Chinese orchestra

The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s into a form that is based on the structure and principles of a Western symphony orchestra but using Chinese instruments. The orchestra is divided into four sections – wind, plucked strings, bowed strings, and percussion, and usually performs modernized traditional music called guoyue. The orchestra may be referred to as Minzu Yuetuan () or Minyuetuan () in mainland China, Chung Ngok Tuen () in Hong Kong, Huayuetuan () in Southeast Asia, or Guoyuetuan () in Taiwan, all meaning Chinese orchestra. The term modern Chinese orchestra is sometimes used to distinguish the current form from ancient Chinese orchestras that existed since the Shang dynasty and was used in royal courts and later during Confucian ceremonies. Chinese traditional music Archaeological findings suggest that ancient China has a highly developed and sophisticated music culture. Music was an important element in traditional ritualistic ceremonies during the Shang dynasty (c. 1550-1111 BC), and it reached one of its peaks during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1111–222 BC). The ancient orchestra of the Zhou dynasty played a form of ceremonial music known as yayue. It featured a great abundance of percussion instruments. There were also several wind instruments, but only a few zither-type string instruments were used. All the bowed string instruments and many plucked string instruments first came to China from Central Asia after the Han dynasty (202 BC-AD 219). The Six Dynasties era following the collapse of the Han dynasty saw a wave of musical influence from Central Asia, and Central Asian Music became very popular during the Sui-Tang dynasty period. The Tang period was a very important epoch in the evolution of Chinese music, and court banquet music called yanyue (燕樂) was the dominant form of music during this era.