Chinese national music in a narrow sense refers to Han music, referred to as "folk music". China's ethnic minority music has more styles and contents, such as Tibetan music, Mongolian music, Zhuang music, etc.

Russian music

Russian music has beautiful melodies and has a great influence on Chinese music, such as the songs "Evening on the Suburbs of Moscow", "Three Sets of Cars", "Hawthorn Tree" "etc.

Tibetan Music

The Tibetan people are a nation that is good at singing and dancing. Their songs have beautiful, vast melodies and are melodious. Tibetan music can generally be divided into Buddhist music and folk music. The most famous of Buddhist music are wordless hymns sung by lamas.

Tibetan folk songs are high-pitched and loud, and sound like the vast blue sky of the plateau. The tunes are melodious, but they are also dominated by five tones. Song and dance forms include "Guo Xie", "Guo Zhuo" (Guozhuang), etc. Some elements of Tibetan music were absorbed by Han and Western music. Some Han songwriters imitated the characteristics of Tibetan music and created songs such as "Wandering in the New City" and "Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". In recent years, Tibetan songs in Tibet have also incorporated elements of other music. Famous Tibetan singers include Tseden Dolma and Han Hong, who mainly sing Chinese songs, as well as Rong Zhongerjia, Yadong, Qiongxue Dolma and many other singers who are well-known in Tibetan areas.

In terms of formal drama, the traditional Tibetan opera "King Gesar" has been excavated and performed.

Manchu Music

Northeast China and Beijing are where the Manchu people live. The most famous Manchu folk instrument is the octagonal drum originated from the Qing Dynasty. Works such as the Manchu lullaby "You You Zha" are very famous and are often sung in modern Chinese.

Mongolian music

Mongolian folk songs are divided into "long-key folk songs" and "short-key folk songs". "Long tune" has many meaningless homophonic words that lengthen the singing tone, and has the style of an open grassland. The most distinctive musical instrument is the Morin Khuur, which is a stringed instrument. It is named after a horse head decoration carved on its pillars.