Record of Music () is the 19th chapter of the ''
Book of Rites
The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Boo ...
''. It constitutes the grounds for reconstruction of the lost ''
Classic of Music'' 樂經.
The authorship of the ''Yueji'' is a matter of debate. The ''
Book of Sui
The ''Book of Sui'' (''Suí Shū'') is the official history of the Sui dynasty. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, with Wei Zheng as the lead author. ...
'' ascribes it to
Gongsun Nizi, a second-generation disciple of
Confucius, and this view was common during the
Tang dynasty. However, the present version includes reference to
Marquis Wen of Wei and
Zi Xia
Bu Shang (507 BC – 400 BC), commonly known by his courtesy name Zixia or as Buzi (Master Bu), was an ancient Chinese philosopher and a prominent disciple of Confucius who was considered one of the most accomplished in cultural learning. He was ...
's meeting which could not have occurred during Gongsun Nizi's life. Qiu Qiongsun claims another Gongsun Ni lived during the
Han dynasty, authored the book, and it was later erroneously ascribed to the better-known Confucian disciple.
The ''Yueji'' is mentioned in the "Yiwen zhi" chapter of the ''
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 ...
'', which was built on
Liu Xin's ''Qilue''. There, its authorship is ascribed to
Liu De
/ ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...
, a son of the Han
emperor Jing, and his friends. The contents of ''Yueji'' are fully present in the ''Yueshu'' chapter of the ''
Records of the Grand Historian'', but, as argued by Martin Kern, this chapter is a later addition to
Sima Qian's work, probably dating by the Eastern Han period. According to Kern, this might bear on the dating of the ''Yue ji'' itself.
Kong Yingda (574 648) records in his ''Liji Zhengyi'' that in his editorial work
Liu Xiang came across another ''Yueji'' variant, much different from Liu De's. Unfortunately, of the 23 chapters known to Liu Xiang, only 11 are known.
Scott Cook's research concludes on the Warring States authorship of ''Yue ji'' as the most probable.
[Cook, ''Yue ji'' - Record of Music. Introduction, translation, notes, and commentary. Asian Music, vol. 26 no. 2 Spring–Summer 1995, p. 7.]
Material related to the ''Yueji'' can be found in
Xunzi's "Yuelun", the ''
Xici zhuan ''Xici'' or ''Xi Ci'' () was a book of I Ching written during the fifth century BC. Its origins are unknown, but it is suspected of being the product of scholars who did not believe prevailing Daoist thought. Among the mythologies stressed in th ...
'' comment to the ''
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
'', the "Great Preface" to the ''
Book of Songs'', ''
Lüshi Chunqiu
The ''Lüshi Chunqiu'', also known in English as ''Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals'', is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 BC under the patronage of the Qin Dynasty Chancellor Lü Buwei. In the evaluation of Michae ...
'', and other sources.
References
Confucian texts
Chinese Classical Studies
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