The best-known piece of Suona is One Hundred Birds Serenade the Phoenix, which is especially popular in Shandong, Anhui, Henan and Hebei provinces. Aftera spirited introduction, the orchestra settles down to a fixed accompaniment mode. With this background, the Suona section…
Erhu, also called Huqin, was known as Xiqin during the Song Dynasty. Huqin described in Yuan Dynasty records was the real forerunner of the modern Erhu, having its stem, sound box and pegs made of wood. The sound box can…
During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), there was a man called Yu Boya, who was a famous music master at that time, having a good command of the temperament and superb skills in playing the musical instrument. Once, on…
If you want to listen the music online, it will take your about one minute to begin. We are sorry, we have no enough time to optimize the speed. [audio:butterflylovers.mp3] The music of Liang Zhu, or “Butterfly Lovers,” is undoubtedly…
Old Beijing with the Forbidden City at its center. The Outer City in the south is where old-style theaters were concentrated. In the past, people visiting Beijing would invariably go to a theater to see a Peking Opera performance. When…
Rulers of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) all liked operas. Some of them, such as Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), were connoisseurs of Peking Opera. At the end of the 18th century, operatic singing in China had developed into several systems. Popular…