List of Chinese musical instruments. Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories (classified by the material from which the instruments were made) known as  (). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these groups. The grouping of instruments in material categories in China is one of the first musical groupings ever devised.

Silk
Silk () instruments are mostly stringed instruments (including those that are plucked, bowed, and struck). Since ancient times, the Chinese have used twisted silk for strings, though today metal or nylon are more frequently used. Instruments in the silk category include:

Plucked
 () – 7-stringed zithers
 () – 25-stringed zither with movable bridges (ancient sources say 14, 25 or 50 strings)
 () – 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  (, literally "plum blossom instrument", from its flower-shaped body)
 () – plucked lute with body covered with snakeskin and long fretless neck; the ancestor of the Japanese 
 () – the instrument of the Jing people (Vietnamese people in China), 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
 ( or ) – 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
 (: shaped like a dragon boat. Its shape is very similar to Myanmar's . Another variation of the  held in the form of a harp with four strings was found in a painting of Feitian in Mogao caves, Dunhuang province.
 (): 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 (piccolo ), 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  ( or ) – two-stringed fiddle used by the Dong people of Guizhou
 () – (Mongolian: ) – 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 
 ( or ) – 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

Bamboo () mainly refers to woodwind instruments, which includes;

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 (Northern China) or bamboo (Cantonese); the northern version is also called  () or  (), the Cantonese version is also called  (), and the Taiwanese version is called , or  ()
 () - literally "double ," an instrument consisting of two  (cylindrical double reed pipes) of equal length, joined together along their length
 () – double-reed wind instrument with a flaring metal bell; also called  ()

Wood

Most wood () instruments are of the ancient variety:

 () – 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  ()

 (, a clapper made from two pieces of bamboo)
 ()
 () – small, high-pitched woodblock; called  () or  () in Taiwan
 ()
 ()
 ()
 ()

Stone
The stone () category comprises various forms of stone chimes.
 () – 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)
Bianzhong (編鐘) – 16 to 65 bronze bells hung on a rack, struck using poles
Fangxiang () – set of tuned metal slabs (metallophone)
Nao (musical instrument) (鐃) – may refer to either an ancient bell or large cymbals
Shangnao (商鐃) – ancient bellphoto
Bo (鈸; also called chazi, 镲子) – 
Xiaobo (小鈸, small cymbals)
Zhongbo (中鈸, medium cymbals; also called naobo (鐃鈸) or zhongcuo
Shuibo (水鈸, literally "water cymbals")
Dabo (大鈸, large cymbals)
Jingbo (京鈸)
Shenbo (深波) – deep, flat gong used in Chaozhou music; also called gaobian daluo (高边大锣)
Luo (; pinyin: luó) – gong
Daluo (大锣) – a large flat gong whose pitch drops when struck with a padded mallet
Fengluo (风锣) – literally "wind gong," a large flat gong played by rolling or striking with a large padded mallet
Xiaoluo (小锣) – a small flat gong whose pitch rises when struck with the side of a flat wooden stick
Yueluo (月锣) – small pitched gong held by a string in the palm of the hand and struck with a small stick; used in Chaozhou music
Jingluo (镜锣) – a small flat gong used in the traditional music of Fujian 
Pingluo (平锣) – a flat gong
Kailuluo (开路锣)
Yunluo () – literally "cloud gongs"; 10 or more small tuned gongs in a frame
Shimianluo (十面锣) – 10 small tuned gongs in a frame
Qing (磬) – a cup-shaped bell used in Buddhist and Daoist ritual music
Daqing (大磬) – large qing
Pengling (碰铃; pinyin: pènglíng) – a pair of small bowl-shaped finger cymbals or bells connected by a length of cord, which are struck together
Dangzi (铛子) – 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 handlephoto; also called dangdang (铛铛)
Yinqing (引磬) – an inverted small bell affixed to the end of a thin wooden handlephoto
Yunzheng (云铮) – a small flat gong used in the traditional music of Fujian 
Chun (錞; pinyin: chún) – ancient bellphoto
Weichun (帷錞) – ancient hanging bell
Tonggu (铜鼓) - bronze drum
Laba (喇叭) – A long, straight, valveless brass trumpet

Clay (土)
Xun (埙, ) – ocarina made of baked clay
Fou () – clay pot played as a percussion instrument
Taodi ()

