During the Han Dynasty, around the 1st century BC, the government decided to run the country with Confucianism, which emphasized the coexistence among men with the thought of benevolence. Thereafter, music began to play an important role of regulating the relationship between people, and between man and society.
In the mind of the Confucians, music comes directly from one’s heart. Music wouldn’t lie. Those who sing happily would definitely have happy lives. Those who sing sadly would naturally also make others feel sad. Great music would appear in great times, while in chaotic times, music would also reflect the hopelessness in the heart of the people. Therefore, people’s hearts and minds, music, politics and society are all interconnected, and the virtues revered by the Confucians, such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, can all be reflected though music.
Music and the Heart
The ancient Chinese believed that music came from the heart and expressed the true thoughts of a person. Those who understand music can even enter the inner world of the music player. There is an example in the story of “High Mountains and Flowing Water”. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a famous musician, Boya. His good friend Zhong Ziqi loved listening to him playing the Qin. When Boya played the Qin with mountains in his thoughts, Zhong Ziqi said, “The sound of your Qin is like the magnificent Mount Tai!” When Boya played the Qin with the flowing water in his mind, Zhong Ziqi said, “The sound of your Qin is like the free flowering of a river.” Therefore, Zhong Ziqi truly knew Boya’s music. After Zhong Ziqi passed away, Boya knew no one else could understand his music like Ziqi, and he smashed his Qin and never played it again. That is the story of “Boya smashing his Qin for the one who understood his music.”
The Power of Music
Chinese people have long recognized that music can shape and change people’s mood, and that music is a kind of power. “The Chu Songs from the Four Sides” is the story of winning a battle with music. It happened in 203 BC, when the war between Chu and Han came to the final stages. The Han army surrounded Xiang Yu, the general of the Chu army. At that time, Xiang Yu had not many soldiers left, but they were still very brave. In order to win the battle, Liu Bang, the leader of the Han army, ordered his soldiers to sing Chu folk songs. In the evening, when Xiang Yu’s soldiers heard the song, they thought about their hometown and all shed tears. They missed their families and did not want to fight any more. When Xiang Yu heard the songs, he was very surprised, “Has the Han army occupied the State of Chu? Why are there so many Chu people singing in Liu Bang’s army?” As a consequence, Xiang Yu knew from the bottom of his heart that he had lost this war. A few days later, Xiang Yu committed suicide. Liu Bang used the power of music to win the last battle, and from there on, he unified China and established the Han Dynasty.
High-brow and Low-brow Music
There are different types of music for different occasions. In formal places, solemn and elegant music must be played, while the ordinary working people like plain songs that are easy to sing along. In Chinese, there are two idioms describing the difference between the above two situations – Yangchun Baixue, white snow in the spring, and Xiali Baren, rural people in Sichuan (called Ba in ancient time). These two idioms came from a story in the Warring States Period. A man named Song Yu told the king of Chu that a famous singer was singing in the streets of the capital of the State of Chu. When he was singing Xiali Baren, thousands of people sang along. When he was singing Yangchun Baixue only a few dozen could sing along with him. Later, when he sang more complicated songs, only a few people could sing along with him; the higher the level of music, the fewer the people who could appreciate it.