 chinese music refers to the music of the chinese people, which may be the music of the han chinese as well as other ethnic minorities within mainland china. it also includes those music produced by people of chinese origin outside of mainland china using traditional chinese instruments or in the chinese language. different types of music have been recorded in historical chinese documents from the early periods of chinese civilization which, together with archaeological artifacts discovered, provided evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the zhou dynasty (1122 bc â 256 bc). these further developed into various forms of music through succeeding dynasties, producing the rich heritage of music that is part of the chinese cultural landscape today. chinese music however continues to evolve in the modern times, and more contemporary forms have also emerged. == history == according to legends, the founder of music in chinese mythology was ling lun at the time of the yellow emperor, who made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds including the phoenix. a twelve-tone musical system was created based on the pitches of the bamboo pipes, and the first of these pipes produced the "yellow bell" (é»é) pitch, and set of tune bells were then created from the pipes. ===early history=== during the zhou dynasty, a formal system of court and ceremonial music later termed yayue was established. music in the zhou dynasty was conceived as a cosmological manifestation of the sound of nature that is integrated into the binary universal order of yin and yang, and this concept has enduring influence later chinese thinking on music. a "correct" music according to zhou concept would involves instruments correlating to the five elements of nature and would bring harmony to nature. around or before the 7th century bc, a system of pitch generation appeared based on a ratio 2:3 symbolizing heaven and earth, and pentatonic scale was derived from a cycle-of-fifths theory. chinese philosophers took varying approaches to music. to confucius, a correct form of music is important for the cultivation and refinement of the individual, and the confucian system considers the formal music yayue to be morally uplifting and the symbol of a good ruler and stable government.{{cite book |url=htt
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