| Name | Image | Description | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antique Singing Bowls |  | Traditionally, antique singing bowls were made of Panchaloga (literally meaning "five metals" in Sanskrit): an alloy of bronze, copper, tin, zinc and other metals. Antiques often include silver, gold, iron and nickel. Antique singing bowls produce multiphonic and polyharmonic overtones which are unique to the antique instruments. The subtle yet complex multiple harmonic frequencies are a special quality of the high quality bronze alloy. The art of making singing bowls in the traditional way is considered a lost art. Antique singing bowls are highly prized and collected worldwide. Their popularity is due to their fine craftsmanship and remarkable sound. | |
| Banhu |  | The banhu (板胡) is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China. Ban means a piece of wood and hu is short for huqin. Like the more familiar erhu and gaohu, the banhu has two strings, is held vertically, and the bow hair passes in between the two strings. The banhu differs in construction from the erhu in that its soundbox is generally made from a coconut shell rather than wood, and instead of a snakeskin that is commonly used to cover the faces of huqin instruments, the banhu uses a thin wooden board. | |
| Bawu |  | The bawu (巴烏) is a Chinese wind instrument. Although shaped like a flute, it is actually a free reed instrument, with a single metal reed. It is played in a transverse (horizontal) manner. It has a pure, clarinet-like timbre and its playing technique incorporates the use of much ornamentation, particularly bending tones. | |
| Bianqing |  | The bianqing (Chinese: 編磬) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of L-shaped flat stone chimes, played melodically. The chimes were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the bronze bells called bianzhong, they were an important instrument in China's ritual and court music going back to ancient times. A similar instrument was imported to Korea, where it is called pyeongyeong and still used in Korean court and ritual music. | |
| Bianzhong |  | Bianzhong (編鐘) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. The bells were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the stone chimes called bianqing, they were an important instrument in China's ritual and court music going back to ancient times. | |
| Bo Cymbals |  | The bo (bronze cymbals) were frequently used in Sui and Tang dynasties (AD 581-907) 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 (the prefix jing referring to Beijing, the prefix used to define the instruments in the Beijing opera). 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 (drum, large and small gongs and cymbals) in the jubilant luogu (锣鼓) (gong and drum) music. | |
| Chanz |  | Chanz is a Mongolian long-necked spiked lute with an oval wooden frame and snakeskin covering stretched over both faces. The three strings are fixed to a bar, which is inserted in the body. The instrument is struck or plucked with a plectrum made of horn or with the fingers. | |
| Chau Gong |  | By far the most familiar to most Westerners is the chau gong or bullseye gong. Large chau gongs, called tam-tams (not to be confused with tom-tom drums), have become part of the symphony orchestra. Sometimes a chau gong is referred to as a Chinese gong, but in fact it is only one of many types of suspended gongs that are associated with China. The chau gong is made of copper-based alloy, bronze or brass. It is almost flat except for the rim, which is turned up to make a shallow cylinder. | |
| Dadihu |  | The dadihu (大低胡) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. It is pitched one octave below the xiaodihu and two octaves below the erhu. The biggest string instrument shown in the photo is a dadihu. Yes, it is huge. | |
| Daguangxian |  | The daguangxian (Chinese: 大廣弦; literally "large and wide string") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is held vertically. It is used primarily in Taiwan and Fujian (one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China), among the Hakka (a subgroup of the Han Chinese people.) | |
| Dahu |  | The dahu (大胡) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. The instrument is generally pitched one octave below the erhu, and is considerably larger than the erhu. | |
| Dizi |  | The dizi (Chinese: 笛子), a bamboo flute, is a major Chinese musical instrument, and is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, as well as Chinese opera, and the modern Chinese orchestra. The dizi is held horizontally when played. | |
| Duxianqin |  | The duxianqin (独弦琴, meaning "single string zither") is a Chinese plucked string instrument with only one string. It is played using harmonics, with the string's tension varied by the use of a flexible rod manipulated with the left hand. The duxianqin is nearly identical to the Vietnamese đàn bầu, from which it is likely derived. Chinese sources describe it as being an instrument of the Jing (also spelled Gin or Kinh) ethnic group of China, who are ethnic Vietnamese living in China. | |
| Erhu |  | The erhu (Chinese: 二胡), also called nanhu (南胡, literally "southern fiddle"), and sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "Chinese two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular instrument in the huqin (胡琴) family of Chinese bowed string instruments, together with the zhonghu (中胡), gaohu (高胡), banhu (板胡), jinghu (京胡), sihu (四胡), and numerous others. | |
| Fangxiang |  | The fangxiang (also fang xiang, fang hsiang; 方响 or 方響 in Chinese) is an ancient Chinese metallophone. The instrument consists of 16 tuned rectangular iron slabs laid in a frame in two rows. The slabs are struck with a hammer and played melodically. Each of the slabs is of the same length and width but they are of graduated thickness, with the thinner slabs producing lower tones and the thicker slabs producing higher tones. In ancient times, the fangxiang was a popular instrument in Chinese court music. It was introduced to Korea, where it is called banghyang (hangul: 방향; hanja: 方響) and is still used in the court music of Korea. The image shows a display in a museum of China. Two pieces of slabs were missing from the display. | |
| Fish Drum |  | A fish-drum (Chinese: 魚鼓) or pao pei is a traditional Chinese instrument. It is composed of a long cylinder, often of bamboo, over one end of which is stretched a piece of prepared fish skin or snakeskin. Two items that resemble projecting golf clubs are the ends of long slips of bamboo used as castanets. The image shows a woodcut of Elder Zhang Guo, who lived during the Tang Dynasty , carrying a fish-drum. | |
| Gaohu |  | The gaohu (高胡, also called yuehu 粤胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument used in playing traditional Guangdong Cantonese music and operas. It belongs to the huqin family of instruments, together with the zhonghu, erhu, banhu, jinghu, and sihu, its name means "high pitched huqin". It has two strings and its soundbox is covered on the front (playing) end with snakeskin. | |
| Guan |  | The guan (管; literally "pipe" or "tube") where northern China version is called guanzi (管子) or bili (traditional: 篳篥) and the Cantonese version is called houguan (喉管). It is classified as a bamboo instrument in the Ba Yin (ancient Chinese instrument classification) system. The guan is a Chinese double reed wind instrument. Unlike instruments in the shawm family, such as the Western oboe or Chinese suona, the guan has a cylindrical bore, giving it a clarinet-like tone. | |
| Guqin |  | Guqin (Chinese: 古琴) is a plucked seven-string long narrow Chinese zither with very smooth top surface. It has been played since ancient times. It is sometimes referred to by the Chinese as 「國樂之父/国乐之父」, meaning "the father of Chinese music" or 「聖人之噐/圣人之器」, meaning "the instrument of the sages." It can also be called qixianqin (七絃琴, meaning "seven-stringed instrument"). The guqin is not to be confused with the guzheng, another Chinese long zither also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string. The image shows the famous painting "Ting Qin Tu" (聽琴圖, Listening to the Qin), by the Song emperor Huizong (1082–1135). |
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