Classic of Music

The Classic of Music (Chinese: 樂經; pinyin: yuè jīng; Wade–Giles: yueh ching) is sometimes referred to as the sixth "Chinese classic text". It was lost by the time of the Han Dynasty.

A few traces remain and can be found in other ancient Chinese classics like Zuo Zhuan (左傳), Zhou li (The Rites of Zhou), and the Classic of Rites (禮記, Liji). A version preserved in the Classic of Rites (chapter 19, "Yue ji" 樂記) is much dilapidated.

The Classic of Music was a Confucian text; it is believed to be important to the interpretation of the Classic of Poetry (詩經, Shijing^[1]), another of the Five Classics.

Yue ji

The authorship of Yue ji is a subject of debate. Sui shu ascribes it to Gongsun Ni Zi, a second-generation disciple of Confucius (5–4 cc. BC). This version had much spread during the Tang dynasty. However, the present Yue ji contains reference to Marquis Wen of Wei and Zi Xia's meeting which could not have happened during Gongsun Ni Zi's life (not before 422 BC). Qiu Qiongsun claims that another person named Gongsun Ni lived during the Han times, authored the Yue ji and later was erroneously identified as the better known Warring States character.

Yue ji is mentioned in the "Yiwen zhi" chapter of Han shu, which is built on Liu Xin's Qi lue. There its authorship is ascribed to Liu De (son of emperor Jing) and his friends. The contents of Yue ji are fully present in the Yue shu chapter of the Shiji, however this chapter was most probably not authored by Sima Qian.

Valuable evidence is provided by Kong Yingda (574-648) in his Liji zhengyi: in his editorial work Liu Xiang came across another Yue ji variant, much different from Liu De's. Unfortunately, of the 23 chapters known to Liu Xiang, 12 are unknown.

Scott Cook's research concludes on the WS authorship of Yue ji as the most probable.^[1]

Material from the Yue ji can be also found in Xunzi ("Yue lun"), "Xici zhuan" of the Yi jing, "Great Preface to the Shi jing, Lüshi Chunqiu, Shuo yuan, etc.

Yue yuan yu

While annotating Han shu (Shihuo zhi chapter), Deng Zhan (a scholar of Wei dynasty) mentions some "Yue yuan yu" — another text on music, also ascribed to Liu De. A text of the same name is quoted in the Baihu tong. Baihu tong also contains a quotation from Yue ji which is absent from the known Yue ji version. This speaks in favor of some different Yue ji, of which Yue yuan yu might be a part.

References

1. ^ "The Shih Ching or 'Book of Poetry'", The China Journal of Science and Arts, Vol IV, No. I, January 1926, retrieved 2005-10-17.

1. ^ Cook, Yue ji - Record of Music. Introduction, translation, notes, and commentary. Asian Music, vol. 26 no. 2 Spring–Summer 1995, p. 7.