List of Chinese musical instruments

Silk

Plucked

• – 7-stringed zithers
• – 25-stringed zither with movable bridges
• – 16–26 stringed zither with movable bridges
• – harp
• – four-stringed lute with gourd body used by the Naxi people of Yunnan
• - pear-shaped lute slightly smaller than the, with 2 strings and body covered with snakeskin; it was used during the Tang dynasty but is no longer used
• – pear-shaped fretted lute with 4 or 5 strings
• – small plucked, fretted lute with a pear-shaped body and four and five strings
• – moon-shaped lute in five sizes:,,,, and ; sometimes called
• – plucked lute with a wooden body, a short fretted neck, and four strings tuned in pairs
• – plucked lute with a wooden body and fretted neck; also called
• – plucked lute with body covered with snakeskin and long fretless neck; the ancestor of the Japanese
• – the instrument of the Jing people, a plucked, monochord zither with only one string, tuned to C3.
• – a plucked long-necked lute of Turkic origin
• – a fretted plucked long-necked lute with five strings in three courses, used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
• – a fretted plucked long-necked lute with two strings, used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
• – a fretless plucked long-necked lute used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang
• - a 3 strings plucked lute of Zhuang people in Guangxi.
• - a four strings plucked lute of Lisu people
• : A pear-shaped with five strings similar to ukulele

  Bowed

• – family of vertical fiddles
• – two-stringed fiddle
• – two-stringed fiddle, lower pitch than an
• – two-stringed fiddle, higher pitch than an ; also called
• – two-stringed fiddle with a coconut resonator and wooden face, used primarily in northern China
• – two-stringed fiddle, very high pitched, used mainly for Beijing opera
• – used in Beijing opera
• – two-stringed fiddle, used in Cantonese, Chaozhou, and nanguan music
• – two-stringed fiddle, used in, Chaozhou, Cantonese, Fujian, and Taiwanese music
• – two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used primarily in Cantonese and Chaozhou music
• – two-stringed fiddle used in Taiwan and Fujian, primarily by Min Nan and Hakka people; also called , , and
• – two-stringed fiddle used in the traditional music of Hunan
• – two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used in Taiwan opera
• – two-stringed fiddle with hexagonal body, similar to the ; used primarily in Taiwan
• – a two-stringed fiddle with metal amplifying horn at the end of its neck, used in Taiwan; also called
• – large fiddle used primarily among the Hakka of Taiwan
• – two-stringed fiddle with gourd body used by the Zhuang of Guangxi
• – two-stringed fiddle with horse bone body used by the Zhuang and Buyei peoples of southern China
• – two-stringed fiddle used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi
• – two-stringed fiddle used by the Gelao people of Guangxi, as well as the Miao and Dong
• - six-stringed fiddle of Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia
• – four-stringed fiddle with strings tuned in pairs
• – 3-stringed with an additional bass string; developed in the 1970s
• – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
• – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
• – two-stringed fiddle with fingerboard
• – low pitched two-stringed fiddles in the family, in three sizes:
• * – small, tuned one octave below the
• * – medium, tuned one octave below the
• * – large, tuned two octaves below the
• – another name for the
• – another name for the
• – four-stringed bass instrument, tuned and played like cello
• – four-stringed contrabass instrument, tuned and played like double bass
• – four-stringed bowed instrument modeled on the cello
• – bowed pear-shaped lute
• – bass
• or – two-stringed fiddle used by the Dong people of Guizhou
• – – Mongolian two-stringed "horsehead fiddle"
• – ancient prototype of family of instruments
• - electric
• – bowed zither; also called
• – a zither with 9 strings bowed
• – bowed zither; used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi
• – four-stringed bowed instrument used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang; similar to
• – long-necked bowed lute with 13 strings used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang. 1 playing string and 12 sympathetic strings.
• – a four-stringed bowed instrument used in Uyghur traditional music of Xinjiang.

  Struck

• – hammered dulcimer
• – a zither similar to a, played with a bamboo mallet
• – a zither used to accompany traditional narrative singing in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. Similar to a but played with a bamboo mallet.

  Combined

• – a combination of the,, and with 50 or more steel strings.

  Bamboo

Flutes

• – transverse bamboo flute with buzzing membrane
• *
• – end-blown flute; also called
• – pan pipes
• – ancient transverse bamboo flute
• – ancient notched vertical bamboo flute with three finger holes; used in Confucian ritual music and dance
• – modern transverse flute with as many as 21 holes
• – wind instrument of the Dong people of southern China
• – very small transverse bamboo flute
• : a bamboo version of

  Free reed pipes

• – side-blown free reed pipe with finger holes
• – end-blown free reed pipe producing a single pitch

• Single reed pipes

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

  Double reed pipes

• – cylindrical double reed wind instrument made of either hardwood or bamboo ; the northern version is also called or , the Cantonese version is also called , and the Taiwanese version is called 鴨母笛, or
• - literally "double," an instrument consisting of two of equal length, joined together along their length
• – double-reed wind instrument with a flaring metal bell; also called

  Wood

• – 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
• – 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
• – a rounded woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting
• – a clapper made from several flat pieces of wood; also called , , , or ; when used together with a drum the two instruments are referred to collectively as
• *
• *
• *
• – small, high-pitched woodblock; called or in Taiwan
• *
• *
• *
• *

  Stone

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

  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
• Tonggu - bronze drum
• Laba – A long, straight, valveless brass trumpet

  Clay (土">wikt:土">土)

• Xun – globular flute made of baked clay that resembles an ocarina without a fipple. Often referred to as a "Chinese ocarina".
• 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
• 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