编者按：中国文化博大精深，有许多中国的特色文化，外国的朋友也想了解，用英语来介绍中国文化吧。
You may already be aware of some of China’s traditional styles of music, as well as some of its instruments. Confucius, who lived around 2500 years ago, was said to be a skilled musician and set the ‘guidelines’ for good quality music.
Unlike western style music, traditional Chinese music was not meant to be danced to and was instead meant to ‘promote tranquillity’. Because of this, Chinese music does not tend to have any emphasis on beat or rhythm.
Here are some of the instruments common to traditional Chinese music
二胡 (èr hú) – a two stringed violin type instrument that is used to expressed sadness and to imitate birds and singing.
古筝 (gǔ zhēng) – an 18-23 stringed instrument that is plucked horizontally. It is usually played solo, by a female musician at an opera or concert.
琵琶 (pí pa) – 4 stringed instrument, similar to a medieval lute. The instrument was popular in Chengdu, the capital during the Tang Dynasty and is now most commonly seen in performances.
笛子 (dí zi) – a flute made from bamboo with around 6 finger holes. One hole was covered with paper to create a raspy noise.
中国风 (zhōng guó fēng) : "Chinese Style" Music
中国风 (zhōng guó fēng) means "China Wind" in literally. Zhongguo feng mixes elements of traditional Chinese music, Chinese opera and poetry with modern pop music. 中国风 (zhōng guó fēng) comes from 中国风格的 (zhōng guó fēng gé de)meaning ‘Chinese Style’and was first seen in 2003, when Jay Chou 周杰伦 (zhōu jié lún), the Taiwanese Pop star released ‘East Wind Breaks’ 东风破 (dōng fēng pò). The song is a modern R&B song with the traditional instruments of the 二胡 (èr hú) and 琵琶 (pí pa). ‘East Wind Breaks’ uses a traditional element of Chinese music, known as the pentatonic scale. A pentatonic scale has 5 notes per octave, as oppose to a heptatonic scale that has 7. Heptatonic scales are more commonly found in western style music.
东风破 (dōng fēng pò) (East Wind Breaks)
Actually, Jay Chou周杰伦 (zhōu jié lún) and song writer Vincent Fang 方文山 (fāng wén shān), had been creating many traditionally influenced songs apart from ‘East Wind Breaks’ 东风破 (dōng fēng pò)..
When interviewed about ‘zhong guo feng’, 方文山 (fāng wén shān) said he was
always concerned about the subjects about nation, tradition and culture. When this cultural consciousness is combined with music, lyrics with so called “China Wind” element are naturally created.
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