heaven,
:All of civilization will cease to toil,
:United in happiness and mirth,
:As long as the Qing rules.
:Our empire is emblazoned by light,
:And our boundaries are vast and preserved.
:The expanse stretches infinitely,
:The sea brims with turbulence.

Dagu

2008-09-25T01:53:00.001-07:00

Dagu may have two meanings:

*A large Chinese drum played with sticks
*A genre of ''shuochang'' , which is usually accompanied by a small drum and sometimes also other string instruments

Dadao March

2008-09-25T01:37:00.005-07:00

The Dadao March is patroric song during the Second Sino-Japanese War (called the War of Resistance , this song is also commonly knows as Use the Dadao to hack down the devil's head, where the term devil was commonly referring to the invading Japanese soldiers.

History

Mai Xin wrote the song and lyrics to honor the courageous efforts of the 29th Army whom defended Marco Polo Bridge in Lugouqiao Incident, whose standard weapon was only a rifle and a Dadao . This song became the de-facto army marching song for the NRA, as shown in the movie and The Children of Huang Shi.

Lyrics

Simplified Chinese

大刀向鬼子们的头上砍去！

全国武装的弟兄们！

抗战的一天来到了，

抗战的一天来到了！

前面有东北的义勇军，

后面有全国的老百姓，

咱们中国军队勇敢前进，

看准那敌人！

把他消灭，把他消灭！

冲阿!

大刀向鬼子们的头上砍去，

杀！

Traditional Chinese

大刀向鬼子們的頭上砍去！

全國武裝的弟兄們！

抗戰的一天來到了，

抗戰的一天來到了！

前面有東北的義勇軍，

後面有全國的老百姓，

咱們中國軍隊勇敢前進，

看準那敵人！

把他消滅，把他消滅！

衝啊!

大刀向鬼子們的頭上砍去，

殺！

Hanyu Pinyin

dà dāo xiàng guǐ zǐ mén de tóu shàng kǎn qù ！

quán guó wǔ zhuāng de dì xiōng mén ！

kàng zhàn de yī tiān lái dào le ，

kàng zhàn de yī tiān lái dào le ！

qián miàn yǒu dōng běi de yì yǒng jūn ，

hòu miàn yǒu quán guó de lǎo bǎi xìng ，

zán mén gōng nóng jūn duì yǒng gǎn qián jìn ，

zhàn shèng quán bù dí rén ！

bǎ tā mén xiāo miè ， xiāo miè ， xiāo miè ！

dà dāo xiàng guǐ zǐ mén de tóu shàng kǎn qù ，

shā ！

English Translation

Use the Dadao to hack down the devil's head!

The armed brothers all over the nation,

The war of resistance has started,

The war of resistance has started,

The Voluteers Army in the northeast is in the front fighting,

Citizens all over the nation is in the back supporting,

Our Chinese army march bravely,

Aim straight at the enemy,

Destroy them, Destroy them!

Charge!

Use the Dadao to hack down the devil's head

Kill!

Chuigushou

2008-09-25T01:37:00.003-07:00

The Han Chinese, who make up some 92% of the population of China, play heterophonic music in which the musicians play versions of a single line. accompanies most music, dance and opera.

Instrumental pieces played on an erhu or dizi are popular, and are often available outside of China, but qin, pipa and zheng music, which is more traditional, are more popular in China itself. The qin is perhaps the national instrument of China, and its virtuosos are stars. These include Zha Fuxi, Wu Wen'guang, Lin Youren, Wu Jinglue, Wu Zhaoji, Guan Pinghu, Zhang Zijian, Li Xiangting, and Gong Yi. The zheng, a form of zither, is most popular in Henan, Chaozhou, Hakka, and Shandong. The pipa, a kind of lute, believing introduced from areas during 6th century and improved, is most popular in Shanghai and surrounding areas.

Han folk music thrives at weddings and funerals and usually included a form of oboe called a suona and percussive s called chuigushou. The music is diverse, sometimes jolly, sometimes sad, and often based on Western Pop music and TV theme songs.

Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York

2008-09-25T01:37:00.001-07:00

Founded in 1999, the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York is dedicated to the preservation, creation and presentation of Chinese traditional and contemporary performing arts. It is based in , Queens, New York.

Named after an ancient piece of folk music, “Ba Ban” literally means “Eight Beats” which is the structural basis for the grouping of notes in traditional Chinese music.

The ensemble includes highly accomplished artists who have performed in concert halls around the world.

The ensemble performs on Silk and Bamboo instruments-a classical instrumental grouping dating from the Qing Dynasty that includes various dizi , sheng , pipa , zhongruan , guzheng , huqin , and yangqin .

In addition to concerts, Ba Ban also offers arts education programs. Since its founding, the ensemble has performed frequently in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York University, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Peabody Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Longy School of Music.

Ba Ban also performed at a landmark event, New York State’s first official celebration of the “Lunar New Year 4698”. Recent performances include the Spoleto Festival's premiere show, . Ba Ban collaborated with Damon Albarn and famed director Chen Shi-Zheng.

Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto

2008-09-25T01:36:00.006-07:00

The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto is one of the most famous works of Chinese music and certainly one of the most famous outside of China. It is an orchestral adaptation of an ancient legend, the ''Butterfly Lovers''. Written for the western style orchestra, it features a solo violin played using some Chinese techniques.

Traditional Chinese composers often write in a different tonal system than western . As a result, this can make the music sound constantly out of tune to some Western ears. The Butterfly Lover's Violin Concerto is written in the familiar western tonal system, but it utilizes many Chinese melodies, chord structures and patterns. This makes the Butterfly Lovers' more accessible than other Chinese works, such as the also famous Yellow River Piano Concerto.

The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto was written by two Chinese composers, Chen Gang and He Zhanhao in 1959 while they were students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The music did not acquire popularity before the late 1970s, when China loosened its restrictions after the Cultural Revolution. Once released from censorship, it became an embodiment of China in transition. Today it is popular and is slated as part of the Olympics celebrations in 2008. The work is also a common feature in figure skating and in concert halls worldwide. This concerto is now often performed with Chinese instruments playing the violin part, the most common being Erhu, Pipa and Liuqin. In such cases the soloist is often accompanied by an orchestra consisting of Chinese instruments.

He Zhanhao is more widely credited for the composition of the concerto. However, his main contribution was the famous opening theme while most of the development was in fact written by Chen Gang. This was revealed in an exclusive interview with the latter.

Story and Musical Elements

The concerto is in one movement, but is broken into distinct sections. Each tells a different part of the story of the Butterfly Lovers. Some of the melodies come from the Chinese Opera of the same name or from traditional Chinese folk songs. The solo violin of the concerto is symbolic of Zhu Yingtai, the story's protagonist, and the cello part is symbolic of Liang Shanbo, her lover.

The concerto begins with a flute and then enters into a simple melody played by the solo violinist. This melody comes from a Chinese folk song of the yellow river, and tells the story of Zhu Yingtai's childhood. The solo violin is accompanied by a harp and other elements of the orchestra.

Next, the concerto tells of Zhu Yingtai's disguising herself as a man and her journey to Hangzhou to attend university. The solo violin plays a complex and fast melody floating above the rest of the orchestra. When Zhu arrives she meets Liang Shanbo, a fellow student. The two spend three years together as good friends. Zhu falls in love with Liang, but cannot express her feelings without revealing her identity as a woman.

When both the students must return home, Zhu invites Liang to visit her family and to court her sister. He doesn't know that Zhu is really inviting him to marry her. Liang promises to see Zhu again, but Liang waits before doing so. When Liang arrives, he sees Zhu and realizes that she is a woman, and they fall in love. The solo violin and cello parts play a sad duet that is the most famous and powerful of the work.

The love duet between the two is replaced by anger as Liang learns that in his absence, Zhu has been betrothed to another. The two solo parts contrast the rest of the orchestra. Several melodies are used in this section, the orchestra plays loud and accented chords in between the softer cello and violin parts and the parts are often intertwined. Liang becomes sick and dies as the music replays the duet of their love. Zhu and the orchestra continue to play their contrasting parts. The section ends with the suicide of Zhu Yingtai as the solo violin plays an overarching high note. The lover's parts are overcome by a final orchestral section. In the legend, Liang's grave opens and Zhu throws herself into the chasm.

The lovers' themes return and the two lovers are magically transformed into butterflies.

Chen Gexin

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Chen Gexin was a popular music songwriter.

Biography

Chen was born into an elite family and had a grandfather from India. He was jailed during the occupation of Shanghai by forces during Second Sino-Japanese War for his patriotic songs.

With the seizure of power in China in 1949, popular music was considered ideologically suspect and Chen was labeled a and imprisoned in a ''laogai'' for "reform through labor" in 1957. He died soon after at the age of 47.

Chen Gexin was the father, with a pianist, of Chinese classical composer Chen Gang and grandfather of China's first "Miss Internet," Chen Fanhong.

Music

Chen was the composer of famous mid-20th century popular standards as ''Shanghai at Night'' sung by Zhou Xuan and ''In The Mood For Love'' . His song ''Rose, Rose, I Love You'', sung by singer Frankie Laine in 1951, is the only major popular music hit in the United States by a Chinese composer. When Chen's youngest son went to the United States for advanced education, he was able to meet Laine and thereafter maintained a correspondence. Another of his songs, ''Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity'', originally written to celebrate the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, has become a popular Chinese New Year standard. His music continues to be performed and is featured in films such as ''''.

Chinese Musicians' Association

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The Chinese Musicians' Association is China's largest and most important musical organization. It was established in July 1949 by the Communist Party of China.

According to its website, the association's responsibilities include "contact, coordination, and service." The association promotes new musical composition, organizes music competitions, provides rewards and commendations for prominent musical contributions, and sponsors musical research. It also carries out foreign musical exchange, bringing Chinese music to the world.

The organization's staff numbers nearly 100. It publishes several periodicals and publishes audio and video recordings.

The Chinese Musicians' Association maintains nine specialized committees and 60 secondary academic societies.

Chinese New Hymnal

2008-09-25T01:36:00.001-07:00

The Chinese New Hymnal was published during the early 1980s and is the predominantly most used hymn book at the worship of the Protestant churches in the present-day China.

Chinese New Hymnal

The Chinese New Hymnal was bugun being edited in 1980 when the religious persecution during the Cultural Revolution, especially against Christianity, subsided and the Christian worship re-started, with the intention to collect both domestic and overseas hymns. Its "Simple notation version," using the musical notation called the numbered musical notation system, where musical notes are written as 1, 2, 3, etc., corresponding to do, re, mi, etc., was published in 1983 and " version" 1985. The former version is predominantly used in the present-day China.

The Chinese New Hymnal includes 400 hymns, with the addendum of 40 "Short Songs." In addition to the songs from Europe and the Americas, special effort was made to collect the songs written by the Chinese people. It was printed by and published by China Christian Council. "The English-Chinese Bilingual New Hymnal" was later published, in 1998, but is hard to obtain..

The Protestant churches in the present-day China almost exclusively select the worship songs from this hymn book. Some of the Chinese-written songs have been adopted by the hymnals of other countries.

Protestant Worship in China

The Chinese Union Version of the Bible, the Chinese New Hymnal, the Lord's Prayer as it is written in the Chinese Union Version and the Apostles' Creed are usually used in the Protestant worship in China.

Chinese scale

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The Chinese Scale is a scale commonly found in traditional Chinese Music. The Scale is chacterized by the use of only 1 step and 1.5 steps.

