List of Chinese musical instruments

Silk (絲">wikt:絲">絲)

Plucked

• LonQin – Chinese historical zither, early zither in Chinese. An ancient classical Chinese musical instrument similar to Guqin.
• Guqin – 7-stringed zithers
• Se – 25-stringed zither with movable bridges
• Zheng – Similar to Guzheng
• Guzheng – 16–26 stringed zither with movable bridges
• Konghou – harp
• Huluqin – four-stringed guitar with gourd body used by the Naxi of Yunnan
• Pipa – pear-shaped fretted lute with 4 or 5 strings
• Sanxian – plucked lute with body covered with snakeskin and long fretless neck
• Ruan – moon-shaped lute in five sizes: gaoyin-, xiao-, zhong-, da-, and diyin-; sometimes called ruanqin
• Liuqin – small plucked, fretted lute with a pear-shaped body and four strings
• Yueqin – plucked lute with a wooden body, a short fretted neck, and four strings tuned in pairs
• Qinqin – plucked lute with a wooden body and fretted neck; also called meihuaqin
• Duxianqin – the instrument of the Jing People plucked zither with only one string a monochord zither tuned to C3.
• Huobosi – a plucked long-necked lute of Turkic origin
• Tembor – a fretted plucked long-necked lute with five strings in three courses, used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
• Dutar – a fretted plucked long-necked lute with two strings, used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
• Rawap – a fretless plucked long-necked lute used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
• Tianqin - a 3 strings plucked lute of Zhuang people in Guangxi.
• Qiben - a four strings plucked lute of Lisu people

  Bowed

• Huqin – family of vertical fiddles
• Erhu – two-stringed fiddle
• Zhonghu – two-stringed fiddle, lower pitch than an erhu
• Gaohu – two-stringed fiddle, higher pitch than erhu; also called yuehu
• Banhu – two-stringed fiddle with a coconut resonator and wooden face, used primarily in northern China
• Jinghu – two-stringed fiddle, very high pitched, used mainly for Beijing opera
• Jing erhu – erhu used in Beijing opera
• Erxian – two-stringed fiddle, used in Cantonese, Chaozhou, and nanguan music
• Tiqin – two-stringed fiddle, used in kunqu, Chaozhou, Cantonese, Fujian, and Taiwanese music
• Yehu – two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used primarily in Cantonese and Chaozhou music
• Daguangxian – two-stringed fiddle used in Taiwan and Fujian, primarily by Min Nan and Hakka people; also called datongxian, guangxian, and daguanxian
• Datong – two-stringed fiddle used in the traditional music of Hunan
• Kezaixian – two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used in Taiwan opera
• Liujiaoxian – two-stringed fiddle with hexagonal body, similar to the jing erhu; used primarily in Taiwan
• Tiexianzai – a two-stringed fiddle with metal amplifying horn at the end of its neck, used in Taiwan; also called guchuixian
• Hexian – large fiddle used primarily among the Hakka of Taiwan
• Huluhu – two-stringed fiddle with gourd body used by the Zhuang of Guangxi
• Maguhu – two-stringed fiddle with horse bone body used by the Zhuang and Buyei peoples of southern China
• Tuhu – two-stringed fiddle used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi
• Jiaohu – two-stringed fiddle used by the Gelao people of Guangxi, as well as the Miao and Dong
• Sihu – four-stringed fiddle with strings tuned in pairs
• Sanhu – 3-stringed erhu with an additional bass string; developed in the 1970s
• Zhuihu – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
• Zhuiqin – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
• Leiqin – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
• Dihu – low pitched two-stringed fiddles in the erhu family, in three sizes:
• Xiaodihu – small dihu, tuned one octave below the erhu
• Zhongdihu – medium dihu, tuned one octave below the zhonghu
• Dadihu – large dihu, tuned two octaves below the erhu
• Dahu – another name for the xiaodihu
• Cizhonghu – another name for the xiaodihu
• Gehu – four-stringed bass instrument, tuned and played like cello
• Diyingehu – four stringed contrabass instrument, tuned and played like double bass
• Laruan – four-stringed bowed instrument modeled on the cello
• Paqin – modern bowed instrument
• Dapaqin – bass paqin
• Niutuiqin or niubatui – two-stringed fiddle used by the Dong people of Guizhou
• Matouqin – – Mongolian two-stringed "horsehead fiddle"
• Xiqin – ancient prototype of huqin family of instruments
• Shaoqin - electric huqin
• Yazheng – bowed zither; also called yaqin
• Wenzhenqin – a zither with 9 strings bowed
• Zhengni – bowed zither; used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi
• Ghaychak – four-stringed bowed instrument used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang; similar to kamancheh
• Sataer – long-necked bowed lute with 13 strings used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang. 1 playing string and 12 sympathetic strings.
• Khushtar – a four-stringed bowed instrument used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang

  Struck

• Yangqin – hammered dulcimer
• Zhu – a zither similar to a guzheng but it's played with a bamboo mallet
• Niujinqin – a zither used to accompany traditional narrative singing in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China. Similar to a se but played with a bamboo mallet.
• Tiěxiánqín 鐵絃琴 A steel string Niujinquin

  Combined

• Wenqin – a combination of the erhu, konghou, sanxian and guzheng with 50 or more strings made by steel.

  Bamboo (竹">wikt:竹">竹)

Flutes

• Dizi – transverse bamboo flute with buzzing membrane
• *Bangdi
• Xiao – end-blown flute; also called dongxiao
• Paixiao – pan pipes
• Chi – ancient transverse bamboo flute
• Yue – ancient notched vertical bamboo flute with three finger holes; used in Confucian ritual music and dance
• Xindi – modern transverse flute with as many as 21 holes
• Dongdi – wind instrument of the Dong people of southern China
• Koudi – very small transverse bamboo flute

  Free reed pipes

• Bawu – side-blown free reed pipe with finger holes
• Mangtong – end-blown free reed pipe producing a single pitch
• Hmong music|Raj|Miaozu di (

  Single reed pipes

• Mabu – single-reed bamboo pipe played by the Yi people

  Double reed pipes

• Guan – cylindrical double reed wind instrument made of either hardwood or bamboo ; the northern version is also called guanzi or bili, the Cantonese version is also called houguan, and the Taiwanese version is called 鸭母哒仔, 鴨母笛, or Taiwan guan
• Suona – double-reed wind instrument with a flaring metal bell; also called haidi
• Haotong

  Wood (木">wikt:木">木)

• Zhu – a wooden box that tapers from the top to the bottom, played by hitting a stick on the inside, used to mark the beginning of music in ancient ritual music
• Yu – a wooden percussion instrument carved in the shape of a tiger with a serrated back, played by hitting a stick with an end made of approximately 15 stalks of bamboo on its head three times and across the serrated back once to mark the end of the music
• Muyu – a rounded woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting
• Paiban – a clapper made from several flat pieces of wood; also called bǎn, tánbǎn, mùbǎn, or shūbǎn ; when used together with a drum the two instruments are referred to collectively as guban
• *Ban
• *Zhuban
• *Chiban
• Bangzi – small, high-pitched woodblock; called qiaozi or qiaoziban in Taiwan
• *Nan bangzi
• *Hebei bangzi
• *Zhui bangzi
• *Qin bangzi

  Stone (石">wikt:石">石)

• Bianqing – a rack of stone tablets that are hung by ropes from a wooden frame and struck using a mallet
• Tezhong – a single large stone tablet hung by a rope in a wooden frame and struck using a mallet
• Sounding stone or Qing

  Metal (金">wikt:金">金)

