Section 2: Musical Genres in China

The sheer number of essays in this section—some thirty-five—is an indication of the variety and richness of musical genres in China. The articles here fall into several groups. After an opening article on folk music, there is a series on instrumental traditions in which eight important instruments are introduced: the qin, pipa, zheng, erhu, yangqin, dizi, xiao, and sheng. The next series of essays covers instrumental ensembles, such as nanguan, and concludes with a piece on performance practices...