Scale Formula

1 step + 1step + 1.5 step + 1 step

Chinese orchestra

2008-09-25T01:35:00.001-07:00

The term Chinese orchestra can refer to either:
* The ancient Chinese orchestra, or
* The modern Chinese orchestra

The ancient Chinese orchestra

According to recent archaeological findings, ancient Chinese music was much more developed and sophisticated than is generally believed. Music had already been an important element in traditional ritualistic ceremonies during the Shang Dynasty , and it reached one of its greatest peaks during the Zhou Dynasty .

It featured a great abundance of percussion instruments. There were also several wind instruments, but only a few zither-type string instruments were used. All the bowed string instruments and most of the plucked string instruments first came to China from Central Asia after the Han dynasty .

The Tang dynasty saw the first wave of musical influence from Central Asia, which was a very important epoch in the evolution of Chinese music. However, it was during the Song dynasty that Chinese music reached its maturity.

Traditional Chinese musical instruments were classified into eight groups according to their materials: gourd, earthenware, , wood, , bronze, silk and bamboo. It is said that there were more than 70 different musical instruments, but many of them have been lost or are obsolete today.

The modern large Chinese orchestra

The modern large Chinese orchestra is a 20th century development and is based on the Western symphony orchestra, but uses Chinese instruments in place of Western instruments. It also emulates the Western orchestra in terms of the seating position of its musicians.

The typical Chinese orchestra of today also includes the Western cello and double bass, as well as other Western instruments like the vibraphone and . Also, many of the Chinese instruments are modified versions of traditional instruments, for example, the diyinsheng , and the zhongyin suona, which is fitted with keys.

Since its inception, the music produced by the Chinese orchestra is unique and very distinct from any Western counterpart. However, the repertoire of the Chinese orchestra may include adaptations of some Western orchestral pieces. Such orchestras often perform modernized traditional music called ''guoyue''.

Instruments

The modern Chinese orchestra typically consists of four main sections. These instruments are generally grouped according to the way they are played - the bowed strings , plucked strings, woodwinds and percussion.

Plucked string

This section sets the structure of Chinese orchestras apart from Western symphony orchestras. Consisting of the yangqin , liuqin , pipa , zhongruan , daruan , sanxian , guzheng , and konghou , this largely plucked chordophone-based section creates tunes unachievable by the Western orchestral instruments.

Yangqin

The yangqin is a played using a pair of bamboo mallets rubberised on one end. Besides hitting the strings with the rubberised ends, the mallets can also be turned over to create a sharper note . Some songs even require the player to hold the mallets vertically and use the other end or even using the player hands to pluck. It is a versatile instrument capable of playing rapid running notes or arpeggios.

Liuqin

The liuqin is a soprano range lute. It looks similar to the pipa but smaller with two soundholes on each side of the body. The four strings are tuned G3-D4-G4-D5. By pressing slightly above any of the frets on the instrument, one can vary the pitch of the liuqin. It is commonly played using a plectrum like in the guitar. The sound is very bright and penetrating, making it a very effective soprano instrument. Its range is similar to that of a violin.

Pipa

The pipa is the alto range member of the plucked string section. One of the more well-known Chinese instruments, this instrument has been associated with imperial concubines and songstresses at teahouses, often conveying the image of a demure damsel. Despite the absence of soundholes, it is able to produce music as well as other plucked string instruments. The modern-day player has to wear a set of customised nails on the right hand. From simple plucking with the thumb and index finger and ''saoxian'' to ''yaozhi'' and ''lunzou'' , the playing techniques of the pipa are visibly dimensionless. Its tuning is A2-D3-E3-A3.

Zhongruan

The zhongruan is plays the role of the tenor in this section. Its four strings are tuned to G2-D3-G3-D4. The instrument can be played using a plectrum similar to a guitar pick, as with the liuqin, or using a set of 2 to 5 acrylic fingernails. Mainstream ruan players use plectrums, though there are some schools which teach the fingernail technique, similar to that of the pipa. Pipa players who play ruan as a second instrument also use fingernails. Plectrums produce a louder and more clearer tone, which makes them suitable for orchestral use. Fingernails allow performance of polyphonic solo music, however this advantage is not useful in orchestras, where the zhongruan mainly plays the accompaniment. It possesses a very mellow tone.

Daruan

The daruan is the lute. A larger version of the zhongruan with strings tuned to a perfect fourth lower: D2-A2-D3-A3. Soloists generally use the D-A-D-A tuning, as it allows easy performance of diatonic chords. Some orchestral players tune to C-G-D-A, which is the same as cello tuning. The advantage of using C-G-D-A in orchestras is so that the daruan can easily double the cello part.

Other members of the ruan family are gaoyinruan ; xiaoruan and diyinruan .

Sanxian

The sanxian is the only plucked string instrument without frets. As can be inferred from the name , it has three strings. The sanxian family of instruments is very large, with different variants used in different tribes in China. The orchestra often uses dasanxian has a soundbox covered on both sides with python skin. Its sound is forceful, penetrating and articulated; in fact, a single sanxian can be clearly heard even in a 70-member orchestra.

It has a strong folk flavour, which often puts it in the limelight when in usage with other instruments. For this reason too, it is not suitable for playing accompaniment, as it tends to overshadow the sound of the melody instruments. It is more frequently used in plucked string ensembles and solos. Even when used in the orchestra, it is also attributed with the main melody. However, since the orchestral usage of the sanxian is lower as compared to the other instruments, sanxian players also take up a second instrument, which is usually the zhongruan.

Guzheng

The guzheng used in the modern-day Chinese orchestra consists of 21 strings with movable bridges. The strings are tuned to a pentatonic scale, and different scales are tuned by shifting the bridges. Some modern pieces require the guzheng tuned to non-standard scales. Some other Guzheng consist of 17 strings which produce a higher note.

Like pipa players, guzheng players also have to wear synthetic nails, sometimes on both hands depending on the requirements of the piece. Common techniques include glissando, bending-tones and vibrato. It is more commonly used for solos than orchestra music. The role of a guzheng in a Chinese orchestra is similar to that of a harp in a Western orchestra.

Konghou

A konghou is somewhat similar to the Western orchestral harp. The modern konghou has 7 pedals for raising or lowering the strings' notes, and the mechanism is similar to the harp. Though the konghou has a smaller range than the Western harp, it can perform many techniques the harp cannot. This is because konghou strings are set on movable bridges on one side of the soundbox. Most guzheng techniques, like tone-bending and vibratos can therefore be performed on the konghou.

However, for most of the time orchestral pieces rarely require these special konghou techniques. Therefore, sometimes a Western harp is used as a substitute when a konghou is not available.

Bowed strings

The bowed strings mainly consist of the huqin family of instruments, and sometimes the cello and double bass instruments, which provide the bass sound that traditional Chinese music lacks.

Huqin

The huqin series of instruments in common usage consist of the erhu , zhonghu and gaohu . The gaohu and zhonghu are proportionately fewer in numbers in the Chinese orchestra. The erhu forms the bulk of this section and is divided into distinct sections, known as erhu I and erhu II. These two sub-sections play either similar or vastly different melodies simultaneously, which is akin to the first and second violins in a Western orchestra. Occasionally, the concertmaster will play the banhu but it may not always be the concertmaster - an example is the piece ''Mang Chun'' , or jinghu , for instance in Zhao Ji Ping's Festival Overture , if there is a solo part for it. There have been various ways to play an erhu like plucking the strings.

The uniqueness of the huqin series lies in how music can be produced from two fine metal strings less than 2 mm apart, without any frets or fingerboards. Well-known solo pieces for the erhu includes ''Sanmen Gorge Capriccio'' , ''Guang Ming Xing'' as well as ''Lan Hua Hua'' (兰花花）.

Cello and double bass

The cello and double bass can also be considered part of this section. This is true in some orchestras, but in others the cello and bass are considered distinct from the bowed strings. Some Chinese orchestras still use the gehu and diyingehu , but due to the limitations and the costs of the instruments, they are now quite rare. A notable example of an ensemble still utilising the gehu and diyingehu is the . In some chinese orchestra in China, they used a instrument call laruan which has the shape of a ruan but is bigger in size and is played either plucking or using a bow similar to a cello or bass bow.

Wind

Chinese wind instruments include the dizi , sheng and suona .

Dizi

The main types of ''dizis'' frequently used in the wind section are the ''bangdi'' , the ''qudi'' , and occasionally the ''xindi'' . The ''bangdi'' is shorter in length and smaller in diameter and produces a clear and bright tone. It is frequently used in bangzi opera of , hence the name ''bangdi''. The longer and thicker qudi produces a richer and mellower tone. The bangdi is usually a fourth higher in pitch than the qudi. The xindi is longer and thicker than the qudi, with an extra finger hole. It is even lower in pitch and mellower in tone than the qudi.

Sheng

The is a Chinese free-reed bamboo mouth organ. The earliest type ever recorded in history had 14 pipes and was discovered in Zeng Houyi's tomb in Hubei province. The most common types of sheng today include a 17-pipe instrument and a modified version for contemporary compositions, which has an expanded range of 21-37 pipes. The tone of the sheng is lucid and bright. It has a huge range, a chromatically complete and is able to produce chord voicings.

Suona

The tone produced by suona is loud, piercing and uplifting, thus it is usually used to perform vibrant and lively pieces. However, its repertoire also includes some mellower pieces. The suona is commonly used as an accompaniment in the Chinese opera, singing or dancing, but also for more sombre occasions, such as during a traditional Chinese funeral procession. It is also utilised in solos or ensembles for various occasions and ceremonies. Being a double-reeded wind instrument, it is extremely difficult to master it to produce perfect pitches. There are many different type such as alto or bass.

Occasionally, koudi, xun, Haojiao, Hailuo and xiao would also be used according to the song.

Percussion

The history of Chinese percussion instruments is longer than any other section of traditional Chinese instruments. The character of the drum was first recorded in the ancient inscriptions on oracle bones and tortoise shells dating from the Shang Dynasty. At that time more than 50 percent of Chinese instruments were percussive in nature.

Percussion instruments produce sound through striking on the surface. Common materials used for making percussion instruments in the past were gold, rock, wood and bamboo.

The percussion section is the most important section in Chinese opera, particularly in scenes involving martial arts, known as ''wu chang''. The player of the bangu, directs the rest of the orchestra through his different methods and positions of striking his instrument. He has control over the overall development of the action and creation of atmosphere, and is equivalent to the conductor of the Western orchestra.

Because of the richness of the timbre, sound and variety of Chinese percussion instruments, they are frequently used in Western-style musical compositions. A large gong can create a stately and imposing atmosphere; dramatic effects can be achieved with the tanggu , muyu and qing also can invoke an element of mystery.

Percussion instruments are usually considered easy to learn and perform. As many different percussion instruments produce different sound effects, it is frequently used in depicting joyful and exciting occasions such as harvests, marriages, as well as other traditional Chinese festivals.

The more popular percussion instruments include luo , gu , bo , and bianzhong .

Bangu

The bangu is also commonly called jing bangu and danpi . The drum frame is constructed of thick wedges of hardwood glued together in a circle, wrapped with a metal band. Its body is bell-mouthed in shape, which opens at the bottom. Its top surface , covered with a piece of pig or cow hide, has a small convex central circular opening , which is called the guxin , the actual sounding position. The player strikes on this central area with a pair of bamboo sticks. The use of normal sticks would cause the pain of hand and the bamboos sticks used are also not commonly used.

The type used for Beijing opera and other northern Chinese musical dramas, with a smaller central striking area, has a relatively solid tone quality. In the southern gong and drum ensemble, the bangu has a larger striking area, rendering a looser and softer tone. The southern type can be used for solos with a variety of techniques and rhythms. The jingbangu is the lead instrument in the Beijing opera.

