Toward the later Spring-Autumn-Warring-States Period the system of the rites and music deteriorated and local music spread , known as the “new music” , which was fresh and lively in varied styles . This period saw the appearance of the new stringed instruments qin and se , suitable for playing new tunes . The make of the chiming bells was improved . The chimes had a wide range of notes ; Master Guan proposed the five notes scale made up of Gong , Shang , Jiao , Zhi and Yu . There were many renowned musicians and singers , such as the musician official Shi Xian in the Lu State ; the musician official Shi Kuang in the Jin State , the musician official Shi Juan and Shi Jing in the Wei State . Bo Le was the famous qin player in that period . Han E , Xue Tan , Wang Bo , Mian Ju , Hou Tong , etc ., were the famous folk singers in the same period . Gongsun Nizi , the author of the “Records of Music” , was a great music theoretician in the same period .

　　The monarchs in the Qin-Han Dynasties set up a “Music Department” to collect and sort out the folk music and dances in a big scale , thus facilitating the exchanges of performing art between the Han nationality and he minority nationalities in north , west and northwest China . The most-favored singing form collected by the “Music Department” was the “antiphonal singing”. Originally this singing form did not have musical accompaniment . Later , it had the accompaniment of the stringed and wind instruments , and grew in scale . The “rand antiphonal music” was large scale song and dance performance and was the predecessor of the Tang Dynasty grand music . Many musical instruments including flute , pipa and fiddle were introduced to China and gradually became the Chinese national musical instruments , of which pipa was the most influential . The Han Dynasty beheld two famous musicians , Li Yannian , who was a musical theoretician . The same period beheld two excellent dancers . One was Madame Qi , the imperial concubine of Liu Bang , the founder of the Han Dynasty . The other was Zhao Feiyan who could dance so lithely that it was alleged she could dance on the palm of a hand .

　　In the Wei-Jin period music and dance did not see any important variances . In the South-North Dynasties the music and dance in the north and the south developed differently , due to the different customs of the people . In the Southern Dynasties there were the “refined music & dance” and the “sundry music & dance”. The former was performed at ritual sacrifices and at royal ceremonies . The sundry music and dance were often performed at feasts . Also , at feasts , the “Western Song” and the “Midnight Wu Song” in the vernacular tones were sun frequently . It was said the two tunes in the later period of the Southern Dynasties , viz ., the “Moon-Lit Night on Flowered River in Spring” and the “Blossoms at Jade Backyard” , were very moving . In the meantime , in the Northern Dynasties , the “northern songs” prevailed , as well as the “northern dances” . The alien music and dances also spread eastward to China from India and the Western Region , and blended with the native music and dances . All these paved the way toward the musical flourish in the Sui-Tan Dynasties .