In Chinese dances, drums occupy a very important position.

In ancient China, the drum sound was associated with thunder, meaning it could bring rain and was beneficial to agriculture. The combination of drum and dance lasted a long time. From the sentence "Beat drums and dance to one's heart content", the combination of drum and dance not only produces various forms, but also encourages people to unite and struggle forward.

The dance accompanied by drum is used in making sacrifices to ancestors, praying for rain, dispersing evils, encouraging people and celebrating harvests. Therefore, many kinds of drums are made and dance forms are diversified. For instance, Va and Miao ethnic groups use simple wooden drums cut out of a section of log, and Zhuang and Yao people use pottery drums during their dances. The drum cavity is made of pottery clay, inherited from the earth drum. The Miao, Yao and Bouyei ethnic minorities use bronze drums, the relics from the Bronze Age. All these drums remain from the primitive period.

The drum dances of the Hans are diversified; they depict team spirit, individual techniques, or something else. Now all the dances have taken on new appearances. In the Taiping (Peace) Drum Dance found in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, performers are usually men. They carry a barrel-shaped drum, which is one meter long and 0.5 meters in diameter, with an imposing manner. The thundering sound can be heard half or one kilometer away. Performers dance freely with such a huge drum. Also, they must perform difficult programs such as Sparrow Hawk Turning Upside Down and Whipping One's Horse On, especially in the program of Bending the Bow and Shooting Goose, performers have to jump up to the sky, with one hand carrying the drum and the other hand beating, which inspires and encourages people.