To the Chinese the art of music is distinctly old stuff. In 2600 B. C., when the skin-clad savages of Europe were tootling shinbone flutes and walloping tomtoms, China's cultured Emperor Huang-ti established a standard scale for all China's musical instruments. When the T'ang Dynasty passed out in 907 A. D., Chinese music declined somewhat. But cultivated Chinese have always regarded music as one of China's most important arts.
Like Occidental music, Chinese falls into two camps: classical and popular. Most of what U. S. listeners hear (in Chinatown theatres and restaurants) belongs...
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