Bo

The bo were frequently used in and dynasties with varying designs. Now it is commonly made of high-tin bronze.

The performer strikes the cymbals together. The most common type now is the ''jingbo'' . This type is clear and forceful in tone quality. It is also used in other regional opera genres and ensembles, and is one of the four major instruments in the jubilant ''luogu'' music. In local operas, the ''luogu'' ensemble often accompanies acrobatic fighting.

Luo

The luo, or Chinese gong, is made of high-tin bronze, hammered into the shape of a sifter. Its central resonating area can be either flat or convex. Its long history can be traced back to the early Western Han period according to an archaeological find from a tomb of that period in Guangxi. In a text dating to the Tang period , it was known as the shaluo , which is among the earlier evidence of gong usage in classical literature.

There are many varieties of gongs, each with varying tone qualities. The name is usually preceded by a prefix to specify each different kind. The largest type called dachaoluo, known for its deep and grave tone, is used in official settings like weddings, funerals and temple ceremonies. The smallest, the goujiaoluo , only 8 cm in diameter, can often be seen in theatrical ensembles in the southern parts of Fujian. Both the larger and the smaller boast distinct acoustic features, functions and performing styles. Different size and thinkness of the cymbals will affect the sound tone being produced. The da di luo has a very deep sound in contrast to the goujiaoluo.

Tanggu

The tanggu drum is listed as a hide instrument in the traditional bayin classification of Chinese instruments. The common type is similar in shape to a barrel. Its wooden body, entirely painted red with decorative patterns, is covered with two drumheads of cowhide or pig skin. Four lateral iron rings around the shell allow the drum to be vertically suspended in a frame. It is struck with a pair of wooden beaters. Tone quality can be modified by moving the striking point closer to the centre of the surface, with varying dynamics. Usually the different tone are not easily identified.

The tanggu is constructed mainly in two types. The larger one, with diameters of over a meter, can produce a deep and sonorous tone and the smaller, with a diameter of 20 to 30 cm, is solid and forceful in tone quality. It is traditionally used with other instruments like luo and bo in folk festivals, and in ensembles or for accompaniment as well. Types for local operas are mostly smaller, for instance, the jing tanggu in Beijing opera. Some could also be known as dagu, datanggu, xiaogu or xiaotanggu.

Muyu

The muyu was used originally to accompany Buddhist chants only. An account of this instrument was found in the literature of the Ming dynasty : "The muyu is carved from a block of wood and into the shape of a fish, then its interior is hollowed out. Sounds can be produced by striking." Since the Qing dynasty the instrument has appeared in folk ensembles.

The muyu is mostly made of mulberry wood. The larger type is primarily used in temples, but recently appears in sets, varying in diameters and tonal qualities. The set is mainly used for regular rhythms when used for accompaniment. Playing at different parts of the muyu could have different volume.

Bianzhong

The bianzhong is listed as a primary metal instrument, and thus heads the metal section under the bayin classifications. Its long history dates back to the Shang dynasty , when a set of 3 bronze bells was common, though the earlier earthenware type of the late Stone Age was unearthed in Shaanxi province. From the 5th to the 3rd century BC the number of bells increased, mostly from 9 to 13.

The largest set ever recorded was exhumed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of the State of Zeng, Zeng-hou Yi in Hubei province. This archaeological finding has become a focus of international academic attention. The bianzhong being found still have a good sound quality despite many years after it was made. The bianzhong set consists of 64 bells, hung in three layers, with the upper ones called niuzhong , while those on the two lower layers were called yongzhong . Because of the shape of the bells, two different pitches, a major or minor third apart, can be produced on any of the bells, depending on the two striking locations, which are either the frontal or the lateral. 12 semitones are found in the set, with a total range of 5 octaves.

The inscriptions on the bells unite to form a literary text on the large tone system of the bianzhong, valuable sources for the study of the musical culture in the Warring States period during the Eastern Zhou dynasty . With the construction for two different pitches from a single bell and its unique casting methods, the bianzhong has established itself as one of the wonders of traditional Chinese music.

Lion drum

The size of a lion drum is very big, and is widely used for the Chinese lion dance. There are normally 2 types, the northern Lion drum and southern lion drum . It is a single-headed drum, and its large size helps to create a majestic, booming resonance upon striking of the drum head. The lion drum head is made of thick, durable goat skin, and its wooden body is normally decorated with intricate hand-drawn drawings. The sound produce by it usually sound higher key than the datanggu.

Yunluo

The yunluo was first mentioned in historical records as yun'ao during the Yuan dynasty . The small gongs in a set, usually numbering up to 10 and in distinct pitches, are suspended vertically in a wooden frame. Each is attached to a cubicle within the frame, secured by cords. These gongs are all of the same diameter but vary in thickness. In terms of tuning, thicker dimensions give higher pitches, and thinner ones, lower. The instruments are struck with a small beater.

In a recently-redesigned type, the number of gongs was increased, ranging from 29 to 38, and two mallets with either hard or soft tips are used for different tonal effects. One sounds loud and solid, while the other soft and drifting. Owing to the expanded range, modification in yunluo thickness cannot change the pitch of each small gong. Thus varying diameters are used for the new tones for variation.

The yunluo are mostly used in ensembles, and recently in solos as well.

Notation

Whilst jianpu is most often used in the modern Chinese orchestra, is also sometimes used, especially for the keyed sheng, Western instruments like the cello and double bass, and also occasionally for certain percussion instruments .

800 Heroes Song

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The "800 Heroes Song" is also known by the title "China Will Not Perish". This song is written to commemorate the heroic efforts of the Lone Battalion of the National Revolutionary Army in the Defense of Sihang Warehouse during the final stage of the Battle of Shanghai .

After winning the war of resistance against Japan and China was certainly not going to perish, the Chinese Nationalists Government changing the title and lyrics to "China Shall be Strong" ; and this song remained popular even today.

Chinese lyrics

:中國不會亡,中國不會亡,
:你看民族英雄謝團長。
:中國不會亡,中國不會亡,
:你看那八百壯士孤軍奮鬥守戰場,
:四方都是砲火,四方都是豺狼,
:寧願死不退讓,寧願死不投降。
:我們的國旗在重圍中飄蕩飄蕩,飄蕩飄蕩,飄蕩。
:八百壯士一條心,十萬強敵不能擋,
:我們的行動偉烈,我們的氣節豪壯,
:同胞們起來!同胞們起來!
:快快趕上戰場,拿八百壯士做榜樣。
:中國不會亡,中國不會亡,
:中國不會亡,中國不會亡!
:不會亡!不會亡!不會亡!

Hanyu Pinyin

:Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng, Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng,
:Nǐ kàn mínzú yīngxióng Xiè túanzh?ng.
:Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng, Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng,　
:Nǐ kàn nà bābǎi zhùangshì gūjūn fèndòu shǒu zhànchǎng,
:Sìfāng dōushì pàohuǒ, Sìfāng dōushì cháiláng,
:Níngyuàn sǐ bù tuìràng, Níngyuàn sǐ bù tóuxiáng　
:Wǒměn de guóqí zài chóngw?i zhōng piāodàng piāodàng, piāodàng piāodàng, piāodàng.
:Bābǎi zhuàngshì yī tiáo xīn, shíwàn qíangdí bù néng dǎng,
:Wǒměn de xíngdòng wěiliè, wǒměn de qìjié háozhuàng,
:Tǒngbāomen qǐlái! Tǒngbāomen qǐlái!
:Kuàikuài gǎnshàng zhànchǎng, ná bāb?i zhuàngshì zuò bǎngyàng.
:Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng, Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng,
:Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng, Zhōngguó bùhuì wáng!
:Bùhuì wáng! Bùhuì wáng! Bùhuì wáng!

Translation

: China cannot perish, China cannot perish
: You look at national hero Commander Xie.
: China cannot perish, China cannot perish
: You look at the isolated 800 heroes defending the front
: There are shell fires all around, there are jackals all around
: Rather die than retreat, rather die than surrender
: Even when surrounded by enemies, our flag is flying high, flying high, flying high,
: 800 heroes united as one, one hundred thousand strong enemies cannot defeat
: Our action is brave, Our integrity is righteous
: Compatriots rise! compatriots rise!
: Hurry to the battle field, let the 800 Heroes be our model
: China cannot perish, China cannot perish
: China cannot perish, China cannot perish
: Cannot Perish! Cannot Perish! Cannot Perish!

Chinese musicology

2008-09-25T01:29:00.001-07:00

Chinese musicology is the academic study of traditional Chinese music. This discipline has a very long history.

Music scales

The ancient Chinese defined, by mathematical means, a gamut or series of Shi Er Lü from which various sets of five or seven frequencies were selected to make the sort of "do re mi" major familiar to those who have been formed with the . The 12 lü approximate the frequencies known in the West as A, B flat.....G, and A flat.

Scale and tonality

Most Chinese music uses a pentatonic scale, with the intervals the same as those of the major pentatonic scale. The notes of this scale are called gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu. By starting from a different point of this sequence, a scale with a different interval sequence is created, similar to the construction of in modern Western music.

Since the Chinese system is not an equal tempered tuning, playing a melody starting from the lǜ nearest to A will not necessarily sound the same as playing the same melody starting from some other lǜ, since the wolf interval will occupy a different point in the scale. The effect of changing the starting point of a song can be rather like the effect of shifting from a to a minor key in Western music.

Yellow River Piano Concerto

2008-09-25T01:28:00.003-07:00

The Yellow River Piano Concerto is a piano concerto arranged by a collaboration between musicians including Yin Chengzong and Chu Wanghua, and based on the ''Yellow River Cantata'' by composer Xian Xinghai. Since its politicised premiere in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution, the Concerto has become popular in China and amongst overseas Chinese communities. It is noted for a difficult solo part.

Introduction

The German musicologist Carl Dahlhaus once wrote, "The heyday of virtuosity began with Paganini's tours of the European capitals in the early 1830s and ended in September 1847 when Liszt abandoned his career as a pianist." Thus, it is not surprising for Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu to remark after listening to the concerto during the Cultural Revolution : "How could a nation as great as China come up with a composition as such!" The concerto, being a collective composition characteristic of Chinese Socialism, was also ridiculed on the record cover of the Philadelphia Orchestra recording, which said that it was written by various composers including Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Rachmaninov. Yet, the ''Yellow River Piano'' ''Concerto'' stands aloof with its historical, political and economical significance in 20th century Chinese music history.

Background

Xian Xinghai wrote the Yellow River Cantata at Yan'an in 1939, allegedly in a cave in just six days, during the Sino-Japanese War . It is an eight-movement piece in which he used traditional folk-melodies and evoked the image of the mighty Yellow River as a symbol of Chinese defiance against the Japanese invaders. During his stay in Russia, he edited and re-orchestrated the work, which was later modified by Li Huanzhi, Qu Wei, Yan Liangkun. This edition aimed at furthering the energy and momentum of the music, and in this light, the rearrangement of the ''Yellow River Piano Concerto'' thirty years later is merely a continuation of that same practice.

Though he made an outright comment Takemitsu may have thought differently, should he have better understood the historical and political circumstances in which this concerto was composed. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Xian Xinghai together with Nie Er were regarded by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai as "the people's musicians" and were the most prestigious composers of the PRC. Yet, even the Yellow River Cantata was banned from performance during the Cultural Revolution; the was forbidden to perform any Western orchestral pieces and its professional musicians were left with nothing to do. Under such circumstances, the pianist Yin Chengzong loaded his piano onto a truck and drove it to the Tiananmen Square to accompany revolutionary songs that were sung at the time. He caught the eye of Jiang Qing , which resulted in the work The Legend of the Red Lantern to be accompanied by the piano. Under orders of Jiang, a collective of musicians from the Central Philharmonic Society including Yin Chengzong, Liu Zhuang, Chu Wanghua, Sheng Lihong, Shi Shucheng, and Xu Feixing rearranged the cantata into a four-movement piano concerto:

# : The Song of the Yellow River Boatmen
# Ode To the Yellow River
# The Yellow River In Anger
# Defend the Yellow River

Unfortunately, Madame Mao thought that the work could be improved, thence the standard performing edition was created, a piece more politically loaded and musically more conventional.