• Bianzhong – 16 to 65 bronze bells hung on a rack, struck using poles
• Fangxiang – set of tuned metal slabs
• Nao – may refer to either an ancient bell or large cymbals
• *Shangnao – ancient bell
• Bo –
• *Xiaobo
• *Zhongbo or zhongcuo
• *Shuibo
• *Dabo
• *Jingbo
• *Shenbo – deep, flat gong used in Chaozhou music; also called gaobian daluo
• Luo – gong
• *Daluo – a large flat gong whose pitch drops when struck with a padded mallet
• *Fengluo – literally "wind gong," a large flat gong played by rolling or striking with a large padded mallet
• *Xiaoluo – a small flat gong whose pitch rises when struck with the side of a flat wooden stick
• *Yueluo – small pitched gong held by a string in the palm of the hand and struck with a small stick; used in Chaozhou music
• *Jingluo – a small flat gong used in the traditional music of Fujian
• *Pingluo – a flat gong
• *Kailuluo
• Yunluo – literally "cloud gongs"; 10 or more small tuned gongs in a frame
• Shimianluo – 10 small tuned gongs in a frame
• Qing – a cup-shaped bell used in Buddhist and Daoist ritual music
• Daqing – large qing
• Pengling – a pair of small bowl-shaped finger cymbals or bells connected by a length of cord, which are struck together
• Dangzi – a small, round, flat, tuned gong suspended by being tied with silk string in a round metal frame that is mounted on a thin wooden handle; also called dangdang
• Yinqing – an inverted small bell affixed to the end of a thin wooden handle
• Yunzheng – a small flat gong used in the traditional music of Fujian
• Chun – ancient bell
• *Weichun – ancient hanging bell
• Bronze drum
• Laba – A long, straight, valveless brass trumpet

  Clay (土">wikt:土">土)

• Xun – ocarina made of baked clay
• Fou – clay pot played as a percussion instrument
• Taodi

  Gourd (匏">wikt:匏">匏)

• Sheng – free reed mouth organ consisting of varying number of bamboo pipes inserted into a metal chamber with finger holes
• *Baosheng – larger version of the Sheng
• Yu – ancient free reed mouth organ similar to the sheng but generally larger
• He – ancient free reed mouth organ similar to the sheng but smaller
• Hulusi – free-reed wind instrument with three bamboo pipes which pass through a gourd wind chest; one pipe has finger holes and the other two are drone pipes; used primarily in Yunnan province
• Hulusheng – free-reed mouth organ with a gourd wind chest; used primarily in Yunnan province
• Fangsheng – Northern China Gourd

  Skin (革">wikt:革">革)

• Dagu – – large drum played with two sticks
• *Huapengu – flowerpot-shaped large drum played with two sticks; also called ganggu
• Huzuo Dagu
• Huzuo Wujia Gu
• Jian'gu
• Bangu – small, high pitched drum used in Beijing opera; also called danpigu
• Biangu – flat drum, played with sticks
• Paigu – set of three to seven tuned drums played with sticks
• Tanggu – medium-sized barrel drum played with two sticks; also called tonggu or xiaogu
• Biqigu – a very small drum played with one stick, used in Jiangnan sizhu
• Diangu – a double-headed frame drum played with a single wooden beater; used in the Shifangu ensemble music of Jiangsu province and to accompany to kunqu opera
• Huagu – flower drum
• Yaogu – waist drum
• Taipinggu – flat drum with a handle; also called dangu
• Zhangu – war drum; played with two sticks
• Bajiao gu – octagonal tambourine used primarily in narrative singing from northern China :zh:八角鼓
• Yanggegu – rice planting drum
• Gaogu – large ancient drum used to for battlefield commands and large-scale construction
• Bofu – ancient drum used to set tempo
• Jiegu – hourglass-shaped drum used during the Tang Dynasty
• Tao or taogu – a pellet drum used in ritual music
• Bolang Gu – a traditional Chinese pellet drum and toy

  Others

• Gudi – an ancient flute made of bone
• Hailuo – conch shell
• Lilie – reed wind instrument with a conical bore played by the Li people of Hainan
• Lusheng – free-reed mouth organ with five or six pipes, played by various ethnic groups in southwest China and neighboring countries
• Kouxian – jaw harp, made of bamboo or metal
• Muye – tree leaf used as a wind instrument, some time call yedi
• Shuijingdi - crystal flute.

  Playing contexts

Musical instruments in use in the 1800s