The Music Bureau (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

: 樂府;

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 乐府;

Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''yuèfǔ'', and sometimes known as the "Imperial Music Bureau") served in the capacity of an organ of various imperial government bureaucracies of China: discontinuously and in various incarnations, the Music Bureau was charged directly, by the emperor (or other monarchical ruler), or indirectly, through the royal (or imperial) government to perform various tasks related to music, poetry, entertainment, or religious worship. These tasks included both musical and lyrical research and development, and also directing performances. The existence of a Music Bureau was typical of various

Chinese dynasties Dynasties in Chinese history, or Chinese dynasties, were hereditary monarchical regimes that ruled over China during much of its history. From the legendary inauguration of dynastic rule by Yu the Great circa 2070 BC to the abdication of t ...

, though the Music Bureau's prominence and influence may have peaked during the reign of Han dynasty emperor Wu, who was especially interested in such activities and engaged himself accordingly. The mission of the Music Bureau was concerned with poetry, music, and their live performances, because these concepts were not really considered to be distinct: lyrics are a part of music, and traditional Chinese poems, particularly ''

shi Shi or SHI may refer to: Language * ''Shi'', a Japanese titles#Shi, Japanese title commonly used as a pronoun * ''Shi'', proposed gender-neutral pronoun * Shi (kana), a kana in Japanese syllabaries * Shi language * ''Shī'', transliteration of ...

'', were considered to be suitable for chanting or singing, and poetic verses in accompaniment with instrumental music were often presented together as integral parts of performances. In the case of the Music Bureau, performances were oriented towards religious rites or entertainment in service to the emperor. The songs/poems collected or developed by the Han music bureau received the appellation of "''yuefu''"; but, eventually, the term "Music Bureau", or ''yuefu'' (also ''yueh-fu'') also came to be applied to a category of

Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dyn ...

which was based upon the standard forms and themes documented or promoted by the Music Bureau staff during the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. Known as ''

yuefu ''Yuefu'' are Chinese poems composed in a folk song style. The term originally literally meant "Music Bureau", a reference to the imperial Chinese governmental organization(s) originally charged with collecting or writing the lyrics, later the t ...

'' (meaning "in the style of the Music Bureau poetry"), this type of poetry made major contributions to

Han poetry Han poetry as a style of poetry resulted in significant poems which are still preserved today, and whose origins are associated with the Han dynasty era of China, 206 BC – 220 AD, including the Wang Mang interregnum (9–23 AD). The final years ...

, as well as the

Jian'an poetry Jian'an poetry, or Chien'an poetry (), refers to the styles of Chinese poetry particularly associated with the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of the Six Dynasties era of China. This poetry category is particularly important because, in ...

of the late Han and early

Six Dynasties Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, ...

. There was also an important later

Tang poetry Tang poetry () refers to poetry written in or around the time of or in the characteristic style of China's Tang dynasty, (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907, including the 690–705 reign of Wu Zetian) and/or follows a certain style, often considered ...

literary revival of the ''yuefu'' poetic forms.

Name

The name of the Music Bureau and also the poetry collected, produced, or disseminated by it is sometime transliterated into English as ''yue fu''. This "''fu''" is a different word than the name of the rhapsodic type of prose/verse '' fu'' (), which has tended to be likewise transliterated into English as "''fu''".

Pre-history and mythology

The earliest mentions of a government office of music or at least an official in charge of music or a department of music is found in

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

Huang Di Huangdi () may refer to: *Yellow Emperor (黃帝), a legendary Chinese monarch who supposedly ruled before the Xia dynasty *Emperor of China (皇帝), the imperial title of Chinese monarchs; and the superlative monarchical title in the Sinosphere ...

is claimed to have appointed a Governor of Music, named

Ling Lun Ling Lun () is the legendary founder of music in ancient China. In Chinese mythology, as described in the Lüshi Chunqiu (in ), Ling Lun is said to have created bamboo flutes which made the sounds of many birds, including the mythical phoenix. " ...

. As Governor of Music, Linglun seems to have been charged with designing and overseeing the production of actual instruments, as well as the development of the musical scale.

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

is said to have founded a Ministry of Music, to which he appointed a Minister Kui to head. The main purpose of this institution was to teach the heirs apparent proper conduct and harmony (in both sense of the word), and as such it served as a mythological model for both the future Music Bureau and the imperial education system.

