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Music

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Submitted By ding555
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Music, Drama and Dance
Chinese Music
Chinese music has a very long history. In the primitive society, about four to five thousand years ago, dances and songs had already occurred. This can be prove by a excavated cultural relic - an egg-shaped wind instrument called Xun (ocarina) which made of pottery clay with six holes which believed it is from the Neolithic Stone Age. The evolution of musical culture in Chinese history was begun to develop rapidly and successfully in the Zhou Dynasty (11th century-256 B.C.). A large number of orchestras or ensembles started to occur during that time. Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) was the most influential time in terms of musical culture. It had viewed as one of the best in the world and greatly influence on the development of music in other countries such as Korea and Japan.
In general, there are five categories for Chinese music and each of the categories has various types, styles and forms which they are are song, ballad-singing music, Chinese Opera music, instrumental music and dancing-and-singing music. Song can also be divided into two categories which are ancient art songs and folk songs. Folk songs can be subdivided into mountain airs, labor songs, epic songs, songs with multiple sounds of voices, and ditties. In addition, due to the different regions with different national minorities, the mountain sough could be so different in style. There are many different types and styles in the musical cultural in China. Another good example is Chinese instruments. In the Zhou Dynasty (two thousand years ago), there were already more than seventy kinds of instruments and following the evolution and the changing of the cultural, there are more than two hundred kinds of instruments are in used in China. The instruments in China now can be categorized into four groups: bowed string instruments, plucked string instruments, percussion instruments and wind instruments. All these instruments are expressive and rich which can be used in group, solo or orchestra and ensemble.
The new theatrical form in China is national dance drama which is an art of performing the combination of dance with singing and it has a long tradition. Most of the repertoire of Chinese classical operas, folk dances, and traditional dances has its origins. Chinese choreographers created a number of dance dramas after the founding of New China which carrying forward Chinese traditions and learning from European ballet.
The Chinese national dance drama has a wide range of subjects, some are adopted from historical themes or fairy tales and some reflect present life. The movements mainly come from classical dances in Chinese operas or images on historical relics as well as from folk dances of all Chinese nationalities. It has now become a rich and flourishing art and won the favor of the people. Famous and representative dance dramas are ‘The Precious Lotus Lantern’, ‘Silk Road’, ‘Zhuowasangmu’, ‘The Uprising of Small Sword Society’, ‘The Pearl Lake’ and ‘Flying to the Moon’.

Chinese Dance
Chinese folk dance has a long history and it is colorful and rich performing art in China. About a thousand years ago, there are a number of vivid dancing figures on frescoes, stone carvings, paintings and other historical relics. ‘The Book of Songs’ which is the first Chinese poetry collection was recorded the grand occasion of singing and dancing of young people living in the Central Plains. Successive dynasties often have court orchestras to performed different national minorities dancing programs and this often involved many celebrated dancers and singers appeared.
Court orchestras of successive dynasties often performed dancing programs of different national minorities and many celebrated singers and dancers appeared. Among the people, folk dance is even more colorful, rich and popular with different forms and styles, some of them reflecting love, work, wars or customs and some depicting natural scenes, birds and flowers. In form, dancing and singing are combined. It is thus very effective and expresses the people's feeling thoroughly.
The uniqueness of China is that it has a broad territory which consists of many nationalities and each of the nationalities is very good at singing and dancing. The different customs and living environments made the folk dances become different in each of the different regions and nationalities. Folk dances are loved by the people, especially in China. The policy of ‘making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China’, of ‘letting a hundred flowers blossom’ and ‘weed through the old to bring forth the new’ is carrying out by the Chinese government after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The government of China has played importance role in developing Chinese folk dance by building numerous amateur and professional dance troupes. Their responsibility is to arranging, creating, and exploring a huge number of programs. Other than that, they also involved in cultural exchange to obtain experience from abroad.

Suggestion Understanding the music and dance culture is also important in part of the promotional activities. During festival period especially Chinese New Year, it is crucial to know that what music should perform and what is sensitive issues of Chinese. Often, the happy and rousing songs are performing during the Chinese New Year. Sad songs are strongly not recommended and will make Chinese consumers feel bad and unlucky. In contrast, sad songs are performing when there is an unlucky event occurs such as funeral ceremony and Qingming Festival or Tomb-sweeping day. Funny and happy oriented songs during that time will make people feel been criticized or derided. When doing cultural analysis, dances in China also an important element to consider. One of the popular dances related to business is Lion Dance. According to the Thunwaniwat (n.d.), the Lion Dance combines art, history, and material arts into amazing performance. Lion Dance is an important tradition and folk art in China. Usually, it performed with the Dragon Dance on auspicious occasions. The Lion Dances is performed with the accompanied of musicians playing a gong and cymbals, drum and typically lead by a man with mask and a fan. The Lion in the dance is tried to grab the green vegetable or money which often hung over the building’s entrance. There is a meaning when the Lion grab the green vegetable or money which symbolic “getting rich, good business”. Sometimes the lion will throw an apple to the owner of the store which signifies peace (Thunwaniwat, n.d.). In China, dance groups are found all over the country no matter at schools, colleges or universities and also local communities all organize Lion Dance groups. Chinese people like to invite Lion Dance groups to have performances especially when they open a new business or organize any happy events.

References

China Travel Festivals. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.asia-planet.net/china/chinese-dance-music.htm
Thunwaniwat, J. (n.d.). Chinese Music in Chinese and Thai Culture. Retrieved from http://www.asianscholarship.org/asf/ejourn/articles/jintana_t.pdf

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