Wang Xin-xin playing Nanguan pipa. The Nanguan pipa is held in the ancient manner like a guitar which is different from the near-vertical way pipa is now usually held.The mouthpiece of the Xiao flute.
Fujian is a mountainous coastal province of China. Its provincial capital is Fuzhou, while Quanzhou was a major port in the 7th century CE, the period between the Sui and Tang eras. Situated upon an important maritime trade route, it was a conduit for elements of distant cultures. The result was what is now known as nanguan music, which today preserves many archaic features.
It is a genre strongly associated with male-only community amateur musical associations (quguan or "song-clubs"), each formerly generally linked to a particular temple, and is viewed as a polite accomplishment and a worthy social service, distinct from the world of professional entertainers.[2] It is typically slow, gentle, delicate and melodic, heterophonic and employing four basic scales.[3]