Music of ChinaMusic of China refers to the music of the Chinese people, which may be the music of the Han Chinese in the course of Chinese history as well as ethnic minorities in today's China. It also includes music produced by people of Chinese origin in some territories outside mainland China using traditional Chinese instruments or in the Chinese language. It includes forms from the traditional and modern, Western inspired, commercial popular music, folk, art, and classical forms, and innovative combinations of them.
Liu BeiLiu Bei (, ; liu2-bei4; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. Although he was a distant relative of the Han imperial family, Liu Bei's father died when he was a child and left his family impoverished. To help his mother, he sold shoes and straw mats. When he reached the age of fifteen, his mother sent him to study under Lu Zhi. In his youth, Liu Bei was known as ambitious and charismatic.
Bombyx moriThe domestic silk moth (Bombyx mori) is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva (or caterpillar) of a silk moth. The silkworm is of particular economic value, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food are white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other species of mulberry, and even leaves of other plants like the osage orange. Domestic silk moths are entirely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding.
NüwaNüwa, also read Nügua, is a mother goddess, culture hero, and/or member of the Three Sovereigns of Chinese mythology. She is a god in Chinese folk religion and Taoism. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay. In other stories where she fulfills this role, she only created nobles and/or the rich out of yellow soil. The stories vary on the other details about humanity's creation, but it was a tradition commonly believed in ancient China that she created commoners from brown mud.
Feng shuiFeng shui (ˈfʌŋˌʃuːi ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is an ancient Chinese traditional practice which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e. fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical, astrological, architectural, cosmological, geographical and topographical dimensions.
ShennongShennong (神農), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (姜石年), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerated as a culture hero in China and Vietnam. In Vietnamese, he is referred to as Thần Nông. Shennong has at times been counted amongst the Three Sovereigns (also known as "Three Kings" or "Three Patrons"), a group of ancient deities or deified kings of prehistoric China.
Yan EmperorThe Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese ruler in pre-dynastic times. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (Yángtóu Shān) just north of Baoji in Shaanxi Province as his homeland and territory. A long debate has existed over whether or not the Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendary Shennong. An academic conference held in China in 2004 achieved general consensus that the Yan Emperor and Shennong were the same person.
ZhuanxuZhuanxu (Chinese: trad. , simp. 颛顼, pinyin Zhuānxū), also known as Gaoyang (t , s 高阳, p Gāoyáng), was a mythological emperor of ancient China. In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, Zhuanxu was a grandson of the Yellow Emperor. At the age of ten with Shaohao, he was said to have led the Shi clan in an eastward migration to present-day Shandong, where intermarriages with the Dongyi clan enlarged and augmented their tribal influences. He also was associated with a religious reform of the Jiuli(九黎) people, banishing witchcraft practised by the people.
GuqinThe guqin (AUDzh-gu3qin2.ogggu3qin2; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted by the quote "a gentleman does not part with his qin or se without good reason," as well as being associated with the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. It is sometimes referred to by the Chinese as "the father of Chinese music" or "the instrument of the sages".
Dragon KingThe Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the lóng in Chinese culture. There are also the cosmological "Dragon Kings of the Four Seas" (四海龍王; Sihai Longwang). Besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial tutelary deity, similarly to Tudigong "Lord of the Earth" and Houtu "Queen of the Earth".