With the official end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, the ''Yellow River Piano Concerto'' was banished from the Chinese concert stage, retaining a certain popularity outside China. However, by the late 1980s it was filtering back into the Chinese musical mainstream, usually in the form of new performing editions, new recordings, and live performances by Chinese and Western artists. Apart from changes in the orchestration, the main differences between the various editions have been what the editors have done with the anthems integrated in the finale. None of the revisions have worked as well as the culturally anachronistic original.

Summary

Prelude: The Song of the Yellow River Boatman

"The Song of the Yellow River Boatmen" describes the momentum of the terrifying waves of the Yellow River and uses the rapid chromatic crescendo and long rolls of the timpani and cymbals typical of Eight model plays model operas.

Ode to the Yellow River

The Original heroic tenor solo melody of the "Ode to the Yellow River" is sung in praise of the history and presence of the Yellow River, signifying the cultural pride of the Chinese. This broad Chinese recitative is supported by the deep and rich timbre of the cello, and is considered as an example of the nationalistic style that has moved many Descendants of Yan & Yellow Emperors.

The Yellow River in Anger

"The Yellow River in Anger", which originally sung by soprano solo, begins with a dizi solo accompanied by the harp. This is obviously inspired by the Jiangnan melody of the Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto, but rewritten in the style of Shanbei folk idioms. In the third movement, the piano brings out the melody taken from the "Ballad of the Yellow Rivers", originally a mellow number sung by female chorus. We then hear the "Lament at the Yellow River" taking over for this movement.

Defend the Yellow River

As the finale of this piano concerto, theme is arranged into a polyphonic . It is also apparent that the tune from The East is Red is persistent throughout the entire movement; among the various versions of the Yellow River Concerto that are currently in circulation, including Yin Chengzong's film recording, we can hear a recapitulation of the theme of "Defending the Yellow River" played canonically against the strings after the climatic tutti of "The East is Red". Then the first phrase of "The East is Red" is played by the trumpet, and tightly followed by the final phrase of the Internationale, as a brilliant example of thematic writing huan wei that is often found in traditional Chinese music.

Orchestration

The concerto is scored for a solo piano and orchestra of piccolo, dizi , 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons, 4 , 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, , cymbals , harp, and strings .

Importance

This piano concerto and the Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto, which tells the story of the Butterfly Lovers, are two internationally known Chinese works that combine Western music methodology with Chinese source materials.

Reference

* Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, ''"Bravo! China 2007"'' Programme notes, 2007

Yao Min

2008-09-25T01:28:00.001-07:00

Yao Ming was a popular music songwriter and singer and brother of Yao Lee.

Yaji

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A yaji is a special term meaning "elegant gathering". It describes a gathering or meeting of likeminded individuals and is mostly associated with the literati or interllectuals of Chinese artistic and cultural society. Although yaji can be composed of any people from an array of artist backgrounds, it has now come to be exclusively mean the gathering of players of the guqin , where the purpose is to not only play music, but to discuss it.

Normally, yajis are composed of only a few people; friends or colleagues that understand the art. Nowadays, yajis can be composed of over 30 people and can incorporate food and other artistic aspects.

Many guqin societies hold regular yajis, often bi-monthly. Generally, yajis are informal affairs.

UK Chinese Ensemble

2008-09-25T01:27:00.001-07:00

The UK Chinese Ensemble is an internationally recognised UK Chinese music ensemble that was founded in 1994 by Chinese virtuosi resident in . The ensemble seeks to promote a wide variety of traditional repertoires as well as exploring contemporary styles. In addition to regular concerts, the ensemble presents workshops and other out-reach activities to a wide range of groups within the community. Since its founding, the ensemble has performed throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom the ensemble has been featured at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Jersey Folk Music Festival and the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Members

# - pipa and the guqin
#Chen Dacan - erhu, gaohu, jinghu
#Hu Bin - erhu
#Hu Ruijun - dizi and xiao
#Kim-Ho Ip - yangqin
# - yangqin
# - erhu
#Liu Xiaohu - sheng, , xun
#Qiu Zenghui - jinghu and yueqin
#Sun Zhuo - guzheng
#Xiao Ying - guzheng
#Zhou Jinyan - yangqin
#Zhao Zhangren - yangqin
#Zhu Xiaomeng - guzheng

Tune of Li Zhongtang

2008-09-25T01:26:00.011-07:00

The Tune of Li Zhongtang is the first semi-official national song of China, written by Li Hongzhang. It is also a Royal anthem.

History

In 1896, , Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang and Governor of Zhili, have a diplomatic visit to west Europe and Russia, since national song needed in welcoming ceremony, he revises an ancient poem by Wang Jian, a poemist in Tang Dynasty as the temporary national song.

Lyrics

Simplified Chinese

金殿当头紫阁重，

仙人掌上玉芙蓉，

太平天子朝天日，

五色云车驾六龙。

Traditional Chinese

金殿當頭紫閣重，

仙人掌上玉芙蓉，

太平天子朝天日，

五色雲車駕六龍。

Hanyu Pinyin

jīn diàn dāng tóu zǐ gé chóng ，

xiān rén zhǎng shàng yù fú róng ，

taì píng tiān zǐ cháo tiān rì ，

wǔ sè yún chē jià liù lóng 。

English Translation

Many houses on the golden palace,

jade lotus on the hand of fairy,

when the peace emperor to pay religious homage to god,

a 6-dragon-drive colorful cloudy-cabinet will appear.

Timeline of Chinese music

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This is a timeline that show the development of Chinese music by genre and region. It covers the original region of China including past and present geographic territories of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

Dynastic Times

China:
* Chinese opera
* Yayue

1900s

Hong Kong:
* English popular and western classical music grew with influence.

1910s

Republic of China:
* The dynastic period ends. New China tries to find a .

1920s

Republic of China:
* Shidaiqu started by Li Jinhui.

1930s

Republic of China:
* Shidaiqu grew into C-pop.

Taiwan:
* Japanese enka influence Taiwanese pop for Taiwanese aboriginals.

1940s

People's Republic of China:
* The labeled C-pop as .
* CPC promote .
* Government control of music via censorship begins.

1950s

People's Republic of China:
* Baak Doi leaves China.

Hong Kong:
* C-pop becomes cantopop.

Republic of China / Taiwan:
* C-pop becomes mandopop.
* Native Taiwanese pop phased out by Kuomintang in favor of mandopop.

1960s

Hong Kong:
* English pop faded
* Cantopop grew with Roman Tam as the father of the new genre.
* Popularizing of .
* Popularizing of Hong Kong musical tongue twister.

1970s

ROC Taiwan:
* Teresa Teng expanded mandopop in Taiwan. Beats censorship in the mainland.

People's Republic of China:
* Mao Zedong and CPC evolved patriotic music into .

1980s

People's Republic of China:
* led to the popularizing of Northwest Wind.
* Northwest wind became .

1990s

People's Republic of China:
* Prison song became Chinese rock with Cui Jian as the father of the new genre.
* China imports gangtai culture.

Hong Kong SAR:
* Karaoke culture begins.

ROC Taiwan
* Taiwanese pop re-emergence.

2000s

People's Republic of China:
* Punk rock begins in China.

Hong Kong SAR and ROC Taiwan
* Chinese hip hop begins in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Story of Spring

2008-09-25T01:26:00.007-07:00

The Story of Spring is a praising Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, although it never mentions him by name. Originally sung by famous Chinese folk singer Dong Wenhua, Deng is referred to as "an old man" throughout the song. Its two verses allude to Deng's economic reform policies and their success from its inception in spring 1978 to his southern visit in spring 1992, when the song was created.

The song was widely played during the 1990's and is now a familiar tune to most Chinese people living on the mainland. It was especially widely played following Deng's death and was a feature performance at the 1997 CCTV New Year's Gala.

Spring Festival Overture

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Spring Festival Overture is a Chinese orchestral work composed by Li Huanzhi between 1955-1956 dipicting the scene when folks in Shanbei region were celebrating the Chinese New Year . The tune is widely heard primarily in Mainland China, where it appears frequently on textbooks of music for schools, as well as being played on various occasions of joy.

In the year 2007，The Overture was selected to be carried and broadcast into space on China's first lunar probe, Chang'e 1.

Six Avoidances (Chinese Music)

2008-09-25T01:26:00.003-07:00

In Chinese traditional culture, regarding playing Gu-qin, the player should avoid six kinds of occasions:

#Avoid the time of learning of someone's death;
#Avoid the time of crying sorrowfully;
#Avoid the time of being busy with something else;
#Avoid the time of being angry;
#Avoid the time of sex;
#Avoid the time of astonishment.

Siris (band)

2008-09-25T01:26:00.001-07:00

SIRIS is the name of American music duo Michael and Patrick Maley. Their name SIRIS was derived from two words "sai" 赛 and "ri" 日, meaning to surpass the sun. Hailing from the city of Philadelphia, the brothers are best known as the only western band in the world performing and composing their own original English and Chinese language songs.

The Beginning

The brothers began singing and writing music at an early age. During their teenage years they performed in local bands throughout the city of Philadelphia. Some of their major influences included , , U2 and Tears for Fears. In 1992, shortly after graduating highschool, Michael Maley moved to China to pursue his studies in at China's prestigious Fudan University. During that time, younger brother Patrick remained in America and continued his pursuit of music as a drummer.

Chinese Influence

Siris' Chinese inspired music is due in large part to Michael's experiences in China. While living in China, he not only studied at Fudan but also worked as an English teacher and Chinese/English translator. Michael's fluency in Chinese and strong martial arts background helped him gain notoriety in TV commercials and films. In 1994 he was featured in the Hong Kong produced martial arts movie The Green Hornet. After living for four years in China, Michael returned to America and reunited with his brother Patrick. In 1996, the brothers returned to their musical roots by forming the band Siris. They adopted a unique multi-cultural approach to making music by melding influences from the east and west..

Professional Career Highlights

1997 to 1999

Beginning with their 1997 debut EP entitled, "Till My Last Breath" SIRIS became the first group in music history to record an original Chinese language album. The album was co-produced by Grammy nominated producer David Ivory.. In 1998 the brothers moved to Taiwan and Mainland China to promote the new album. Breaking new ground in the market would prove difficult. After a modicum of success in Asia, they returned to the United States in 1999.

2000 to 2003

The year 2000 was a turning point for SIRIS as the brothers
returned to the studio to record their first English album "The Order Of Time". That same year, they also formed their own record label and production company, "Run Hard Music". "The Order of Time" was a very progressive offering that stayed true to their musical roots. The album also managed to celebrate their influences, containing many Chinese references throughout. These references were evident on both the packaging and on three of the albums twelve tracks; including the progressive title track "The Order of Time", "Ma Ma Hu Hu" and their single "Beautiful Angel" 美丽的天使. "The Order of Time" was officially released and distributed worldwide in February 2001. While the record industry was facing new challenges from music downloads and online file sharing, Siris seized a new opportunity. On the strength of their English single, "My Love For You Will Always Be" and the albums' lone track "Beautiful Angel" 美丽的天使 , SIRIS quicky jumped to the top of MP3.com's top 40 pop chart. "Beautiful Angel" broke the top 20, reaching number 11 and became the first Chinese song in MP3.com's history to enter the charts.
After more than 2 million downloads, 100,000 units sold and a string of successful performances, Siris' critically acclaimed debut was an independent success. In 2002, Music legend Adrian Belew commented, "It's nice to hear something refreshing in a world of similar artists!" In 2003, Siris once again took part in breaking new ground as their Chinese single "Beautiful Angel" became the first Chinese song to be sold on Apple's iTunes.

