• China has many traditional instruments.china graffiti image by michele goglio from Fotolia.com
  
  The Chinese culture remained tightly closed to outsiders for many years. It was only in the 1800s that China began to have interaction with the outside world. Thus, the music of China remained very distinct, without any mixing with or influences from other cultures. The Chinese also developed their own instruments as well.
  
  

Gong

• The gong is one of the most recognizable of China's instruments. There are several types of gongs. There are large gongs, with a deep ringing tone, and smaller tuned gongs that can be used to play melodies. The jingluo is a small gong often used in Chinese opera. They are generally struck with wooden hammers or cloth-covered mallets.
  
  

Pipa

• The pipa is a lute-like instrument with four strings and a teardrop-shaped body. It has a fretted neck and is played with picks attached to the fingers. Traditional players grow out and manicure their fingernails in place of picks. There are records of the pipa in Chinese literature that date back to at least 200 B.C. It has evolved somewhat since that time. The name pipa gives the suggestion of a back-and-forth plucking motion.
  
  

Sheng

• The sheng is a Chinese wind instrument, made of bamboo reeds and a brass chamber at the bottom. It is perhaps the oldest of Chinese instruments, with records of it found as early as around 500 B.C. The sheng can have anywhere from 17 to 36 reeds. The pitches are controlled by tones holes at the bottom of each pipe. This instrument comes in three varieties--soprano, alto and tenor.