Gourd (匏)
Sheng () – free reed mouth organ consisting of varying number of bamboo pipes inserted into a metal (formerly gourd or hardwood) chamber with finger holes
Baosheng (抱笙) – larger version of the Sheng
Yu () – ancient free reed mouth organ similar to the sheng but generally larger
Hulusi (; pinyin: húlúsī) – 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 (; pinyin: húlúshēng) – free-reed mouth organ with a gourd wind chest; used primarily in Yunnan province
Fangsheng – Northern China Gourd

Hide-skin (革)

Dagu – (大鼓) – large drum played with two sticks
Huapengu (花盆鼓) – flowerpot-shaped large drum played with two sticks; also called ganggu (缸鼓)
Huzuo Dagu (虎座大鼓)
Huzuo Wujia Gu (虎座鳥架鼓)
Jian'gu (建鼓)
Bangu (板鼓) – small, high pitched drum used in Beijing opera; also called danpigu (单皮鼓) 
Biangu (扁鼓) – flat drum, played with sticks
Paigu (排鼓) – set of three to seven tuned drums played with sticks
Tanggu (堂鼓) – medium-sized barrel drum played with two sticks; also called tonggu (同鼓) or xiaogu (小鼓)
Biqigu (荸荠鼓) – a very small drum played with one stick, used in Jiangnan sizhu
Diangu (点鼓; also called huaigu, 怀鼓) – 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 (花鼓) – flower drum
Yaogu (腰鼓) – waist drum
Taipinggu (太平鼓) – flat drum with a handle; also called dangu (单鼓)
Zhangu (战鼓 or 戰鼓) – war drum; played with two sticks.
Bajiaogu (八角鼓) – octagonal tambourine used primarily in narrative singing from northern China．
Yanggegu (秧歌鼓) – rice planting drum
Gaogu () – large ancient drum used to for battlefield commands and large-scale construction
Bofu (搏拊) – ancient drum used to set tempo
Jiegu (羯鼓) – hourglass-shaped drum used during the Tang Dynasty
Tao (鼗; pinyin: táo) or taogu (鼗鼓) – a pellet drum used in ritual music
Bolang Gu (波浪鼓; pinyin: bo lang gu) – a traditional Chinese pellet drum and toy
Linggu (铃鼓)

Others
Gudi (骨笛) – an ancient flute made of bone
Hailuo (海螺) – conch shell 
Lilie (唎咧) – reed wind instrument with a conical bore played by the Li people of Hainan
Lusheng (; pinyin: lúshēng) – free-reed mouth organ with five or six pipes, played by various ethnic groups in southwest China and neighboring countries
Kouxian (口弦) – jaw harp, made of bamboo or metal．
Yedi (叶笛) – tree leaf used as a wind instrument．
Shuijingdi (水晶笛) - crystal flute.
Zutongqin (竹筒琴)

Playing contexts
Chinese instruments are either played solo, collectively in large orchestras (as in the former imperial court) or in smaller ensembles (in teahouses or public gatherings). Normally, there is no conductor in traditional Chinese music, nor any use of musical scores or tablature in performance. Music was generally learned aurally and memorized by the musician(s) beforehand, then played without aid. As of the 20th century, musical scores have become more common, as has the use of conductors in larger orchestral-type ensembles.

Musical instruments in use in the 1800s
These watercolour illustrations, made in China in the 1800s, show several types of musical instruments being played:

See also
Music of China
Chinese culture
Chinese art
Chinese instrument classification
List of ensemble formations in traditional Chinese music

References
Notes

Sources
Lee, Yuan-Yuan and Shen, Sinyan. Chinese Musical Instruments (Chinese Music Monograph Series). 1999. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. 
Shen, Sinyan. Chinese Music in the 20th Century (Chinese Music Monograph Series). 2001. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. 
Yuan, Bingchang, and Jizeng Mao (1986). Zhongguo Shao Shu Min Zu Yue Qi Zhi. Beijing: Xin Shi Jie Chu Ban She/Xin Hua Shu Dian Beijing Fa Xing Suo Fa Xing. .

External links
Chinese musical instruments
Chinese Musical Instruments Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong
Chime A look at ancient Chinese instruments
Chinese musical instruments (Chinese)
Chinese Instruments Website (English)
Chinese musical instruments
The Musical Instruments E-book
World of Instrumental Music
The Grand Chinese New Year Concert
Chinese Instrument
Chinese Musical Instruments (The Modern Appearance)
https://www.britannica.com/art/qin-musical-instrument

Traditional Chinese music
 
Chinese