2004 to 2007

In 2004, Siris went back into the studio to focus on new Chinese material. In 2005 they released the EP "Xing Fu". The album received widespread critical acclaim and helped solidify their unique place in music history. In late 2005, a successful promotional tour of Mainland China, Taiwan and the United States followed. On the strength of their hit single "Xing Fu" 幸福, Siris was heavily featured by major U.S. and Chinese media throughout 2005 and 2006. ABC News stated: "SIRIS is certainly breaking down cultural barriers between east and west... these two guys from the City of Brotherly Love may just change the world of !" MTV described SIRIS' music as "Magical!" and stated "They should be embraced because there is sincerity in their work." In 2006 SIRIS was invited to perform at several high profile television events including the Phoenix Television Chinese New Year Global Gala and the groundbreaking MTV Chi Rocks! Concert, celebrating MTV's strong push into the Chinese market. Since its release, Xing Fu has been downloaded over 25 million times. In 2007, SIRIS announced the release of a brand new full length Chinese language album entitled "我们都一样" . The new album was released in North America and became the first half of their planned double Chinese/English album release for 2008.

2008

On August 8, 2008 - just in time for the Beijing Olympics, SIRIS announced the release of its brand new "double" Chinese- and English-language album, "8".
The new album includes 20 original Chinese and English songs. Prominent singles featured in the release are "God Bless Sichuan", "I Was Chinese in My Previous Life", "China", "A Trip To Nowhere", and "You'll Be Okay." The Mandarin single "God Bless Sichuan" was pre-released on July 1 , 2008 as a tribute to the survivors of the tragic Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. The song features renowned mainland Chinese erhu soloist, Qin Qian. Since its July 08 release, "God Bless Sichuan" has become the No. 1-played song on mainland China's most popular video-sharing Web site, Youku.com, surpassing 2.5 million plays. The band's 2008 offering is its fifth studio album and the first full-length "double" Chinese- and English-language album ever released. The album was made available for free on the band's official Chinese Web site.
SIRIS also announced plans to tour Asia and North America in support of the new release. The band also announced that all proceeds from physical album sales and portions of tour revenue would go to Sichuan earthquake disaster relief.

Discography

*''直到我最后一息 - Till My Last Breath - Chinese''
*''The Order Of Time - English''
*''Martial Arts Channel - Sound Track''
*''幸福 - Xing Fu - Chinese''
*''我们都一样 - Chinese''
*''上天祝福四川 single - Chinese''
*''8 - Chinese/English double album

Side Projects & Credits

As a studio / touring drummer Patrick Maley has performed with accomplished acts such as: Little Richard, Three Dog Night, The Beach Boys, The Rip Chords, Mary Wilson of the Supremes and many others. Michael Maley has established the company Run Hard Media which is producing new television shows for the market.

Shan'ge

2008-09-25T01:25:00.003-07:00

Shange is a genre of folk song. They are commonly sung in rural provinces; the word shange means "mountain song".

A number of different subtypes are:
*Hua'er, popular in the northwestern China provinces such as Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai
*Xinrianyou and Shan'qu are popular in Shaanxi and Shanxi
*Zhengjinghong, from the Anhui province
*Xingguo, from the Jiangxi province
*Hengyang from the Hunan Province
*Hakka from the Guangdong Province
*Lalu, a Tibetan shan'ge
*Changdiao , a Mongolian shan'ge
*Feige, a Miao shan'ge

Seven Should-not-plays (Chinese Music)

2008-09-25T01:25:00.001-07:00

In Chinese traditional culture, regarding playing Gu-qin, in seven types of circumstances one should not play:

#when there is big wind or big rain;
#when having big sorrowful mood;
#when one's dress is not tidy;
#when one is drunken and being crazy;
#when one has not burned incense;
#if one does not understand music or is at an vulgar circumstances;
#if one has not had a bath or is at a dirty place;

Red Star Shines

2008-09-25T01:24:00.002-07:00

Red Star Shines is a Chinese patriotic song depicting the revolutionary war against the Kuomintang by the Communist Party of China.

Lyrics

Simplified Chinese

红星闪闪，放光彩

红星灿灿，暖胸怀

红星是咱，工农的心

党的关怀照万代。

Traditional Chinese

紅星閃閃，放光彩

紅星燦燦，暖胸懷

紅星是咱，工農的心

黨的關懷照萬代。

Pinyin

Translation

The red star shines, glowing with rays

The red star flickers, warming our hearts

The red start represents the heart of workers and peasants

The Party cares for us for thousands of generations.

Qinpu

2008-09-25T01:24:00.001-07:00

Qinpu 「琴譜」 are tablature score collections for the Chinese musical instrument, the guqin.

What are qinpu?

Qinpu are collections of tablatures of music for the guqin. In the past, music was passed on from teacher to student. Only recently has tablature been written down, often to preserve music or as a reference book. Tablature comes in form of individual and collections. Collections often have additional material attached to them, like explanation of fingering, qin lore, music theory, etc.

Different types of qinpu

There are several different types of qinpu one can obtain: original editions, photographic reprint, lithographic facsimiles and modern resetted editions.

Original editions are qinpu printed at the original time of publication, or re-issues during the past. These are mostly kept in libraries and private collections. Since they are original, they tend to be fragile.

Photographic reprints is basically a scan of the original qinpu and reduced size reprint in modern binding. The most famous is the ''Qinqu Jicheng''.

Lithographic facsimiles are becoming more popular. The original qinpu is scanned, then it is lithographically printed on xuan paper. They are bound in traditional Chinese book binding method.

Modern resetted editions appeared after 2005. These have modern typographic elements and are often resetted using more recent editions or handcopies of original qinpu.

Pu Tian Yue

2008-09-25T01:23:00.010-07:00

The Pu Tian Yue is considered the first national song of China, though it was not approved by the official Qing Dynasty.

History

In 1878, , Zeng Jize had a diplomatic visit to Great Britain and France; he was appointed Ambassador to Russia two years later. At a international convention, a national song was needed, so he wrote the song Pu Tian Yue to the tune 词牌. The lyrics seem to have disappeared.

This song was not officially approved by the Qing Dynasty, but is widely recognized as the National Song of China in other countries.

Criticism

Some critics say the song is too slow.

Praise the Dragon Flag

2008-09-25T01:23:00.009-07:00

The Praise the Dragon Flag is a semi-official national anthem of China, also is a military anthem, and a Royal anthem.

History

In 1906, , Department of Army of Qing Dynasty is established, and write this song as anthem, the official of Qing Dynasty use this song as temporary national anthem.

Lyrics

Simplified Chinese

于斯万年，亚东大帝国！

山岳纵横独立帜，江河漫延文明波；

四百兆民神明冑，地大物产博。

扬我黄龙帝国徽，唱我帝国歌！

Traditional Chinese

於斯萬年，亞東大帝國！

山嶽縱橫獨立幟，江河漫延文明波；

四百兆民神明冑，地大物產博。

揚我黃龍帝國徽，唱我帝國歌！

Hanyu Pinyin

yú sī wàn nián ， yà dōng dà dì guó ！

shān yuè zòng héng dú lì zhì ， jiāng hé màn yán wén míng bō ；

sì bǎi zhào mín shén míng zhòu， dì dà wù chǎn bó 。

yáng wǒ huáng lóng dì guó huī ， chàng wǒ dì guó gē ！

English Translation

We located here for thousands years as a great empire in east Asia!

Mountains in our land, rivers in our land, spread the culture;

400 million people blessed by God, we have a big land and plenty of product.

Raise our Yellow Dragon Emblem Proud, sing our empire's song!

On Songhua River

2008-09-25T01:23:00.007-07:00

The On Songhua River is a patriotic song in Second Sino-Japanese War.

History

Describes the life of the people who live north-east since "9·18 Incident", written and composed by Zhang Hanhui

Lyrics

Simplified Chinese

　　我的家在东北松花江上，

　　那里有森林煤矿，

　　还有那满山遍野的大豆高粱。

　　我的家在东北松花江上，

　　那里有我的同胞，还有那衰老的爹娘。

　　“九.一八”，“九.一八”！从那个悲惨的时候，

　　“九.一八”，“九.一八”！从那个悲惨的时候，

　　脱离了我的家乡，抛弃那无尽的宝藏，

　　流浪！流浪！整日价在关内，流浪！

　　哪年哪月，才能够回到我那可爱的故乡？

　　哪年哪月，才能够收回我那无尽的宝藏？

　　爹娘啊，爹娘啊！什么时候才能欢聚在一堂？

Traditional Chinese

　　我的家在東北松花江上，

　　那裏有森林煤礦，

　　還有那滿山遍野的大豆高粱。

　　我的家在東北松花江上，

　　那裏有我的同胞，還有那衰老的爹娘。

　　“九.一八”，“九.一八”！從那個悲慘的時候，

　　“九.一八”，“九.一八”！從那個悲慘的時候，

　　脫離了我的家鄉，拋棄那無盡的寶藏，

　　流浪！流浪！整日價在關內，流浪！

　　哪年哪月，才能夠回到我那可愛的故鄉？

　　哪年哪月，才能夠收回我那無盡的寶藏？

　　爹娘啊，爹娘啊！什麽時候才能歡聚在一堂？

Hanyu Pinyin

wǒ de jiā zài dōng běi sōng huā jiāng shàng ，

　　 nà lǐ yǒu sēn lín méi kuàng ，

　　 hái yǒu nà mǎn shān biàn yě de dà dòu gāo liáng 。

　　 wǒ de jiā zài dōng běi sōng huā jiāng shàng ，

　　 nà lǐ yǒu wǒ de tóng bāo ， hái yǒu nà shuāi lǎo de diē niáng 。

　　“ jiǔ . yī bā ”，“ jiǔ . yī bā ”！ cóng nà gè bēi cǎn de shí hòu ，

　　“ jiǔ . yī bā ”，“ jiǔ . yī bā ”！ cóng nà gè bēi cǎn de shí hòu ，

　　 tuō lí le wǒ de jiā xiāng ， pāo qì nà wú jìn de bǎo cáng ，

　　 liú làng ！ liú làng ！ zhěng rì jià zài guān nèi ， liú làng ！

　　 nǎ nián nǎ yuè ， cái néng gòu huí dào wǒ nà kě ài de gù xiāng ？

　　 nǎ nián nǎ yuè ， cái néng gòu shōu huí wǒ nà wú jìn de bǎo cáng ？

　　 diē niáng ā ， diē niáng ā ！ shí me shí hòu cái néng huān jù zài yī táng ？

English Translation

My home is on the Songhua River in northeast,

There has forest and coal mine,

There has soybean and soghurm all over the mountain,

My home is on the Songhua River in northeast,

There has my brother, and older parents,

"Sep. 18", "Sep.18", since that miserable day,

"Sep. 18", "Sep.18", since that miserable day,

Leave My homeland, discard the endless treasure,

Roam, Roam, whole day roam inside the Great Wall,

When can I go back to my homeland?

When can I get back my endless treasure?

My mother, my father, when can we gather together?

