CHAPTER TWO

YUELUN: THE CONFUCIAN FOUNDATION

Music harmonizes the people’s voices (Yueji, c1st century b.c.)

The Warring States period of the late Zhou dynasty (5th–3rd centuries b.c.) was marked by great civil unrest. During this pre-unifi cation period, many small kingdoms battled for power and, ultimately, new concepts of governance emerged. The social theories attributed to Confucius (551–479 b.c.), which stressed the regulatory principles of proper behav- ior and use of music in promoting social harmony, provided this new sense of stability. These ideas were taken up by his followers and, over the next few centuries, became widely accepted throughout China. The Confucian foundation of Chinese music is the focus of this chapter, with some thoughts at the end on Daoist and other infl u- ences. In this and later chapters, I will demonstrate that elements of Confucian (and Daoist) ideology are still embraced by musicians in the conservative cultures of South China, most notably among the Chaozhou, Minnan and Hakka.

Confucian Ideology

The socio-political institution of Confucianism became well established during the Han dynasty (206 b.c.–220 a.d.), several centuries after Confucius (Kong Zi) had been active. Because of his fundamental infl u- ence on the educational and philosophical direction of Chinese culture, titles such as ‘grand master’ and ‘supreme teacher’ were conferred upon him posthumously by various imperial decrees. The collected writings of this teacher, real or ascribed, and of his disciples—especially the Liji and Lunyu—over time became a cornerstone of Chinese civilization. These, and other texts, are collectively known as ‘the Classics’.1

1 The “Five Classics”, collected in the 2nd century b.c., include the Shijing (“Classic of Songs”), Shujing (“Classic of Documents”), Yijing (“Classic of Changes”), Chunqiu (“Spring and Autumn Annals”), and Liji (“Record of Rituals”). A second grouping of 26 chapter two

Confucianism has passed through many fi lters over the last 2500 years. While the thoughts of the grand master himself are believed to have been most accurately preserved in the Lunyu (“Analects”), a number of his followers over the years wrote interpretations of and commentar- ies on this social philosophy. Xun Zi (wg: Hsün Tzu) was one of the earliest (active c250 b.c.). His interpretations are recognized by Chinese scholars as having been especially infl uential on the development of ritual practice and on the specifi c orientation of the Liji (“Record of Rituals”)—from which the Yueji (“Record of Music”) was drawn. During the Han dynasty, another strong proponent of Confucian philosophy, Dong Zhongshu (wg: Tung Chung-shu, active c125 b.c.), synthesized still earlier interpretations, adding to the Confucian canon distantly related ideas, such as yin-yang theory and ‘fi ve-elements’ theory. (The Yueji and yin-yang theory will be discussed below.) With the collapse of the Han dynasty and introduction of Bud- dhism, Confucianism passed out of favor (in imperial circles at least) for nearly one thousand years, until its revival in the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) with the neo-Confucian movement. The most active and respected scholar of this period was Zhu Xi (wg: Chu Hsi, 1130–1200). Zhu wrote highly infl uential commentaries on the classic texts, stressing societal order based on ethical leadership, proper family relationships, social harmony and other principles. By the 14th century, his interpretations of Confucianism had become orthodox.2 The point of this very brief overview is to identify the most prominent of many historical readings of Confucian ideology, showing that over a period of two millennia new interpretations and other theories were incorporated, sometimes even forced upon the ancient authority. In my own references to these philosophical backgrounds, I will differentiate wherever possible between statements in the ancient texts and interpreta- tions by later scholars. When referring to ‘Confucian’, ‘Confucianism’ or the ‘Confucian infl uence’, I mean to identify essentially neo-Confucian

Classics, known as the “Four Books”, was compiled (in part from the “Five Classics”) by the Confucian scholar Zhu Xi more than one thousand years later. This collection includes the Daxue (“Great Learning”), Zhongyong (“Doctrine of the Mean”), Lunyu (“Analects”) and Mengzi (“Mencius”). The “Four Books” became the core of Confucian education after the 12th century. 2 For further information on neo-Confucian and other interpretations, see Fung Yu-lan’s A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (1964).