Music is the common language of humanity and is an important tool and medium for human beings to express their emotions, to record things in life, to adjust their moods, and to communicate with each other.

Since ancient times, music has played an important role in Chinese people’s life. It has been used in religious, political and educational scenarios, for family and entertainment. Many stories related to music have become set idioms in the Chinese language and have become an important part of Chinese culture.

The Pentatonic Scale

If asked “What is music”, many would start thinking of the musical notes of “do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti”. This is the Heptachord commonly used in the world. In traditional Chinese music, the Pentatonic scale is used, without the fourth, and seventh, “ti”, notes in the Heptachord system. In other words, the Chinese Pentatonic scale consists of five notes, “do. re, mi, so, la”. That is the signature characteristic of the Chinese music.

Five is the symbol of intertwining of Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang. In Chinese cosmology, there are the Five Elements (gold, wood, water, fire and earth), and in Chinese music, there are the Five Sounds (gong, shang, jue, zhi and yu). If a piece of music is composed around the note of gong, it will be the music of the gong key (for example, March of the Volunteers, national anthem of the People’s Republic of China); if a piece of music is composed around the note of shang, it will be the music of the shang key (for example, A Spring Night with Flowers and Moonlight).