Early Chinese Music Resources: Zhou
compiled by David Badagnani (rev. 18 April 2024)
In an effort to make it more accessible, this document contains resources related to the musical heritage of the Zhou Dynasty (周朝, c. 1046 BC-256 BC), both Eastern and Western, as well as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
Links to textual sources are highlighted in green.
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Historical reference works about the music of the Zhou Dynasty
● Liji《礼记》(The Book of Rites)
The 19th chapter of this work is Yueji《乐记》(Record of Music), which constitutes the grounds for the reconstruction of the lost Yue Jing《乐经》(Classic of Music). Liji dates to the Warring States period (during the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty), but was reconstructed in the early Han Dynasty by Confucian scholars who had memorized the classics or hidden written copies during the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), during which time many of the Confucian classics were destroyed.
● Shiji《史记》(Records [of the Grand] Historian), also called Taishigong Shu《太史公书》(Book of the Grand Historian) or Taishigong Ji《太史公记》(Records of the Grand Historian)
The official history of China's pre-Han period, this text covers the world as it was then known to the Chinese, encompassing a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor (黄帝, alleged to have reigned from 2698 BC to 2598 BC) to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (汉武帝, r. 141 BC-87 BC) in the author's own time, also including the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin Dynasties. Shiji was completed c. 94 BC by the Western Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian (司马迁, c. 145 BC-c. 86 BC), after having been started by his father, Sima Tan (司马谈, c. 165 BC-110 BC), a Western Han historian and astrologer. It is one of the Twenty-Four Histories (二十四史). Music is discussed in several volumes.
● Lunyu《论语》(The Analects, or The Analects [of Confucius])
Lunyu is an ancient Chinese book comprising a large collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled and written by Confucius's followers. According to Ban Gu, writing in the Book of Han, Lunyu originated as individual records kept by Confucius's disciples of conversations between the Master and them, which were then collected and jointly edited by the disciples after Confucius's death in 479 BC. The work is therefore titled Lunyu, meaning "edited conversations" or "selected speeches" (i.e., analects).
The work is believed to have been written during the Warring States period (475 BC-221 BC), and it achieved its final form during the mid-Han Dynasty. By the early Han Dynasty Lunyu was considered merely a "commentary" on the Five Classics, but its status grew in such a way that it became one of the central texts of Confucianism by the end of that dynasty. Several discourses in Lunyu provide insight into Confucius's views on music.
● Shujing《书经》(Book of Documents or Classic of History), also known as Shangshu《尚书》(Esteemed Documents)
One of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature, this work is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, and served as the foundation of Chinese political philosophy for over 2,000 years. It contains some discussion of music.
● Tsinghua Bamboo Slips (Chinese: Qinghua Jian, 清华简)
A large collection of Chinese texts dating to the mid-to-late Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo, which were acquired in July 2008 by Tsinghua University in Beijing. The texts, which are written on 2,388 bamboo strips (including a number of fragments), were obtained by illegal excavation, probably of a tomb in the area of Hubei or Hunan province, a region of China that was at the time culturally dominated by the Chu state, and were subsequently acquired and donated to the university by an anonymous alumnus. A single radiocarbon date (305±30BC) and the style of ornament on the accompanying box are in keeping with this conclusion. The considerable size and breadth of the collection and the significance and diversity of subjects covered by its texts make it one of the most important discoveries of early Chinese texts to date.
Several of the individual texts explore various aspects of music.
In 2010 Tsinghua University began publishing a series of books containing photographic reproductions, transcriptions, and commentary on the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips. The series is planned to eventually comprise a total of 18 volumes, the latest of which (Volume 13) was published in December 2023.
Tsinghua Bamboo Slips website:
● Shanghai Museum Bamboo Slips (上海博物馆藏战国楚竹书; abbreviated 上博楚简 or 上博简)
An important collection of Chinese texts dating to the Warring States period (c. 300 BC) and written in ink on strips of bamboo. These texts have been edited and published in a 9-volume series (each volume covering multiple treatises), of which only two treatises (one in Volume 1 and another in Volume 2) are highly focused on music.
According to the musicologist Patrick Huang, the two texts from this collection that have the greatest relevance to music include the following:
Vol. 1, no.1: "Kongzi Shilun" (孔子詩論) - this text comprises 30 slips and hence is a rather lengthy text. It is a relatively comprehensive Confucianist text discussing poetry criticism, as well as including aesthetic discourses on poetry, text, and music.
Vol. 4, no.1: "Caifeng Qumu" (采風曲目) - this text, which comprises six slips, is considered the earliest music catalog found in early China. It lists the titles of several musical pieces, categorized by their modes, which include Gong (宮 = Do), Shang (商 = Re), Zhi (徵 = Sol) and Yu (羽, La).
● Yue《乐》(Music)
In June 2021, more than 3,200 clearly written and well preserved Chinese texts, written in ink on strips of bamboo (not counting small fragments), were discovered in tomb no. 798 of the Warring States-era Chu Cemetery at Wangjiazui (Chinese: Wangjiazui Zhan Guo Chu Mu, 王家咀战国楚墓), which is located in Hongsheng Village (洪圣村), Jinan Town (纪南镇), Jingzhou District (荆州区), Jingzhou (荆州市), south-central Hubei province, central China.
These bamboo slips, which date to approximately 300 BC, appear to belong to three important Confucian texts: the Shi Jing《诗经》(Classic of Poetry), Kongzi Yue《孔子曰》(Sayings of Confucius), and Yue《乐》(Music). The Kongzi Yue texts overlap with some portions of Lunyu《论语》(The Analects [of Confucius]), Li Ji《礼记》(The Book of Rites), and Mengzi《孟子》(Mencius). The structure of the Kongzi Yue text, however, shows marked differences from Western Han-era manuscripts of The Analects. The portions of the Shi Jing come from the "Guo Feng" (国风, Lessons from the States) part of the text.
As for the Yue text, it consists of numbers, the Ten Heavenly Stems, and a few simple characters. It has been proposed that it may be a pre-Qin musical score (something that has never before been discovered), but it is very difficult to read. If it is a musical score, then perhaps it is a key to understanding the missing Yue Jing《乐经》(Classic of Music), a Confucian text that was lost by the time of the Han Dynasty, probably having been destroyed in the burning of books and burying of scholars that is believed to have taken place in 213 BC, during the Qin Dynasty.
Photo of three bamboo slips from a collection entitled Yue《乐》(Music), containing what is believed to be pre-Qin musical notation. The slips were excavated in June 2021 from tomb no. 798 of the Warring States-era Chu Cemetery at Wangjiazui (Chinese: Wangjiazui Zhan Guo Chu Mu, 王家咀战国楚墓), which is located in Hongsheng Village (洪圣村), Jinan Town (纪南镇), Jingzhou District (荆州区), Jingzhou (荆州市), south-central Hubei province, central China.
● Erya《尔雅》
Erya is the earliest surviving Chinese dictionary, which is believed to have been compiled between the Warring States period, Qin Dynasty, and Western Han Dynasty. It devotes some discussion to the subject of music and musical instruments.
Erya is the earliest surviving Chinese dictionary, which is believed to have been compiled between the Warring States period, Qin Dynasty, and Western Han Dynasty. It devotes some discussion to the subject of music and musical instruments.
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Zhou-era poems about music
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● Cho, Gene Jinsiong. Lu-Lu: A Study of Its Historical, Acoustical and Symbolic Signification. Taipei: Caves Books, 1989.
https://search.worldcat.org/title/20403643
● DeWoskin, Kenneth J. A Song for One Or Two: Music and the Concept of Art in Early China. Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, no. 42. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1982.
https://www.amazon.com/Song-One-Two-Michigan-Monographs/dp/0892640421
● Falkenhausen, Lothar von. Ritual Music in Bronze Age China: An Archaeological Perspective. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1988.
https://www.amazon.com/Song-One-Two-Michigan-Monographs/dp/0892640421
● Falkenhausen, Lothar von. Ritual Music in Bronze Age China: An Archaeological Perspective. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1988.
● Falkenhausen, Lothar von. Suspended Music: Chime-Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
● Falkenhausen, Lothar von. Suspended Music: Chime-Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China. Ph.D. dissertation. 3 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
● Furniss, Ingrid. Music in Ancient China: An Archaeological and Art Historical Study of Strings, Winds, and Drums During the Eastern Zhou and Han Periods (770 BCE-220 CE). Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2008.
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Ancient-China-Archaeological-Historical/dp/1604975202
● Picken, Laurence. "The Shapes of the Shi Jing Song-Texts and Their Musical Implications." Musica Asiatica, vol. 1 (1977), pp. 85-109.
● So, Jenny F., ed. Music in the Age of Confucius. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2000.
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Age-Confucius-Jenny-F/dp/0295979534
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Ancient-China-Archaeological-Historical/dp/1604975202
● Picken, Laurence. "The Shapes of the Shi Jing Song-Texts and Their Musical Implications." Musica Asiatica, vol. 1 (1977), pp. 85-109.
● So, Jenny F., ed. Music in the Age of Confucius. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2000.
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Age-Confucius-Jenny-F/dp/0295979534
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Thanks to Patrick Huang and Keith Knapp for assistance with this page.
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