Early History of Music in China

According to the Mencius an influential ruler once asked him whether it was moral if he preferred music to the classics. The answer was that it only matter that the ruler was loved with his subjects. The imperial music Bureau, first founded in the Qin Dnasty from 221 to 201 BC was greatly expanded under emperor Han Wu Di from 140 to 87 BC and charged with supervising the court music and military music that determined what the folk music would be officially seen. In the subsequent dynasties, the establishment of the Chinese music was strongly powered by the foreign music especially the Central Asia.

source of picture: www.global-catholic.org

The oldest known was written music by Youlan or the solitary orchild that attributed to Confucius the first major well-document that flower the Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang dynasty from 618 to 907AD, while the qin is known to have been played since before the Han Dynasty.

The ancient China of the social status of the musicians was much lower than that of the painters, though music was seen as central to the peace and longevity of the state. Mainly every emperor took folk songs important, sending officers to collect songs to inspect the famous will. One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing (the classics of poetry) that contain many folk songs has been traced back from 800 BC to about 400BC.

The first European to reach China with the musical instrument was Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci who invented the Harpsichord to the Lee imperial court in 1601 and trained four eunuchs to play it.