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INTRODUCTION. THE Chinese have the reputation of being a strange people, with a peculiar language, peculiar institutions, customs, and manners, utte~ly different from those of our Western countries. Since Chinese ports were thrown open to foreigners, the influx of visitors of all kinds has continually increased. Mi ssionaries, diplomats , travellers- some led there by duty, others attracted by ·the prospect of a new fi eld fo r studies, and others guided by mere curiosity- have crossed the country in all directions. F rom these visi ts has resulted a large number of books- relations of t ravels, descriptions of country, customs, ' . and manners-books on any subj ect, all tending to acquaint Western nations wi th the wonderful Celestial Empire, and, principally, to point out the immense di ffe rence existing between Chi nese and European ideas. Amongst the subjects which have been treated with the least success by foreign writers, Chinese 1,VIusic ranks prominently. If men– ti oned at all in their books, it is simply to remark that "it is detestable, noisy, monotonous; that it hopelessly outrages our Western notions of music," etc. I do not wish to create any discussions by contradicting these and many other erroneous statements found in descriptions of Chinese Music : 'it would take too long a time. In the description I give here I will end~avour to point out the contrasts or similarity between Western and Ch/inese Music, to present abstruse theories in the least tiresome way, to add details never before published, and"to give a short yet concise account of Chinese Music.