The Han Chinese

Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...

, who make up some 92% of the population of China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, play heterophonic music in which the musicians play versions of a single melody line. Percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

 accompanies most music, dance and opera.

Instrumental pieces played on an erhu

Erhu

The erhu is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "southern fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle". It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles...

 or dizi are popular, and are often available outside of China, but qin

Qin

-Chinese dynasties and states:*Qin , a state of China during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty*Qin Dynasty , which followed Qin's unification of China in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC*Da Qin , Roman Empire, 202 BC to AD 220...

, pipa

Pipa

The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...

 and zheng

Zheng

Zheng may refer to:*Zheng , an ancient state in China*Zheng , 鄭 or 郑, a Chinese surname*Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China*Guzheng , a Chinese zither with bridges...

 music, which is more traditional, are more popular in China itself. The qin is perhaps the national instrument of China, and its virtuoso

Virtuoso

A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...

s are stars. These include Zha Fuxi

Zha Fuxi

Zha Fuxi was a leading player and scholar of the guqin. Born in Jiangxi, he started learning guqin in his childhood. In 1936, he co-founded the Jinyu Society Qin Society which later became one of the major national musical organizations for the guqin.Apart from his profession on guqin, he worked...

, Wu Wen'guang, Lin Youren

Lin Youren

Lin Youren is a noted player of the Chinese musical instrument guqin. He famous for his unaffected playing style. Lin also taught guqin at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, but has since retired....

, Wu Jinglue

Wu Jinglüe

Wu Jinglüe is considered one of the most important guqin players of the 20th century and was also an active researcher and teacher...

, Wu Zhaoji

Wu Zhaoji

Wu Zhaoji also known as Xiangquan, was born in Hunan in 1908, China. At the age of 4, his family moved to Suzhou, where he lived the rest of his life until his death in 1997. Raised in a musical family, he learned the guqin from his father, and in 1921 became a student of Wu Jinyang. From a young...

, Guan Pinghu

Guan Pinghu

Guan Pinghu , was a leading player of the guqin , a Chinese 7-string bridgeless zither. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Guan came from an artistic family, and started to learn the guqin from his father, Guan Nianci. After the death of his father when he was thirteen, Guan continued with his father’s...

, Zhang Zijian, Li Xiangting

Li Xiangting

Prof. Li Xiangting is considered one of the master players of the guqin. He was born in Liaoyuan, Jilin in 1940. At an early point he became interested in the guqin and studied under Zha Fuxi. He entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China in 1958, graduated in 1963 and would later...

, and Gong Yi

Gong Yi

Gong Yi is a guqin master from Shanghai, presently one of the instrument's leading figures. Born in Nanjing, he trained first under several local players before proceeding to the Shanghai Conservatory where he absorbed a range of styles from such prominent masters as Zhang Ziqian, Xu Lisun, Gu...

. The zheng, a form of zither

Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...

, is most popular in Henan

Henan

Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...

, Chaozhou

Chaozhou

Chaozhou is a city in eastern Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the South China Sea to the southeast...

, Hakka

Hakka people

The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

, and Shandong

Shandong

' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

. The pipa

Pipa

The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...

, a kind of lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

, believing introduced from Arab

Arab world

The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...

 areas during 6th century and improved, is most popular in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and surrounding areas.

Han folk music thrives at weddings and funerals and usually included a form of oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

 called a suona

Suona

The suona ; also called laba or haidi is a Han Chinese shawm . It has a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors...

 and percussive ensemble

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

s called chuigushou. The music is diverse, sometimes jolly, sometimes sad, and often based on Western Pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

and TV theme songs.