Timeline of Chinese music

Dynastic periods

Zhou Dynasty

• System of formal music yayue established.
• Lyrics of folk songs recorded.
• Decline of yayue by the end of the Spring and Autumn period, increased popularity of new music from Wey and Zheng states.

  Qin to Han Dynasty

• Establishment of the Music Bureau to collect folk music.

Sui to Tang Dynasty

• Founding of various academies and music departments -
• Influence from Centra Asian, Persian and Indian music.
• Oldest surviving notated music in China - Youlan.

  Song to Yuan Dynasty

• Revival of yayue due to the revival of Neo-Confucianism
• Increasing popularity of Chinese opera such as nanxi opera and zaju theatre.
• The artform of Ci poetry which is meant to be sung reached its zenith in the Song Dynasty.

  Ming Dynasty

• Kunqu opera.

  Qing Dynasty

• Development of Peking opera.
• Beginning of New Music in late the 19th century under influence of Western music.

  1900s

• Popular English and western classical music grew with British influence.

  1910s

• The dynastic period ends. New China tries to find a national anthem.
• Beginning of active development of New Music in New Culture Movement.

  1920s

• Shidaiqu started by Li Jinhui, which forms the basis of all Chinese pop music genres such as C-pop, mandopop and cantopop.

  1930s

• Heyday of Shidaiqu in Shanghai which lasted until the 1940s.
• Development of modern Chinese orchestra.

• Japanese enka influence Hokkien pop for Taiwanese people.

  1940s

• The Communist Party of China labeled pop music as yellow music.
• CPC promote national music.
• Government control of music via censorship begins.

  1950s

• Baak Doi leaves China in 1952 and relocates to Hong Kong.
• Mao Zedong and CPC evolved patriotic music into revolutionary music.

• Continuation of Shidaiqu in Hong Kong.

• Development of Taiwanese mandopop.
• Native Hokkien pop phased out by Kuomintang in favor of mandopop.

  1960s

• Decline of Shidaiqu.
• Popularity English pop around mid-1960s but beginning to fade by the late 1960s.
• Beginning of cantopop in the late 1960s with Roman Tam as the father of the new genre.
• Popularizing of Huangmei tone.
• Popularizing of Hong Kong musical tongue twister.

  1970s

• Teresa Teng expanded mandopop in Taiwan. Beats censorship in the mainland.

• Increasing popularity of cantopop.

  1980s

• Tiananmen Square led to the popularizing of Northwest Wind.
• Northwest wind became prison song.
• China begins the importation of gangtai music.

  1990s

• Prison song became Chinese rock with Cui Jian as the father of the new genre.
• Popularity of gangtai music.

• Karaoke culture begins.

• Hokkien pop re-emergence.

  2000s

• Punk rock begins in China.

• Chinese hip hop begins in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

  2010s

• 2015: Establishment of the Billboard China V Chart'''.