QUESTION:
Chinese music remains as one of the most misunderstood
aspects of China by the world even today.
The use of the five-note pentatonic scale
means that for many foreign ears, Chinese
music sounds discordant and harsh.
Music
in China has developed over many thousands
of years and as anyone who has been to China
knows, the Chinese love to make music; whether
it be in the form of a busker in the subway
playing on an erhu (a stringed instrument)
to a cyclist singing an old opera at the top
of his lungs as he peddles to work.
The
world's oldest playable musical instrument
was found in China. How old is it and what
type of instrument is it?
A. 5,000-year old piano;
B. 9,000-year old electric guitar;
C. 250-year old trombone;
D. 9,000-year old flute.
ANSWERS:
D is the answer that you need! Scientists
discovered a flute carved from a bird's wing
bone that has been dated as being made some
9,000 years ago. The flute was discovered
with other flutes at an ancient burial site
in China.
