The development of music is as follows:

1. In the initial stage of development (1898~1919), the popularity of school songs laid a solid social foundation for the development of new music, and at the same time, the first batch of musicians engaged in the education of modern ancient music appeared in the history of modern music in China, such as Shen Xingong and Li Shutong.

2. In the initial stage of development centered on the establishment of professional music education (from 1919 to the end of the 192s), under the influence of the May 4th New Culture Movement, the development of new music accelerated day by day, especially the establishment of new music institutions, which provided a material basis for the establishment of modern professional music in China, and the first batch of professional musicians appeared: Xiao Youmei, Liu Tianhua, etc. Their creative ideas and works directly influenced musicians of future generations.

3. In the overall improvement stage centered on the professional music creation and performance of the National Conservatory of Music and the vigorous national anti-Japanese and national salvation singing movement (193s), the prosperous professional music creation and performance of the National Conservatory of Music and the vigorous national anti-Japanese and national salvation singing movement ran through it.

At this time, most of the music creation was concentrated in the vocal music field, and less instrumental music created a large number of outstanding musicians, such as Huang Zi Nier Xian Xinghai. And the emergence of outstanding works of epoch significance like The Yellow River Cantata is the most important stage of the development of new music in the past ten years.

4. The coexistence of different political power regions centered on the struggle for national democracy and liberation determines the development of music life and music culture, showing different cultural colors, and the coexistence of three different political power regimes (enemy-occupied areas, Kuomintang-controlled areas and anti-Japanese ethnic base areas) thus determines the development of music life and culture in the three regions, showing different cultural colors.

Due to objective conditions, vocal music is still the main music works in this period, but instrumental music creation has been significantly improved compared with the 193s. In addition, the creation of the opera White-haired Girl, especially the first landmark work in China's opera creation.