Ode to the Motherland

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"Ode to the Motherland" is a famous patriotic song of the People's Republic of China, written and music composed by during the period immediately after the founding of the People's Republic of China .

Origin

When Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China under a sea of fluttering on 1 October 1949, he said, ''"The Chinese people has stood up today!"''. This was an inspiring moment for the millions of patriotic Chinese, and remains so to this day. Wang Xin wrote this song shortly after seeing the the sea of fluttering Five-Starred Red Flags again during the preparation for the first anniversary of the PRC in October 1950. The song's lyrics and its music composition were officially published on 15 September 1951 on the People's Daily.

Numbered musical notation

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The numbered musical notation, better known as jianpu in , is a musical notation system widely used among the Chinese people. Some people call it the numeric notation or numerical notation, but it is not to be confused with the . It is also known as Ziffersystem, meaning "number system" or "cipher system" in . It should be noticed that some other unrelated musical notation systems are also called .

The same system or very similar systems are used to some extent in some European countries, and are popular in some Asian countries. This article first describes the Chinese ''jianpu'' in some detail, then describes its possible variations.

Numbered notation described

Musical note

Numbers 1 to 7 represent the musical notes. They always correspond to the diatonic major scale. For example, in the of C major, their relationship with the notes and the solfege is shown below:

Note: C D E F G A B
Solfege: do re mi fa sol la ti
Notation: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

When the notes are read aloud or sung, they are called "do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti/si"

Octaves

Dots above or below a musical note raise or lower it to other octaves. The number of dots equals the number of octaves. For example, "6" with a dot below is at an octave lower than "6". Musical scales can thus be written like this:
.
major scale: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

natural minor scale: 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6
· ·

Where there is more than one dot above or below the number, the dots are placed vertically on top of each other.

Where there are note length lines underneath the numbers, any dots are placed below the lines. Thus the dots below numbers do not always vertically align with each other, since some of them may be moved slightly downward so as not to collide with the note length lines.

Chords

Chords can be transcribed by vertically stacking the notes, with the lowest note at the bottom as with Western notation. Each note has its own octave dots, but only the lowest note has the length lines .

Arpeggiated chords are notated by writing the standard Western arpeggiation symbol to the left of the chord.

Note length

The plain number represents a quarter note . Underlines shorten it. One underline represents an eighth note , two underlines represent a sixteenth note , and so on. The underline is similar to the number of flags in . The underlines are frequently joined together like beaming in the standard notation. Dashes after a note lengthen it, each dash by the length of a quarter note.

A after the plain or underlined note works increases its length by half, and increases by three-quarter, similar to the standard notation. The rule is different for notes longer than the quarter note. An additional dot after the dashes actually means half the length of a quarter note.

whole : 1 - - - dotted whole: 1 - - - - - double dotted: 1 - - - - - -

half : 1 - dotted half: 1 - - double dotted: 1 - - ·

quarter : 1 dotted quarter: 1· double dotted: 1··

eighth : 1 dotted eighth: 1· double dotted: 1··

16th : 1
=

Musical rest

The number "0" represents the . The rules for length is similar to that of the note, except that it is customary to repeat "0" instead of adding dashes for rests longer than a quarter rest. Unlike the , there is no single symbol for the bar rest. The bar rest of 3/4 time is "| 0 0 0 |" and the bar rest of 4/4 time is "| 0 0 0 0 |".

Undetermined pitch

The rhythm of percussion instruments of undetermined is usually represented by "X" or "x" using rules similar to that of the musical note. For example, a common clap pattern used in can be written like this:

4/4 > >
Clap: | X X X X X | X X X X 0 X X ||

Bar lines

The end of a is marked with a vertical line. Two vertical lines represents the double bar line, and usually also the end bar line, though the thin and thick line variation resembling the standard notation is also used.

When several lines of music are notated together to be sung or played in harmony, the bar lines usually extend through all the parts, except they do not cut across the lyrics if these are printed between the upper and lower parts. However, when notating music for a two-handed instrument , it is common for the bar lines of each hand to be drawn separately, but a score bracket to be drawn on the left of the page to "bind" the two hands together. This bracket is not the same as the bracket used on a Western piano staff; it's more like the bracket used to bind an orchestral section together in Western music. Sometimes the final double barline, and any barlines marked with repeat signs, also pass through both hands, but this is not consistent even in the same publication .

If a piece of music for a two-handed instrument has a passage where only one hand is notated, lines of numbered notation without score brackets at the left can be used for this passage. Hence a piece of music may shift between two-handed and one-handed layouts during the course of the piece.

Cadenza-like passages can have dotted barlines, or barlines can be omitted altogether.

Repeat signs also resemble the standard notation. First and second time bars can be used; these are printed above the music in a way that resembles standard notation, but the font is much smaller .

It is possible to print a small fermata above a bar line; this represents a brief pause between the measures either side of the barline, as in Western notation.

Time signature

The time signature is written as a fraction: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, etc. It is usually placed after the key signature. Change of time signature within the piece of music may be marked in-line or above the line of music. Some pieces that start with cadenza passages are not marked with time signatures until the end of that passage, even if the passage uses dotted barlines .

Sometimes a piece is written with multiple time signatures simultaneously. For example it might specify 4/4 2/4 3/4 5/4, meaning that the length of measures is irregular and can be 4, 2, 3 or 5 quarter-notes. The time signature of the first measure is always specified first, and the others are placed in increasing order of length.

Usually, the time signature is formatted as two numbers placed vertically on top of each other, with a horizontal line separating them. This is slightly different from the formatting illustrated in the text above, due to technical restrictions.

A metronome mark may be placed immediately after the time signature if the time signature is part-way through the music, or below it if the time signature is at the beginning. If present, this will be identical to the metronome marks used in Western music .

Accidentals and key signature

The notation uses a system. The key signature defines the of "1". So "1=C" means "C major". Minor keys are based on the natural minor or the Aeolian mode, and the key signature defines the pitch of "6". So "6=C" means "C minor". Naturally, the Dorian mode of D should be marked as "2=D". Some people prefer to write "Key: C" or "Key: Cm" instead.

The same s in the are used, and as in common practice, an accidental is placed before the notes "1 2 3 4 5 6 7" to raise or lower the pitch and placed after the note names "C D E F G A B", which are used for key signature and markings in the numbered system.

There is one caution about the use of the accidentals. In the standard notation, the C minor has flats on B, E, and A in the key signature. So when we write the harmonic minor scale, we put a natural before the B? for the leading note. In the numbered notation, however, the leading note is always "?5", because the system itself does not flat the "5" note.

Ties, slurs and tuplets

Ties and slurs are curves resembling that in the standard notation, although they are always written above the music line in numbered notation. Ties are much flatter than slurs; usually only the ends of a tie are curved, whereas slurs are curved throughout. Chinese music books often draw ties and slurs with a single thin line, in contrast with the Western practice of making the line thicker in the middle.

In music for two hands, it is possible to write a slur that begins in one hand and ends in the other; this is usually done when the first hand has nothing more to play in that measure and hence there is room to draw the slur in the space which would normally have been used to draw further notes. This is similar to some Western keyboard music where slurs between the staves are possible.

A slur with a small arrowhead on its right-hand end indicates a pitch bend between the notes under the slur, which is possible on some instruments.

Tuplets are notated by writing a slur-like symbol over the notes and printing a small digit in the center of this symbol, so that the line passes through the digit.

Expression marks and dynamics

Expression marks are also written above the music line. Special attention has to be paid on the staccato dot since it looks like the octave changer. It is either represented by a bolder dot further away from the music line or by the staccatissimo sign instead, which is an inverted triangle.

Dynamics and hairline crescendos and diminuendos are written below the line of music to which they apply, as in Western notation. The font of the dynamics is usually lighter than the font used in Western notation, so as not to be as heavy as the font for the numbers.

Fingering and other instrument-specific marks

Instrument-specific symbols can be written above notes as well. For example in music for stringed instruments it is common to see wavy lines representing rolls. Fingering can be marked using four different kinds of finger symbol, respectively appearing like a lightning strike, the top half of a semicircle, a backslash, and the bottom left corner of a square.

Other instrument-specific symbols that are sometimes used include one resembling three slashes progressing diagonally downward, placed to the lower right of the numeral. This represents a tremolo. Another symbol is formed of a line proceeding from slightly to the right of the top right corner of the numeral and curving upwards, ending with the left half of an arrowhead. The meaning of this symbol is unclear.

If there are slurs or ties and also fingering symbols, then the fingering symbols are written above the slurs or ties. Rolls and tuplets are usually written below the slurs or ties. However, if a one-off chord results in many digits being stacked on top of each other and also has a roll symbol, it is possible to place that roll symbol above any slur or tie line in order to save space .

Glissandi

Glissandi are represented by diagonal wavy lines with arrowheads at the end. The glissandi symbol proceeds from bottom left to top right for an upward glissando, or from top left to bottom right for a downward glissando. It is used in place of a numeral. For stringed instruments, it usually indicates playing all the notes of the scale in rapid succession, i.e. for a downward glissando,

.
1 6 5 3 2 1

and for an upward glissando,

.
1 2 3 5 6 1

Note that a pentatonic scale is normally used in Traditional Chinese music, so "all the notes of the scale" in this case are 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Extended glissandi are also possible, usually written with a longer diagonal wavy line that is nearly touching the numbers on either side of it. In this case the numbers on either side determine the starting and ending pitches for the glissando.

Grace notes

Grace notes are notated like normal notes but are written in a small script on the line just above. They are written with octave dots and note-length lines, and they are connected to the main note by means of a slur that proceeds vertically downward from the center of the note-length line of the grace notes and points toward the main note. Grace notes may be placed either before or after the main note, to be played very rapidly either before the start of the main note or after the end.

Variations of the numbered musical notation

In some versions of the numbered musical notation, underlines indicating note length are written above the note instead. Ties and slurs may be written below the music line.

In some versions, octave change is represented in a different way. Instead of dots above or below the numbers, a horizontal line is drawn and the number is written on, above, or below the line.

Another variation is to put octave bar "|" on the side of the number. An octave bar on the left is equivalent to a dot at the bottom. An octave bar on the right is equivalent to a dot on top. This is used in . Digital Common Notation attempts to combine the benefits of the standard notation and numbered musical notation and is targeted for keyboard performing.

Performing numbered music on keyboard

It is possible to perform music in numbered musical notation in the tradition way. The player first locates the root note of the key on the keyboard and then mentally map the number to the keys on the keyboard. This should not be difficult for someone who can play the scales with traditional piano training.

A simple way is to transpose the root note to where the middle C is. The music can then be performed with the same fingering as in C Major. This approach actually reduces the 12 sets of fingering down to one. The method is described in .

History and Usage

The invention of the system is usually attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his work presented to the French Academy of Sciences in 1742. However, due to its straightforward correspondence to the standard notation, it is possible that many other claims of independent invention are also true.

Although the system is used to some extent in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and more by the Mennonites in Russia, it has never become popular in the Western world. See the external links for more information.

The system is very popular among some Asian people. Some people can sight read ''jianpu'' but not the standard notation. Most Chinese traditional music scores and popular song books are published in ''jianpu''. Many have both ''jianpu'' and standard notation, and make use of it in the index for the songs.

An index using the numbered notation allow readers to find a song if they know the melody but not its title. For example, a children's song book may have an index like this:
|1· 1· |1 23· | Row, row, row your boat

|1 1 5 5 |6 6 5 - | Twinkle, twinkle little star

|1 2 3 1 |1 2 3 1 | Frere Jacques

A reason for its popularity among Chinese is that ''jianpu'' fits in with the Chinese music tradition. It is a natural extension and unification of the widely used in ancient China for recording music. ''Gongche'' uses a number of characters to indicate the musical notes, and ''jianpu'' can be seen as using numbers to replace those characters.

