音乐作为国家和民族文化的象征之一，其内容、体裁、风格都与国家、地区、民族的地理条件、历史沿革、语言特征、风格习惯、文化传承等密切相关。中国音乐经过几千年的积淀、发展，形成了多变而富有的内容、种类和风格，呈现出古典与流行、传统与现代并存的格局。希望读者可以通过本书了解中国音乐及其发展，感受中国音乐的艺术魅力，从而对中国的文化精神有更深一步的理解和热爱。

Music reflects thoughts of people, sense of beauty and arts of the human being. It, in a special way, shows different cultures of people and concepts in the world. That is why it is considered as a gem in the history of human civilization. The Chinese music is of a unique style, featuring various form sand graceful expressions. The Chinese musical instruments, of different varieties and colorful tones, constitute an important part of the Chinese folk music, which, together with the Chinese operas, plays an important role in the development of Chinese culture. The exchanges and conflicts between the Chinese and Western culture can be extended to the music world. The Chinese music, after thousands of years of accumulation and development, has shown up a pattern featuring plentiful contents, classes and styles as well as coexistence of classical and pop music and coexistence of traditional and modern music.

Foreword

The Evolution of Chinese Music

 Ancient Times

 The Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties Io

 The Spring and Autumn Period & the Warring States

 Period

 The Qin and Han Dynasties

 The Period of the Three Kingdoms, the Western and

 Eastern Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern

 Dynasties

 The Sui and Tang Dynasties

 The Song and Yuan Dynasties

 The Ming and Qing Dynasties

 Affer1840

The Connotation of Ancient Music of China

 Propriety and Music in Confucianism

 The Dao (natural way) of Heaven

 The Inwardness of Zen

Varieties of Chinese National Musical Instruments

 A Large Musical Instrument System

 Varieties of Unique Local Music

Chinese Folk Songs

 Haozi Generated together with Labor

 Free and Lyrical Mountain Songs

 Beautiful and Melodious Ditty

Singing and Dancing of Ethnic Groups

 Muqam of the Uygur Minority

 Tibetan Folk Songs and Dances

 Mongolian Folk Songs

 Dong's Ka Lau

 Miao's Folk Songs and Musical Instruments

Quyi Music of China

 Singing Tunes with Storytelling

 Singing while Walking

Chinese Music of the Time

 Emergence of New Music Culture

 Improvement of Chinese Instrumental Music

 The Birth of New Opera

 From Mass Songs to Pop Songs Creation

 New Music in New Age

The Sino-foreign Exchange of Music

 Starting with the Pitch Pipe

 The Spread of Chinese Music

Appendix: Chronological Table of the Chinese Dynasties