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The music of the southern China has many features that are distinct from the rest of the country. For instance, many folk songs only use three notes. The region is home to significant populations of ethnic minorities, such as the Zhuang, Miao, She and Tai peoples.
Lingnan (嶺南) is a generic term for the lands of southern China that covers Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi. The area, motherland of ancient Nanyue, was inhabited by the Baiyue, considered barbarians having loose contact with the Zhongyuan region, the centre of Chinese culture. In the 2nd century BC, the region was absorbed into the Middle Kingdom.
Fujian
Fujian () is a mountainous coastal province of China. Its provincial capital is Fuzhou, while Quanzhou was a major port in the 7th century CE, the period between the Sui and Tang eras. Situated upon an important maritime trade route, it was a conduit for elements of distant cultures. The result was what is now known as nanguan music, which today preserves many archaic features.
From the 17th century the Hoklo immigrated from Fujian to Taiwan and took with them informal folk music as well as more ritualized instrumental and operatic forms taught in amateur clubs, such as beiguan and nanguan. Large populations of similar background can also be found in Malaysia, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia, where they are usually referred to as Hokkien ("Fujian" in Min Nan Chinese). There are two nanguan associations in Singapore, and formerly there were several in the Philippines: Tiong-Ho Long-Kun-sia is one that is still active. Gang-a-tsui and Han-Tang Yuefu have popularised the nanguan ensemble abroad. A Quanzhou Nanguan Music Ensemble was founded in the early 1960s and there is a Fuzhou Folk Music Ensemble, founded in 1990.
Shifan （十番）is a kind of percussive music that accompanied the Dragon Lantern Dance. A troupe from Fujian is known to have performed the dance for an emperor of the Qing dynasty. Over time string and wind instruments have been added.
Chanhe （禪和）arose out of the Chanhe School of Buddhism from chanting accompanied by percussion instruments such as chimes and drums. In the early 1920s, wind and string instruments were added.
Jiangxi
Guangdong
thumb|left|200px|The Gaohu of Guangdong: invented in the early 20th century it became the typical bowed instrument of Cantonese music.
Guangdong xiaoqu is the sizhu (chamber music) tradition native to the Pearl River delta area centered in Guangzhou (Canton). In modern times Guangdong has become known for Guangdong music (later Guangdong folk tunes), a synthesis of a number of local folk music styles (like kunqu opera), intended as an accompaniment for the region's folk operas when it arose along the Pearl River Delta in the 1920s. It had evolved into a string ensemble format by the 1960s, led by the gaohu with ruan, qinqin, yangqin, sanxian, yehu, and various woodwind (including houguan or saxophone) and percussion instruments. Formerly, bowed stringed instruments such as the erxian and tiqin were used. Compositions by the noted gaohu player Lü Wencheng (吕文成, 1898–1981) remain particularly popular.
Chaozhou (also known as Teochew) music () includes Teochew string music (), Teochew gong and drum (), and Chaoyang flute music (). The Chaozhou guzheng () is regarded as a major member of the southern guzheng family.
Hakka hill songs ( ) are a type of shan'ge (), "mountain song" characteristic of the Guangdong region. They vary in theme from love to personal conduct. Said to have been used for courting, they are also used as a form of communication at a distance. Hakka hill songs can be made up impromptu, to communicate with others or to express oneself. The lyrics can also be made to contain puzzles as a game or competition. The challenger will answer the puzzle in the form of song of similar melody.
Guangxi
thumb|200px|left|[[Miao people|Miao musicians of Guizhou]]
The Gin people are known for their instrument called duxianqin (独弦琴, pinyin: dúxiánqín; lit. "single string zither"), a string instrument with only one string, said to date back to the 8th century. It is called đàn bầu in Vietnamese.
The Zhuang people are known for their bayin (八 音) instrumental ensemble, which includes such instruments as the maguhu, tuhu, huluhu, sanxian, drums, and cymbals, as well as other instruments.
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's most famous modern musician is Sister Liu, who was the subject of a 1960s film that introduced Guangxi's cultures to the rest of the world.
Guizhou
Guizhou's folk tradition includes the song "Red Flower", which spread across China in the 1950s. The song came from the Buyi people. The Shui people use instruments like the lusheng, bronze drums and horns.
Hakka
The music of the Hakka peoples is found in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong. Hakka music is literary and laid-back in tone and is entirely pentatonic.
Art music in southern China
While nanguan is melodic and soft, Beiguan (北 管; pinyin: Běiguǎn; Taiwanese: Pakkóan, meaning "northern pipes") is loud, complex and associated with theatrical performance. Although its name sets it in opposition to the "southern" style of nanguan, the other main style associated with the quguan associations, it was widespread in Zhangzhou (the southern part of Fujian) and in Taiwan between the 17th and mid-20th centuries. By the early 21st century its popularity had declined. Formerly it was used when musical associations put on events for one another. Beiguan usually uses two Chinese oboes (suona) together with percussion; the woodblock (bangzi), large and small gongs (da luo and xiao luo), large and small cymbals (da bo and xiao bo) and drums, the ban gu (high-pitched drum), the tong gu (small drum) and sometimes the da gu (large drum). It may also use various huqin and plucked instruments.
The Chaoshan region of Guangdong, bordering on Fujian and comprising the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, forms its own cultural sphere. Chaozhou xianshi (潮州 弦诗, literally "Chaozhou string-poem"; also called xianshi yue or "string-poem music") is classified as a type of sizhu music (chamber music for strings and woodwind, literally "silk/bamboo") although it typically uses stringed instruments only. It is found in northeastern Guangdong and parts of Fujian and also in regions with overseas Chaozhou populations, such as Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. In teahouses tea is often accompanied by Chaozhou music.
Developed from a fusion of elements, popular song, arias of Chinese opera, ancient melodies and pieces of Buddhist music,