Abstract: The article is devoted to the study of the role of traditional Chinese instruments in the chamber and symphonic music of Tan Dun. In this aspect, such works as Ghost Opera, Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa and Crouching Tiger Concerto are analyzed. The authors consider in detail various types of interaction between traditional Chinese instruments and Western ones in terms of their influence on the general artistic idea of Tan Dun's works, as well as in the context of the relationship of the timbre side of music with other elements of the sound fabric. In connection with the problems of the article, some aspects of the concept of "organic music" by Tan Dun are also touched upon, the origins of which are found both in traditional Chinese culture and in Western music of the XX century. Thus, the multicultural nature of this original artistic concept is revealed. In the course of the research, the authors turned to the methods of holistic musicological analysis, comparative analysis (comparison of Ghost Opera and Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa), comparative cultural method. Based on the analysis of Tan Dun's works, the authors conclude that national instruments are interpreted by the composer as carriers of Chinese culture and, interacting with Western instruments, act as subjects of multicultural dialogue. Depending on the concept of a particular work, traditional Chinese instruments in the composer's works can be represented as characters of instrumental theater, members of an instrumental ensemble (orchestra) in the context of Western musical genres, as well as as sound images reproduced by other instruments. The authors identify the application in Tan Dun's music of two concepts of working with musical material borrowed from different cultural traditions: collage and symbiosis. The article provides a rare example of using both methods of work in relation to the same musical material, which was implemented by the composer in Ghost Opera and Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa.