1. The ancient period
was dominated by hunting, singing and dancing, and percussion instruments were used, such as chimes, ceramic bells, bronze bells, chimes, drums, keys, pipes, chi, shengs and so on. Basically, there was not much development, but the development followed the path from indeterminate to fixed tones, from a small number of different types to a large number of different types, and from indeterminate to determinate types, etc. The development of musical instruments in the Xia and Shang Dynasties
was marked by an increase in the number of musical instruments.
2. During the Xia and Shang Dynasties
The number of musical instruments increased, such as passages of drums, bells, chimes, ocarinas, bellows, flutes, words, etc., and the emergence of percussive and wind instruments with fixed tones, and gradually people mastered the intervals of the pure fourths, the large and small thirds, and the large and small seconds.
3, pre-Qin period
Instruments not only increased, such as percussion instruments: drums, bells, yong, ya, Zhu, spring, building,,,, wind instruments: xiao, pipe, pipe, pipe, sheng, ocarina, flute, yu,,,, stringed instruments: qin, serpent, zheng, etc., the expression of the performance of the more improved.
4, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties
The heyday of musical instrument development, playing musical instruments (such as the qin, thur, konghou, pipa, five-stringed pipa,,,) has been unprecedented prosperity and development. Pipa is the most important musical instrument in the Tang Dynasty, specializing in playing the court Yan music. Since the Han Dynasty, the pipa has been used as an instrument with an even meter, and it has developed rapidly.
5, Liao, Song, Western Xia and Jin period
Bearing the Sui and Tang dynasty musical instruments, the extensive application of stringed instruments (such as jiqin, rolling zheng), and the production of new instruments, such as the Yi hand flute, qiang flute, xiao tube and other wind instruments, as well as gourd qin,, such as stringed instruments, as well as the popularity of the northwestern border region of the Mawei huqin.
6, Yuan Dynasty period
In the early Yuan Dynasty wars both inside and outside the country, objectively caused by the various ethnic groups at home, and the exchange of national and foreign cultures. New musical instruments appeared in this period, such as the three-stringed, fire not thinking, seventy-two-stringed pipa, fish drums, clouded drums,,, etc..
7, Ming and Qing dynasties
Musical instruments have a greater development and concentration, especially the huqin type of stringed instruments (such as erhu, jinghu, banhu, horse head qin,,,) and suona reed instruments. Sheng and guqin two categories due to the rise of retro forces, coupled with its classical value, in the country's music occupies an important position.
Expanded Information
History of Musical Instruments:
Musical instruments are one of the riches of civilization that mankind has possessed since the primitive period. Around the origin of musical instruments, since ancient times in China and abroad have many legends and myths, and has long been said to be the origin and development of musical instruments.
For example, many ancient Chinese books record: "Nuwa made xiao", "Nuwa made sheng", "Fuxi made xiao", "Fuxi made qin The Yellow Emperor ordered Linglun to cast twelve bells", "The Yellow Emperor killed a drum and made it into a drum with its skin", etc.
The said are four or five thousand years ago, not yet or just entered the Bronze Age, there can not be a sheng reed and cast bells and other complex products. At that time, people might have some concepts of absolute pitch, but they did not know much about music, so it is unlikely that complex melodic instruments such as those mentioned above would have appeared so early.
Whether those legendary figures are real or not is still a matter of historical doubt to be explored. The instruments in question existed, but it is unlikely that anyone could have built them all at once. Musical instruments evolved gradually.
There is no doubt that China was the first country in the world to have musical instruments. It has been found that China had some earthen drums, chimes, bells, bone whistles, reed-livies, ocarinas, etc., in ancient times (before about the 21st century B.C.).
Possibly also ling, pipe, chi and sheng. By the Xia and Shang (21st to 11th centuries BC), in addition to the previous instruments were developed, such as the appearance of fixed-tone chimes and chimes, as well as rattle, yin (big xiao), sheng and so on, indicating that there was already the first shallow concept of pitch intervals.
To the Zhou Dynasty, about 70 kinds of recorded musical instruments (some renamed), the emergence of the classification of musical instruments, "eight sounds", there are qin, serpent and other plucked stringed instruments.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments