The more than two thousand year old Dizi is a traditional Chinese musical instrument that was popular during the Warring States period (472-221 BC) and was used in opera during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
There are two opinions about where the Dizi came from. Official Imperial documents say that a messenger for Han Emperor Wudi brought one with him from western China in 199 BC.
However, older bone and bamboo flutes have been found in ancient tombs. One was found in an Eastern Han tomb (206BC – 9 AD). Several bone flutes were found in Zhejiang province and more than thirty flutes have been found that were nine thousand years old. The number of holes varies.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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It looks and sounds a lot like Native American wood flutes, but the sound is a little sharper, less rounded. The range is more or less identical. I love the sound of wood flutes. Haunting.