| Name | Image | Description | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guzheng |  | The guzheng, or gu zheng (Chinese: 古箏) or zheng (箏) (gu-, 古 means "ancient") is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither family of string instruments. The guzheng is the parent instrument of the Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The guzheng should not to be confused with the guqin, another ancient Chinese zither but without bridges. The modern-day guzheng is a plucked, half-tube zither with movable bridges and 21 strings, although it can have anywhere from 15 to 25 strings (a customized version exists with more than 44 strings). The image shows a modern guzheng. | |
| Hulusi |  | The hulusi (葫蘆絲) is a free reed wind instrument from China. It is held vertically and has three bamboo pipes which pass through a gourd wind chest; one pipe has finger holes and the other two are drone pipes. The hulusi is now played throughout China. It has a very pure, clarinet-like sound. Although the hulusi is still predominantly performed in China, it has in recent years been adopted by European composers and performers. | |
| Huqin |  | Huqin (胡琴) are a family of bowed string instruments used in Chinese music. They consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a stick attached that protrudes upwards. Instruments in the huqin family have two or four strings and their soundboxes are typically covered with either snakeskin or thin wood. Huqin instruments have two or four tuning pegs, one peg for each string. The pegs are attached horizontally through holes drilled in the stick. The most common huqin are the erhu, zhonghu, and gaohu. Over thirty types of huqin instruments have been documented. | |
| Jing Bangu |  | The jing bangu (Jing: Beijing; ban: flat board; gu: drum) leads the percussion section in the instrumental ensemble of the Peking opera. It is also commonly called danpi (single drumhead). The drum's frame is constructed of thick wedges of hard wood glued together in a circle, wrapped with a metal band. Its body is bell mouthed in shape, open at the bottom. Its top surface (C.25cm), covered with a piece of pig or cow-hide, has a small convex central circular opening (about 5 or 6 cm in diameter), which is called the Guxin (drum heart), the actual sounding position. The player strikes on this central area with a pair of bamboo sticks. | |
| Jinghu |  | The jinghu (京胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family, used primarily in Beijing opera. It is the smallest and highest pitched instrument in the huqin family. The jinghu has two strings which were formerly made of silk, but in modern times are increasingly made of steel or nylon. | |
| Konghou |  | The konghou (Chinese: 箜篌) is an ancient Chinese harp. The konghou, also known as kanhou, went extinct sometime in the Ming Dynasty, but was revived in the 20th century. The modern instrument does not resemble the ancient one. The main feature that distinguishes the modern konghou from the Western concert harp is that the modern konghou's strings are folded over to make two rows, which enables players to use advanced playing techniques such as vibrato and bending tones. The two rows of strings also make it suitable for playing fast rhythms and overtones. | |
| Lion Drum |  | The size of a lion drum is very big, and is widely used for the Chinese lion dance during the New Year celebration. 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. | |
| Liuqin |  | The liuqin (柳琴) is a four-stringed Chinese lute with a pear-shaped body. It is small in size, almost a miniature copy of another Chinese plucked instrument, the pipa. But the range of its voice is much higher than the pipa, and has its own special place in the Chinese music, whether in orchestral music or in solo pieces. | |
| Luo |  | The luo, or Chinese gong, is made of high-tin bronze. Its central resonating area can be either flat or convex. Its long history can be traced back to the early Western Han period (206 BC-AD 24) according to an archaeological find from a tomb of that period in Guangxi. 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 (over 120 cm in diameter) called dachaoluo, known for its deep and grave tone, is used in official settings like weddings, funerals and temple ceremonies. The smallest, the goujiaoluo (狗叫锣, lit. dog-calling gong), 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. The image shows the large gong used in the Nakhi (Naxi) Orchestra of China. | |
| Lusheng |  | The lusheng (蘆笙) is a polyphonic instrument with multiple bamboo pipes from China. Each fitted with a free reed, which are fitted into a long blowing tube made of hardwood. It has five or six pipes of different pitches. It comes in sizes ranging from very small to several meters in length. The lusheng is used primarily in the rural regions of southwestern China and in nearby countries such as Laos and Vietnam, where it is played by such ethnic groups as the Dong and Miao. Performers often dance or swing the instrument from side to side while playing. | |
| Matouqin |  | The matouqin (Chinese: 馬頭琴; literally "horse-head fiddle") or morin khuur (Mongolian: морин хуур) is a chordophone from Mongolian. It is played with a bow and produces a sound which is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. The instrument consists of a wooden-framed sound box to which two strings are attached. It is held nearly upright with the sound box in the musician's lap or between the musician's legs. The strings are made from hairs from horses' tails, strung parallel, and run over a wooden bridge on the body up a long neck to the two tuning pegs in the scroll, which is always carved into the form of a horse's head. | |
| Ocarina |  | The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument.While several variations exist, an ocarina is typified by an oval-shaped enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouth tube projecting out from the body. It is often ceramic, but many other materials, such as plastic, wood, glass, clay, and metal, may also be used. The ocarina is a very old family of instruments, believed to date back some 12,000 years. Ocarina-type instruments have been of particular importance in Chinese and Mesoamerican cultures. | |
| Paiban |  | Paiban (Chinese: 拍板) is an ancient wood instrument from China. It is a clapper made from several flat pieces of wood. | |
| Paixiao |  | The paixiao (Chinese: 排簫; also pái xiāo, pai-hsiao) is an ancient Chinese wind instrument, a form of pan pipes. It is no longer used, having died out in ancient times, although in the 20th century it was reconstructed. | |
| Pipa |  | The pipa (琵琶) is a plucked Chinese string instrument. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body. It has been played for nearly two thousand years of history in China, and belongs to the plucked category of instruments (弹拨乐器/彈撥樂器). Several related instruments in East and Southeast Asia are derived from the pipa; these include the Japanese biwa, the Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà, and the Korean bipa. The Korean instrument is the only one of the three that is no longer used. The image shows a Tang Dynasty five-stringed pipa. | |
| Qalun |  | Qalun is a hammered dulcimer played by the Uyghurs of southern Xinjiang of China. The player plucks qalun with a bone pick held in the left hand, while the right hand pressing on the string with a bronze key (gustap) to produce quarter tones and ornaments. | |
| Ruan |  | The ruan (阮) is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel (flatwound for the lower strings). The modern ruan has 24 frets with 12 semitones on each string, which has greatly expanded its range from a previous 13 frets. | |
| Sanxian |  | The sanxian (Chinese: 三絃; literally "three strings") is a three-string fretless plucked musical instrument from China. It has a long fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snakeskin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes for different purposes and in the late 20th century a four-stringed version was also developed. The sanxian has a dry, somewhat percussive tone and loud volume similar to the banjo. The larger sizes have a range of three octaves. The sanxian is used in nanguan and Jiangnan sizhu ensembles, as well as many other folk and classical ensembles. |
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