According to the genre, folk songs can be divided into --, --, -- three categories.

Folk songs can be divided into three categories: horns, mountain songs and ditties.

Classification of Chinese Folk Songs:

There are various classifications of Chinese folk songs. According to the form of genre, it can be roughly divided into: bugle (including porter's bugle, boatman's bugle, workshop bugle, etc.), mountain song (including general mountain song, grazing mountain song, field rice-planting mountain song, etc.), and dirge (including ballad, seasonal tunes, custom and ritual songs, dance songs, etc.) 3 major categories. In some scholars' treatises, folk songs are subdivided into songs, mountain songs, pastoral songs, rice-planting songs, boat songs, nursery rhymes, ditties, and ritual songs. The classification of genres helps to recognize and study the relationship between folk songs and people's lives, the social functions of folk songs, and the methods of musical expression, characteristics and other issues.

Classification by national and regional styles and colors. China has 56 nationalities, due to the differences in the historical traditions, linguistic characteristics, and living customs of various nationalities, the style and color of folk songs of various nationalities are far apart. Some of the more numerous, living in a wide range of ethnic groups, such as Han, Mongolia, Tibet, Zhuang, Uygur and other ethnic groups, but also according to the musical characteristics of their different regional folk songs can be divided into a number of color areas. For example, Han folk songs can be roughly divided into Northwest, North China, Northeast, Southwest, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu and Huaihua 8 color areas, of which the first three areas are the northern part, the 4th to 6th is the southern part, the 7th and 8th is the transition between the north and south. There are also the southern part and the transition area divided into four regions: Yunnan, Guizhou, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan. There are different ways to categorize them, each on its own basis.

The classification of style and color helps to understand and study the style and color of folk songs, the relationship between music and folklore. Classification according to the content of the theme helps to understand and study the relationship between the content and form of folk songs, etc. In addition, there is also a classification according to the historical development of folk songs. In addition, there are also classified according to the period of historical development, or special classification for the need of a particular topic of study.