The Di, known as 'horizontally flute' or 'transverse flute' in ancient times, initially prevailed in the ethnic minorities in northwest China. In the reign of Emperor Han Wu 'di' was called transverse flute which was a significant instrument in drum and wind music. Di varied in size and types in different parts of China, but aremainly divided into two kinds --- qudi and bandi. Since the accompaniment in operatic music.

The Sheng is an ancient Chinese instrument made up of reeded sounding pipes. The inscriptions on bones of the Yin Dynasty already showed the existence of the sheng. The instrument was widely used as early as the Zhou Dynasty (ca. BC1066-BC256). Before the Han Dynasty the two instruments sheng and yu which were of the same family existed alongside with each other, but only the sheng has commonly been used after the Song Dynasty.

Structurally, the sheng is made up of three components - the sheng body, sounding pipe and reed. As its shape looks like the phoenix wings, accordingly in ancient times it was also known as fengsheng.

In Chinese orchestras the sheng serves to balance and embellish the tone qualities of various instrumental sections, as well as to tone down the strength of certain instruments.

The suona is one of the most wide-spread wind instruments, found in all ethnic groups in China. A "shawm" of Central Asia (a region was formerly known as Persia and Arabia) origin, its name was originally a transliteration of a foreign term, surna. It was introduced into China in the Jin and Yuan period, at first to inspire the soldiery. Later it came to be commonly used by the people for all entertainment and social functions. It was recorded in Sancai tuhui by Wong Qi of the Ming Dynasty that "the suona has the shape of a trumpet as for when it came about, it was unknown. Presumably it was for the soldiery, but now it is used by the common people."

Three types of suona now exist: the bass suona is solemn and deep, the alto suona is vigorous and sonorous, and the soprano suona, strident to the point of piercing.
It is used in festive celebrations, on happy occasions, weddings, funerals, and for religious functions. In the context of the Chinese orchestra, it has been constantly reformed and improved, and today, there are keyed soprano, keyed alto, keyed tenor and keyed bass versions. The variety adds to the versatility of the instrument and expand their range of expressiveness.