Music Masters

Despite the scarcity of evidence regarding the early or initial formation or formations of an actual imperial or royal Music Bureau, better evidence exists regarding the position of imperial or royal Music Master. However, whether the Music Master was the head of an organized governmental bureau or department or were merely solo functionaries seems somewhat of an open question. In any case, certain of these early Music Masters are historically and culturally important; for example, Music Masters Shi Yan and Shi Kuang both appear in the ''

Chu Ci The ''Chu ci'', variously translated as ''Verses of Chu,'' ''Songs of Chu'', or ''Elegies of Chu'', is an ancient anthology of Chinese poetry including works traditionally attributed mainly to Qu Yuan and Song Yu from the Warring States period ...

'' poem "Leaving the World" (''Li shi''), from the '' Nine Laments'' section by Liu Xiang.

Shi Yan

Shi Yan was Music Master to

Di Xin King Zhou (; ) was the pejorative posthumous name given to Di Xin of Shang () or King Shou of Shang (), the last king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. He is also called Zhou Xin (). In Chinese, his name Zhòu ( 紂) also refers to a horse cr ...

(r. 1075–1046 BCE), the last

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

ruler. A

blind musician Blind musicians are singers or instrumentalists, or in some cases singer-accompanists, who are legally blind. Resources Historically, many blind musicians, including some of the most famous, have performed without the benefit of formal instruct ...

, Shi Yan was king Di Xin's Music Master during the end of his reign. According to legend (or Zhou propaganda from the succeeding dynasty) his reign was characterized by drinking, women, sex, and lack of morals, activities which Di Xin was said to prefer at this point in his career to spending his time in properly governing his country; he ignored almost all affairs of state, and was often too besotted even to keep track of what day it was. According to

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

, Di Xin with his concubines (especially

Daji Daji () was the favourite consort of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty in History of China, ancient China. In legends and fictions, she is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit who kills and impersonates the real Daji. Her ide ...

) developed the habit of hosting festive orgies where many people engaged in sex at the same time and created songs with crude erotic lyrics and allegedly poor rhythm. However, after the

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

army defeated the Shang military power at the

Battle of Muye The Battle of Muye () or Battle of the Mu was a battle fought in ancient China between the rebel Zhou state and the reigning Shang dynasty. The Zhou army, led by Wu of Zhou, defeated the defending army of King Di Xin of Shang at Muye and capt ...

, in 1046 BCE, Di Xin gathered up his treasures in his expensively-built palace and set a huge fire, burning himself up together with his luxurious possessions. After this, Shi Yan is supposed to have firmly grasped a-hold of his musical instrument and jumped to his suicidal death in the waters of the Pu River, where his ghostly music was heard playing centuries later.Hawkes, 303 and 335

Shi Kuang

Shi Kuang ( :zh:師曠 (师旷)) was a 6th-century musician, and Music Master for the Duke of Jin. A

, Shi Kuang attempted to prevent the Music Master of a visiting ruler from playing the ghostly music which the latter had heard while camping by the River Pu (the music of Shi Yan, above). After hearing just a few bars, Shi Kuang realized the dangerous quality of this tune, and tried to prevent the perilous continuation of play. The Duke of Jin, however, commanded that its play continue: thence a mighty wind arose sweeping the tiles from the roof of his palace, a three-year drought in his duchy commenced, and the duke himself contracted a debilitating disease from which he did not recover.

History

The documentary evidence is contradictory and unclear for when and by whom the Music Bureau was founded; however it is known to have existed during the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

(221–205 BCE), if not earlier. Apparently, during the political and social turmoil during and after the fall of Qin (during the

Chu–Han Contention The Chu–Han Contention ( zh, , lk=on) or Chu–Han War () was an interregnum period in ancient China between the fallen Qin dynasty and the subsequent Han dynasty. After the third and last Qin ruler, Ziying, unconditionally surrendered t ...

), the Music Bureau seems to have been discontinued, but it was later revived. The earliest known evidence for the existence of a specific governmental bureau of music appears to be an official seal of State Music Bureau of the

state of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a state of the Zhou dynasty-era in ancient China, variously reckoned as a march, duchy, and independent kingdom. Its capital was Linzi, located in present-day Shandong. Qi was founded sh ...

dating from the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

(480–221 BCE).Birrell, 6 Certainly, the history of the ''Classic of Poetry'' seems to confirm the existence of some sort of official functionaries responsible for the collection of songs and poetry in the royal courts of the

and of Lu and other states of the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

. The Music Bureau greatly flourished under

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...