Compared to the standard notation, the numbered notation is very compact for just the melody line. It is even possible to transcribe music in between the lines of text. Transcribing harmony can be done by vertically stacking the notes, but the advantage of compactness decreases as the harmony becomes more complex. The standard notation, with its graphical notation, is better in representing the duration and timing among multiple notes.

Examples

The two images below illustrate how the same piece of music is written using the standard notation and the numbered notation.

For a slightly more complex example, see on sibeliusmusic.com . The composer He Yiping produced numbered musical notation in even though Sibelius does not support it by design; presumably he did this by extensive use of manual symbol-positioning overrides. Note that the notation of this piece diverges from the most common standard in some respects; for example it places time signatures on every line rather than at the top of the music, and it stacks chords by creating columns that descend below the music line rather than rise above it.

National Banner Song

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The "National Flag Anthem" of the Republic of China is played during the raising and lowering of the Flag of the Republic of China.

This song is also played at international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, where the ROC team plays as "Chinese Taipei." . During the 2004 Summer Olympics, Chinese Taipei won its first gold medals, and the Banner Song was played at the ceremonial raising of the flag of the gold medal team. At such events, including the Olympics, the National Banner Song is announced as the "national anthem of Chinese Taipei".

This song is in a way less controversial than the national anthem, in part because it is less partisan in nature

The lyrics were written in Classical Chinese by Dài Chúanxían, who had also contributed to the lyrics of the National Anthem of the Republic of China. The music was composed by .

Lyrics

Chinese

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

''Hanyu Pinyin''

:shān chuān zhuàng lì, wù chǎn fēng lóng,
:yán huáng shì zhòu, dōng yà chēng xióng.
:wú zì bào zì qì, wú gù bù zì fēng,
:guāng wǒ mín zú, cù jìn dà tóng.
:chuàng yè wéi jiān, miǎn huái zhū xiān liè,
:shǒu chéng bù yì, mò tú wù jìn gōng.
:tóng xīn tóng dé, guàn chè shǐ zhōng, qīng tiān bái rì mǎn dì hóng;
:tóng xīn tóng dé, guàn chè shǐ zhōng, qīng tiān bái rì mǎn dì hóng!

Translation

: Lo! The glorious landscape with bountiful goods!
: Daughters and sons of Emperors and count as heroes of East Asia!
: Do not dismiss yourselves! Do not hold yourselves back!
: Further glorify our nation and work towards harmony!
: Creating the nation is difficult, so remember our founders!
: Maintaining it is not easy either, so do not be short-sighted!
: With one heart and one spirit, keep pressing to the goal!
: !

Sheet music

National Anthem of the Republic of China

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"National Anthem of the Republic of China", is the current national anthem of the Republic of China . It discusses how the vision and hopes of a new nation and its people can and should be achieved and maintained using the Three Principles of the People. Informally, the song is sometimes known as "''San Min Chu-i''" or ''"Three Principles of the People"'' from its opening line, but this is never used in formal or official occasions.

History

The text of "National Anthem of the Republic of China" was the collaboration between several Kuomintang members,
* Hu Han-min ,
* Tai Chi-t'ao ,
* Liao Chung-k'ai
* Shao Yüan-ch'ung .

The text debuted on July 16, 1924 as the opening of a speech by Sun Yat-sen at the opening ceremony of the Whampoa Military Academy.

After the success of the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang chose the text to be its party anthem and publicly solicited for accompanying music. Ch'eng Mao-yün won in a contest of 139 participants.

On March 24, 1930, numerous Kuomintang members proposed to use the speech by Sun as the lyrics to the national anthem. Due to opposition over using a symbol of a political party to represent the entire nation, the National Anthem Editing and Research Committee was set up, which endorsed the KMT party song. On June 3, 1937, the Central Standing Committee approved the proposal, and in 1943, the "Three Principles of the People" officially became the national anthem of the Republic of China.

The anthem was chosen as the world's best national anthem at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Lyrics

Chinese

The lyrics are in classical literary Chinese. For example,
* ''ěr'' is a literary equivalent of both singular and plural "you" depending on the context. In this case, it is plural
"you".
* ''fěi'' is a classical synonym of "not" . And
* ''zī'' is a classical, archaic interjection, and is not used in this sense in the modern vernacular language.
In this respect, the national anthem of the Republic of China stands in contrast to the People's Republic of China's "The March of the Volunteers", which was written a few years later entirely in modern vernacular Chinese.

As well as being written in classical Chinese, the national anthem follows classical poetic conventions. The style follows that of a four- , also called a four-character rhymed prose , first appeared in the Zhou Dynasty. The last character of each line rhymes in ''-ong'' or ''-eng'', which are equivalent in ancient Chinese. Because of the concise and compact nature of poetry, some words in the text have different interpretations, evident in the two translations below.

Translations

The official version, translated by Tu Ting- is used when the anthem lyrics are described in foreign-language guides to the ROC published by the government.

Lines seven and eight of the Tu and literal translations seem to vary dramatically, but the Tu translation is actually just in inverse order, probably to suit a more natural English word order. The words "day" and "night" are replaced by the metonyms "sun" and "star". Also, classical Chinese poetry allows for a great amount of license in interpretation.

The real differences are caused by the official interpretations, where some political and martial words have had their other connotations emphasized:
# "Our party" has been extended to be "our alliance", meaning "of us together", including the non-party members.
# "Warriors" personifies the persistence and fighting spirits in all citizens, including the civilians.
# "Vanguard" symbolizes the "model citizens".

Such is taught in Taiwanese schools, but some consider the elaboration of those phrases to be an inconsistent and unfaithful interpretation of the original.

The "great unity" has been interpreted to mean "total world harmony" and is a Confucian term used in the Great Learning as the ultimate aim that humans should strive for. However, the term was also occasionally used in the nineteenth century as a translation of the term "socialism". Sun Yat-sen's philosophy was that by providing for a strong China which could relate to the world as an equal, world harmony could be achieved.

Use in Taiwan

It is generally heard on important occasions such as graduations and flag-raising ceremonies. But for many years it was played before all movie performances. The song was once used to identify illegal migrants to Taiwan from Fujian as they would not be able to sing the anthem. Reportedly this is no longer effective, as migrants to Taiwan now learn the song before crossing the straits.

Because it was originally the party song of Kuomintang and was drafted in Mainland China as the speech to Whampoa Military Academy , those strongly supporting Taiwan independence, have objected to its use as the national anthem. The phrase "our party" actually refers to the KMT, and so has been considered unsuitable for a national anthem. Because Taiwan was no longer ruled by one party, the meaning of 「黨」 had been extended to a more general meaning as "we"——as it has been used long before the existence of political parties——where the word refers to a group people linked together by similar ideologies or common benefits.

The Democratic Progressive Party has accepted the current national anthem of the Republic of China but often plays it in a strongly Taiwanese context such as having it sung by a choir of Taiwanese aboriginals or in or . In 2006, President Chen Shui-bian, after returning from an overseas trip to the ROC's diplomatic allies in Latin America, stated that he fully supports the National Anthem of the Republic of China. He said that the country's citizens must learn to sing the National Anthem proudly and loudly. He also stressed the need for government officials to also sing the anthem and not shun it. Without the government setting an example, it's not surprising that the citizens don't sing the anthem, said Chen. Chen Shui-bian bowed to an effigy of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China. He also bowed to the flag of the ROC and sang the national anthem loudly once again, as he was presiding over a ceremony in Taipei.

The song is banned in mainland China and although not formally banned in Hong Kong, its public performance there is strongly discouraged. At Chen Shui-bian's inauguration in 2000, the national anthem was sung by popular Taiwanese singer A-Mei, which led to her to be banned from touring in mainland China for a few months.

At international events such as Olympic Games when Taiwan is not allowed to use its official name as the ROC and is forced to use Chinese Taipei instead, the National Banner Song is played in place of the National Anthem of the Republic of China due to pressure from the People's Republic of China over the political status of Taiwan.

Music of China

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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 . Today, the music continues a rich traditional heritage in one aspect, while emerging into a more contemporary form at the same time. Music has become somewhat commercialized in Hong Kong and Taiwan. while in mainland China music has been built more on tradition and may be considered more sophisticated.

History

The legendary founder of music in Chinese mythology was Ling Lun, who made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds.

Dynasty era

According to ''Mencius'', a powerful ruler once asked him whether it was moral if he preferred popular music to the classics. The answer was that it only mattered that the ruler love his subjects. The Imperial Music Bureau, first established in the Qin Dynasty , was greatly expanded under the Emperor Han Wu Di 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, especiallyCentral Asia.

The oldest known written music is ''Youlan'' or the ''Solitary Orchid'', attributed to Confucius . 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 , contained many folk songs dating from 800 BC to about 300 BC.

The first European to reach China with a musical instrument was Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci who presented a Harpsichord to the imperial court in 1601, and trained four eunuchs to play it.

Republic of China era

The New Culture Movement of the 1910s and 1920s evoked a great deal of lasting interest in Western music. A number of Chinese musicians returned from studying abroad to perform Western classical music, composing work based on Western musical notation system. The Kuomintang tried to sponsor modern music adoptions via the Shanghai Conservatory of Music despite the ongoing political crisis. 20th-century cultural philosophers like Xiao Youmei, Cai Yuanpei, Feng Zikai and Wang Guangqi wanted to see Chinese music adopted to the best standard possible. There were many different opinions regarding the best standard. considered pop music as a decline to the art form in the mainland. In 1949 the Kuomintang relocated to Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China was established. would become heavily promoted by the state. The Maoists, during the Cultural Revolution, pushed revolutionary music as the only acceptable genre; because of oppression and propaganda, this genre largely overshadowed all others and came almost to define Mainland music. This is still, in some ways, an ongoing process, but some scholars and musicians are trying to retrieve what was lost and rebuild the musical heritage.

After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a new fast tempo Northwest Wind style was launched by the people to counter the government. The music would progress into Chinese rock, which remained popular in the 1990s. However, music in China is very much state-owned as the TV, media, and major concert halls are all controlled by the Communist party. The government mainly chose not to support Chinese rock by limiting its exposure and airtime. As a result, the genre never reached the mainstream in its entirety.

Current

China has a high piracy rate along with issues of . As a result, most albums are released in Taiwan or Hong Kong first. It is often one of the business decisions made by record companies. Normally there is some delay before the products are released into the mainland, with occasional exceptions, such as the work of Cui Jian who was released in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland simultaneously. Consequently, a delay in release time is also the biggest driver of piracy, since individuals would rather pirate from the outside. Modern market is not only hindered by rights issues, as there are many other factors such as profit margin, income and other economical questions.

Annual events such as the Midi Modern Music Festival in Beijing attracts tens of thousands of visitors. There was also the "Snow Mountain Music Festival" in Yunnan province 2002. The term "Chinese Woodstock" has been thrown around by Western media for these two events. Both draw sizable crowds outdoor, but the term is not quite official. The Chinese rock movement differed from its Western counterpart in that it never fully made it into mainstream culture due to restrictions by the state.

Today, rock music is centered on almost exclusively in Beijing and Shanghai, and has very limited influence over Chinese society. Wuhan and Sichuan are sometimes considered pockets of rock music culture as well. It points to a significant cultural, political and social difference that exist between China, the West, or even different parts within China. While rock has existed in China for decades, the milestone that put the genre on the international map is when Cui Jian played with The Rolling Stones in 2003, at the age of 42.

