The ''Classic of Music'' () was a Confucian classic text lost by the time of 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 w ...

. It is sometimes referred to as the "Sixth

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a '' ...

" (for example, by

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 be ...

) and is thought to have been important in the traditional interpretations of the '' Book of Songs''.

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

scholar Shao Yichen ( 邵懿辰, 18101861) proposed that the book never existed, but more usually it is thought that all copies were destroyed during the

burning of books and burying of scholars The burning of books and burying of scholars (), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor Qin ...

. A few traces remain in other surviving works, including the '' Zuo Zhuan'', the '' Rites of Zhou'', and the extremely redacted, poor-quality Record of Music contained in the ''

Classic 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 ''Book ...

''. As accounted in 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 ...

'', Dou Gong 竇公 (5-4 cc. BC), a musician of the state of Wei possessed a copy of the ''Classic of Music'' which was presented to the Emperor Han Wen-di. However, the text is associated with the ''Da siyue'' (大宗伯) section of the ''Rites of Zhou''. Leading to the belief that the ''Classic of Music'' is a section of the ''Rites of Zhou'' itself. In 2022, Luke Waring has suggested that there is not enough convincing evidence that a music classic existed during the Warring States era in the first place. However, this topic remains heavily debated amongst scholars.

References

*
The ''Shih Ching'' or ''Book of Poetry''
. ''The China Journal of Science and Arts'', Vol. IV, No. I (Jan 1926). *

''Records of the Historian: Chapters from the Shih Chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien''. Translated by

Burton Watson Burton Dewitt Watson (June 13, 1925April 1, 2017) was an American sinologist, translator, and writer known for his English translations of Chinese and Japanese literature.Stirling 2006, pg. 92 Watson's translations received many awards, includin ...

(1969). New York: Columbia University Press. .

Notes

Chinese classic texts Lost literature Chinese music Confucian texts Zhou dynasty texts 1st-millennium BC books Four Books and Five Classics {{China-music-stub