(Wudi, reigned 141–87 BCE). Its first director under Wudi was Li Yannian. The emperor Wu has been widely cited to have created the Music Bureau in 120 BCE, however it seems most likely that there was a long-standing office of music and that as part of his governmental reorganization Wu enlarged its size, changed its scope and function, as well as possibly renaming it –– thus seeming and being credited with establishing a new institution, the stated tasks of which were apparently to collect popular songs from various areas within the Han Empire, as well as external sources and to adapt and orchestrate these, as well as to develop new material. The historian Ban Gu states in his

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. I ...

that the Music Bureau was subordinate to the ''shaofu'', or Lesser Treasury, which was responsible for the emperor's personal needs.

in his

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

states that the early Han emperors retained the Music Bureau, continuing it the same as it had been since ancient times. In any case, Wudi is widely held to have used the Music Bureau as an important part of his religious innovations and to have specifically commissioned

Sima Xiangru Sima Xiangru ( , ; c. 179117BC) was a Chinese musician, poet, and politician who lived during the Western Han dynasty. Sima is a significant figure in the history of Classical Chinese poetry, and is generally regarded as the greatest of all com ...

to write poetry. The Music Bureau was officially disbanded by

Emperor Ai of Han Emperor Ai of Han (27 BCE – 15 August 1 BCE) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty. He ascended the throne when he was 20, having been made heir by his childless uncle Emperor Cheng, and he reigned from 7 to 1 BCE. The people and the o ...

in the year 7 BCE, partly as an economy measure. By that time it had nearly 830 musicians and dancers. The Music Bureau was not revived for a long period. During the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, the Music Bureau was responsible for composing the music for the Grand Carnival in

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

. Emperor Huizong of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

also temporarily established the Great Splendour Music Bureau (''Dasheng Yuefu'') that had 785 musicians and dancers in 1102.

Influence on poetry

Because of the development and transmission of a particular style of poetry by the Music Bureau, this style of poetry has become known as the "Music Bureau" style, or Yuefu. Several important collections survive of the Han dynasty Yuefu, including some in

Xiao Tong Xiao Tong (, September/October 501 – 30 May 531), courtesy name Deshi (), formally Crown Prince Zhaoming (昭明太子, literally "Accomplished and Understanding Crown Prince"), was a Crown Prince of the Chinese Liang Dynasty, posthumousl ...

and others' work Wen Xuan and some in

Xu Ling Xu Ling () (507–583) was the compiler and editor of the famous poetry anthology '' New Songs from the Jade Terrace''http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Poetry/yutaixinyong.html Theobald, Ulrich. CHINAKNOWLEDGEuly July 3, 2010, accessed 14 ...

's ''

New Songs from the Jade Terrace ''New Songs from the Jade Terrace'' () is an anthology of early medieval Chinese poetry in the romantic or semi-erotic "palace style" (''gongti'' ) that dates to the late Southern dynasties period (420589). Most editions of ''New Songs'' contain ...

''; however the most importantBirrell, 8 collection is

Guo Maoqian Guo Maoqian () was a Song dynasty poetry anthologist. He compiled an importantBirrell, 8 collection of lyrical pieces in his work ''Anthology of Yuefu Poetry'' (樂府詩集), which contains almost all of the surviving Music Bureau style, or Yuefu ...

's ''Anthology of Yuefu Poetry'', which includes the poem "

Hua Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

References

Citations

Sources

* Birrell, Anne (1988). ''Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China''. (London: Unwin Hyman). . * Frankel, Hans H. (1978). ''The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady''. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) * Gimm, Martin (1966). ''Das Yüeh-fu tsa-lu des Tuan An-chieh''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 631 p. * Hawkes, David, translation, introduction, and notes (2011

985 Year 985 ( CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theoph ...

. Qu Yuan ''et al.'', ''The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets''. London: Penguin Books. * Wu, K. C. (1982). ''The Chinese Heritage''. New York: Crown Publishers. . * Yang, Lihui, ''et al.'' (2005). ''Handbook of Chinese Mythology''. New York: Oxford University Press. * Yip, Wai-lim (1997). ''Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres ''. (Durham and London: Duke University Press). {{Portal bar, Music, China, History Chinese traditional music Chinese poetry groups and movements Chinese music history Han dynasty literature Han dynasty poetry