Chinese musical notation

Sets of 41 chime stones and 65 bells bore lengthy inscriptions concerning pitches, scales, and transposition.

The older form is composed of written words describing how to play a melody step-by-step using the plain language of the time, i.e. descriptive notation (Classical Chinese).

Later on, to simplify the method of recording, "Jianzi Pu", which means "abbreviated character" notation, is invented in the late Tang dynasty by Cao Rou (曹柔), a famous Guqin player.

Gongche notation, dating from the Tang dynasty, used Chinese characters for the names of the scale.

It is common in East Asia, including Myanmar(Burma), Japan, Mainland China and Taiwan.

[citation needed] It uses a movable do system, with the scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 standing for do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, while rests are shown as a 0.

Many symbols from Western standard notation, such as bar lines, time signatures, accidentals, tie and slur, and the expression markings are also used.