Provisional Abstract. Eastern Zhou (770–221 BCE) and Han (206 BCE–220 CE) were periods of great social, cultural, and political change in China. During this transitional time, China went from being a divided land ruled by rivaling states to a unified one dominated by a single emperor. Judging from archaeological evidence of the 7th to 6th centuries BCE, the rival states largely adhered to the musical traditions of the Zhou state, which had politically dominated parts of China from the 11th to 8th centuries BCE. The abundance of bells and chime stones—previously associated with Zhou state ceremonies and ancestral rituals—in elite tombs serves as key evidence of this influence. Material evidence from the 5th to 4th centuries BCE, however, suggests that the center of musical and cultural influence was shifting towards another powerful state, Chu, located in southeast China.  The impact of Chu can best be seen in the growing popularity of lacquered wooden instruments, including strings, winds, and drums, which became intimately connected with entertainment and the pleasures of daily life (and the afterlife). This paper will show that despite the political demise of the Chu state in the 3rd century BCE, its musical and cultural impact continued well into the Han dynasty.