Traditional music

Instrumental

Traditional music in China is played on instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. The has five notes. s and are among the oldest known musical instruments from China; instruments are traditionally divided into categories based on their material of composition: skin, gourd, bamboo, wood, silk, earth/clay, metal and stone. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of s, woodwinds, s and .

:Instruments
::*Woodwind and percussion
:::dizi, , paigu, gong, paixiao, , s, cymbals
::*Bowed strings
:::erhu, zhonghu, , banhu, jinghu, gaohu, gehu, yehu, cizhonghu, diyingehu, leiqin
::*Plucked and struck strings
:::guqin, sanxian, yangqin, guzheng, ruan, konghou, liuqin, pipa,

Chinese vocal music has traditionally been sung in a thin, non-resonant voice or in falsetto and is usually solo rather than choral. All traditional Chinese music is melodic rather than harmonic. Chinese vocal music probably developed from sung poems and verses with music. Instrumental pieces played on an erhu or dizi are popular, and are often available outside of China, but the pipa and music, which are more traditional, are more popular in China itself. The is perhaps the most revered instrument in China, even though very few people know what it is or seen and heard one being played. The zheng, a form of zither, is most popular in Henan, Chaozhou, Hakka and Shandong. The pipa, a kind of lute, believed to have been introduced from the Arabian Peninsula area during the 6th century and adopted to suit Chinese tastes, is most popular in Shanghai and surrounding areas.

Ethnic Han music

Han Chinese make up some 92% of the population of China. Ethnic Han music consists of , in which the musicians play versions of a single melodic line. accompanies most music, dance, and opera.

Chinese opera

Chinese opera has been hugely popular for centuries, especially Beijing opera. The music is often guttural with high-pitched vocals, usually accompanied by suona, jinghu, other kinds of string instruments, and percussion. Other types of opera include clapper opera, Pingju, Cantonese opera, puppet opera, Kunqu, Sichuan opera, Qinqiang, ritual masked opera and Huangmei xi.

Folk music

Han folk music thrives at weddings and funerals and usually includes a form of oboe called a suona and percussive ensembles called chuigushou. The music is diverse, sometimes jolly, sometimes sad and often based on Western pop music and TV theme songs. Ensembles consisting of mouth organs , shawms , flutes and percussion instruments are popular in northern villages; their music is descended from the imperial temple music of Beijing, Xi'an, Wutai shan and Tianjin. Xi'an drum music consisting of wind and percussive instruments is popular around Xi'an, and has received some popularity outside China in a highly-commercialized form. Another important instrument is the , , which is an ancient instrument that is an ancestor of all Western free reed instruments, such as the accordion. Parades led by Western-type brass bands are common, often competing in volume with a shawm/chuigushou band.

In southern Fujian and Taiwan, Nanyin or Nanguan is a genre of traditional ballads. They are sung by a woman accompanied by a and a pipa and other traditional instruments. The music is generally sorrowful and mourning and typically deals with love-stricken women. Further south, in Shantou, Hakka and Chaozhou, erxian and zheng ensembles are popular.

Sizhu ensembles use flutes and bowed or plucked string instruments to make harmonious and melodious music that has become popular in the West among some listeners. These are popular in Nanjing and Hangzhou, as well as elsewhere along the southern area. Sizhu has been secularized in cities but remains spiritual in rural areas.

Jiangnan Sizhu is a style of instrumental music, often played by amateur musicians in teahouses in Shanghai, that has become widely known outside of its place of origin.

or is instrumental music from Guangzhou and surrounding areas. It is based on Yueju music, together with new compositions from the 1920s onwards. Many pieces have influences from jazz and Western music, using syncopation and triple time.

Regional music

China has many ethnic groups besides the , concentrated in the southeast and northwest. These include Tibetans, Russians, Uyghurs, Manchus, Zhuang, , Naxi, , , , and Mongolians.

Tibet

Music forms an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism. While chanting remains perhaps the best known form of Tibetan Buddhist music, complex and lively forms are also widespread. Monks use music to recite various sacred texts and to celebrate a variety of festivals during the year. The most specialized form of chanting is called yang, which is without metrical timing and is dominated by resonant drums and sustained, low syllables. Other forms of chanting are unique to Tantra as well as the four main monastic schools: Gelugpa, Kagyupa, Nyingmapa and Sakyapa. Of these schools, Gelugpa is considered a more a restrained, classical form, while Nyingmapa is widely described as romantic and dramatic. Gelugpa is perhaps the most popular.

Secular Tibetan music survived the Cultural Revolution more intact than spiritual music, especially due to the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, which was founded by the shortly after his self-imposed exile. TIPA originally specialized in the operatic lhamo form, which has since been modernized with the addition of Western and other influences. Other secular genres include nangma and toshe, which are often linked and are accompanied by a variety of instruments designed for highly-rhythmic dance music. Nangma karaoke is popular in modern Lhasa. A classical form called is very popular, and is distinguished by ornate, elegant and ceremonial music honoring dignitaries or other respected persons.

Tibetan folk music includes a cappella songs, which are distinctively high in pitch with glottal vibrations, as well as now rare epic bards who sing the tales of Gesar, Tibet's most popular hero.

Tibetan music has influenced the pioneering compositions of Philip Glass and, most influentially, Henry Eichheim. Later artists made fusions by pioneers Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings. These two collaborated on ''Tibetan Bells'', perhaps the first fusion of New Age and Tibetan influences, in 1971. Glass' ''Kundun'' soundtrack proved influential in the 1990s, while the popularity of Western-adapted Buddhism helped further popularize Tibetan music.

With the arrival of Tibetan refugees in the Himalayas, Western music, often in unique Tibetan forms, started to become popular among Tibetans everywhere. Rangzen Shonu quickly became the most popular ethnically Tibetan performers of Western rock and pop. Other forms of imported pop music include Indian ghazal and filmi, popular across the Himalayas and in Tibetan communities worldwide. Tibetan-Western fusions have been long suppressed in China itself, but have been widespread and innovative outside of the country. In the mid- to late 1980s, a relaxation of governmental rules allowed a form of Tibetan pop music to emerge in Tibet proper. Direct references to native religion is still forbidden, but commonly-understood metaphors are widespread. Pure Tibetan pop is heavily influenced by light Chinese rock, and includes best-sellers like Jampa Tsering and Yatong. Politically and socially aware songs are rare in this form of pop, but commonplace in a second type of Tibetan pop. Nangma karaoke bars appeared in 1998 and are common in Lhasa, in spite of threats from the Chinese government.

Guangxi

Guangxi is a region of China, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Its most famous modern musician is Sister Liu, who was the subject of a 1960s film that introduced Guangxi's cultures to the rest of the world.

The Gin people are known for their instrument called ''duxianqin'' , a string instrument with only one string, said to date back to the 8th century.

Yunnan

Yunnan is an ethnically diverse area in southeast China. Perhaps best-known from the province is the lusheng, a type of mouth organ, used by the Miao people of Guizhou for pentatonic antiphonal courting songs.

The of Prefecture are known for a unique kind of choral, micro-tonal rice-transplanting songs.

The Nakhi of play a type of song and dance suite called baisha xiyue, which was supposedly brought by Kublai Khan in 1253. Nakhi '''' is a type of music related to southern Chinese forms, and is popular today.

Sichuan

Sichuan is a province in southwest China. Its capital city, Chengdu, is home to the only musical higher education institution in the region, the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. The province has a long history of Sichuan opera.

Manchuria

Manchuria is a region in northeast China, inhabited by ethnic groups like the Manchu. The most prominent folk instrument is the octagonal drum, while the youyouzha lullaby is also well-known.

Xinjiang

is dominated by Uyghurs, a people related to others from Central Asia. The Uyghurs' best-known musical form is the , a complex suite of twelve sections related to and forms. These complex symphonies vary wildly between suites in the same muqam, and are built on a seven-note scale. Instruments typically include dap , s, fiddles and lutes; performers have some space for personal embellishments, especially in the . The most important performer is Turdi Akhun, who recorded most of the muqams in the 1950s.

Hua'er

Hua'er unknown

Kuaiban

Kuaiban is a type of rhythmic talking and singing which is often performed with percussive instruments such as hand clackers. The center of kuaiban tradition is Shandong province. Kuaiban bears some resemblance to rap and other forms of rhythmic music found in other cultures.

Modern music

These are genres that started after 1912 to coincide with the New China.

Pop music

C-pop originally began with the shidaiqu genre founded by Li Jinhui in the mainland, with Western jazz influences from the likes of Buck Clayton. After the Communist Party establishment, the Baak Doi record company ended up leaving Shanghai in 1952. The 1970s saw the rise of cantopop in Hong Kong, and later mandopop in Taiwan. The mainland remained on the sideline for decades with minimal degree of participation. Only in recent years did the youth in mainland resume as a consumer for the Taiwan mandopop market. Still, China is not yet considered a major production hub despite having the largest population. When Hong Kong's icon Anita Mui performed the song "Bad Girl" during the 1990s in China, she was banned from returning to the concert for showing a rebellious attitude. By Western standards, the performance was no more rebellious than, for example, since Mui based a lot of her dance moves on Madonna's style. Many mainland artists often try to start their commercial success in Hong Kong or Taiwan first, and then re-import into the mainland as part of the gangtai culture.

Since the end of the 20th century, pop music in mainland China started to become more popular. Especially at the start of the 21st century, Mainland Chinese artists have started producing a wide range of mandarin pop songs along with many new albums.

Many mainland Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong artists performed for the promotion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Hip hop and rap

:''Main articles: Chinese rap, Hong Kong hip hop, Taiwanese hip hop

Rock and heavy metal

The widely-acknowledged forefather of Chinese rock is Cui Jian. In the late 1980s he played the first Chinese rock song called: "I Have Nothing" . It was the first time an electric guitar was used in China. He became the most famous performer of the time, and by 1988 he performed at a concert broadcasted worldwide in conjunction with the . His socially critical lyrics earned him the anger of the government and many of his concerts were banned or cancelled. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he played with a red blindfold around his head as an action against the government.

Following, two bands became famous and . Both started during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hei Bao is an old-school rock band whose first CD, ''Hei Bao'' used the popular English song . was the first Chinese heavy metal band. Its first CD "A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty" combines elements of traditional Chinese opera and old school heavy metal. The album was a major breakthrough releasing around 1991/1992. Unfortunately, one member of Tang Dynasty died shortly after the release.

Around 1994–96: the first thrash metal band, Chao Zai , was formed. They released three CDs, the last one in cooperation with pop singer of the split-up band The Breathing. At the same time the first new metal bands were formed and inspired by Western bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit or Linkin Park. China would have their own with , , , Overheal Tank.

Punk rock

Punk rock became famous in China around 1994–1996 with the first Chinese artist of the post punk genre being and his debut record ''Garbage Dump''. The first real wave of band formations erupted in 1995 concentrating in Beijing, and the second generation of punk bands followed around 1997.

National music

Patriotic / Revolutionary

Guoyue are basically music performed on some grand presentation to encourage national pride. Since 1949, it has been by far the most government-promoted genre. Compared to other forms of music, symphonic national music flourished throughout the country. In 1969 the cantata was adapted to a piano concerto. The Yellow River Piano Concerto was performed by the pianist Yin Chengzong, and is still performed today on global stages. During the height of the Cultural Revolution, musical composition and performance were greatly restricted. A form of soft, harmonic, generic, pan-Chinese music called guoyue was artificially created to be performed at conservatories. After the Cultural Revolution, musical institutions were reinstated and musical composition and performance revived. At the height of the Mao Zedong era, the music accelerated at the political level into "Revolutionary Music" leaning toward cult status and becoming mainstream under pro-Communist ideology.

Military song of China

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