Chinese Folk Music

Chinese folk music encompasses the regional traditions of China's Han majority and ethnic minorities: peasant and festival songs, narrative singing, dance music and instrumental repertories for erhu, pipa, dizi, guzheng and suona. Much of it is pentatonic and heterophonic, transmitted orally and tied to weddings, funerals, temple fairs and work. Figures such as the blind erhu player *Abing* and the composer *Liu Tianhua* brought vernacular repertory into concert life, while folk orchestras and soloists including *Liu Fang* and *Wu Man* have carried regional melodies, Jiangnan sizhu and minority traditions to international stages.