II.

Musical Tradition

Traditionally, the Chinese have believed that sound influences the harmony of the universe. For more than 2,000 years Chinese culture was dominated by the teachings of the 6th-century-bc philosopher Confucius, who believed music to be one of the two defining sociocultural pillars of a properly ordered society, along with proper observance of ritual. In this view, music encompassed a total way of learning, thinking, behaving, and governing. It was also the indispensable knowledge required of a learned individual to function properly in society. The Confucian notion of music finds particular expression in the Chinese traditions of court ritual and the ceremonial music of imperial China, and in the music of the qin, a seven-stringed zither. Significantly, one of the most important duties of the first emperor of each new dynasty was to search out and establish that dynasty’s true standard of pitch.

However, the Confucian beliefs about music were constantly eroded throughout Chinese history by a long tradition of popular entertainment music, favored both at the court and by the common folk. Although excluded from official ritual performances for several thousand years, Chinese women musicians and entertainers had a central and formative role in this entertainment music as singers, dancers, instrumentalists, actors, composers, lyricists, and teachers in both the public and private spheres. There is rich archaeological evidence that women mastered every kind of percussion, wind, and string instrument in imperial China until the late 17th century, when women were excluded from public performances.