Early in the reign of Emperor Wudi (141-88 BC) of the Han dynasty, the di flute was introduced to China from westrrn areas. nto china and standardised in construction through revisions. But broadly speaking, such features as its bamboo make, edged tone and side-holes have given the evidence of its existence in the ensembles of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Archaeological finds revealed one of the earliest type of flute unearthed from a tomb in Hubei province. It had a very similiar construction as a modern bamboo type, only without the hole for membrane. Despite these old flutes being 8000 years old, they can still be played.

The modern flute has an octave range of about two and a half. It is often bound with bands of silk or thread for crack proof. There are many types of flute, the bangdi and quid are the most common. The bangdi is the shorter and has a bright clear tone. It's name comes from the bangzi opera of northern china. The longer one known as quid. It has a more mellow tone and is assoicated with the kunqu opera of central china.

The di is very popular and is widely used for solos and in ensembles.

Producer: China