Daxiangguo Temple Buddhist Music

The Buddhist music of Daxiangguo Temple is a venerable Han Buddhist tradition carried on at a temple first built under the Northern Qi that became China's Buddhist center in the Northern Song; the music flourished with temple rites from the Song and blends court and monastic styles.

Performed on traditional instruments such as the sheng, guan, dizi and cloud gongs alongside chanting and ritual, the music is solemn and elegant, archaic and far-reaching, preserving many Tang and Song melodies and gongche-notation scores.

Inscribed in 2008 on the second national ICH list, it is a precious example for studying the history of Chinese Buddhist music and the court and temple music of the Song.

Its transmission and performance center on Kaifeng's Daxiangguo Temple, where the temple's music ensemble regularly plays at services and cultural events.