As the sun sets over a river, a man seated on a stool beneath a willow plays a transverse bamboo flute. A man in a covered boat listens quietly, an attendant stands holding a horse, and the water reflects the evening glow.
Bone Flutes and Clay Ocarinas
Gong-and-Drum Music
The Art of the Guqin
Shengguan Ensembles
Dizi and Xiao
Guzheng
Pipa
Ruan and Sanxian
Erhu
Suona and Drum-and-Wind Bands
Chaozhou Music
Jiangnan Sizhu
Nanyin
Shifan Ensembles
Xiansuo String Ensembles
Yangqin
Xi'an Wind and Percussion Ensemble
Cantonese Music
Instrumental Traditions of China's Ethnic Minorities
Modern Chinese OrchestraDizi and Xiao
One flute held sideways, one held upright
Introduction
The side-blown dizi and the end-blown xiao, China's bamboo flutes
Dizi and xiao are bamboo flutes. The dizi is blown sideways and usually has a membrane between the blowing hole and the finger holes, giving it a bright, buzzing tone; the xiao (dongxiao) is blown from the end and sounds low and soft. A side-blown bamboo chi was buried in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (c. 433 BCE), and the Book of Songs already pairs the chi with the xun. Ma Rong of the Eastern Han wrote a rhapsody on the long flute, and Huan Yi of the Eastern Jin was famed as a flautist; the piece Meihua Sannong is traditionally traced to his playing. The qudi leads the kunqu opera band, and in the 20th century Feng Zicun, Liu Guanyue, Zhao Songting, Lu Chunling and others built a solo dizi art, divided into a northern school led by the bangdi and a southern school led by the qudi. Dongxiao music entered the national intangible heritage list in 2008.
Timeline
- 600 BCEOriginThe Book of Songs likens brothers to one blowing the xun and one the chi, and the ode 'Ban' says 'like the xun and the chi': the side-blown chi was played with the xun under the Zhou.
Literature › Classic of Poetry: Greater Odes · Reversal - 433 BCEEvolutionBamboo chi flutes from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at Suizhou, Hubei (c. 433 BCE) are early surviving side-blown bamboo flutes.
- 383EvolutionHuan Yi of the Eastern Jin was famed for the flute; the Book of Jin records him playing at Emperor Xiaowu's request at a banquet in 383. Meihua Sannong is traditionally traced to his flute music and was later arranged for the qin.
- 2008ImpactIn 2008 Korean-Chinese dongxiao music (Ⅱ-124) entered the second national ICH list; in 2011 the item was extended as dongxiao music to include the Gaoling dongxiao of Shaanxi.
Heritage Listings
- 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · traditional music · Ⅱ-124 Korean-Chinese dongxiao music · no. 623 · nominated by Yanji and Hunchun · Jilin
- 2011National ICH extension items3rd batch · Ⅱ-124 dongxiao music [Gaoling dongxiao] · Gaoling · Shaanxi