Four recurring themes in histories of Chinese music

The writing of history has long standing in Chinese civilization. Since almost the earliest dynasties, it was normative for the new rulers to order their officials to record detailed information on those whom they had supplanted. Musical data were among the information preserved in the resulting dynastic histories. Palace musicians not only provided entertainment, but were essential functionaries in the rites of government, and so an integral part in the basic operating system of Chinese imperial bureaucracy. Moreover, throughout history Chinese authorities have regarded music as able to shape the well-being of society as a whole. Accordingly, it was a force to be reflected upon in works on the ideologies of rulership. The first Chinese music history still extant today is part of the Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Lü (Lüshi chunqiu), a large-scale reference work named for Lü Buwei (d.235bce), prime minister of the kingdom of Qin (source of the Western term “China”). Lü assembled a team of scholars to produce this work at a moment when Qin was poised to conquer rival states and establish a much larger empire. Completed c. 239bce, the work finally comprised twelve almanacs (one per month), eight examinations, and six discourses. It narrates how to run a state, including advice on the holding of rites, sustaining the institutions of government, and properly conducting military affairs, among other topics. Musical content appears particularly in Almanac 5, that dedicated to the second month of summer. Here, we read that the Son of Heaven (i.e., the ruler) should at this time mandate the music master to place the instruments of music and the accoutrements of dance in good repair so that the sacrifices can be performed in a seemly way. Numerous instruments are identified, from zithers (qin and se) to bells and stone chimes (zhong and qing) (Knoblock and Riegel 2000, 134). Contemporaneous practice may have suggested these particular instruments, but the record was historically oriented: it offered an account of music’s origins and a discussion on the relation between music making and the health of the nation that referred to earlier states.