In a hall among autumn mountains, musicians strike a rack of bronze chime bells while others play strings and winds; terraces below fill with listeners and players, a waterfall pouring beside them.
Music and dance performed in sacrifices, court ceremonies and religious rites. Its core is the bronze bells, stone chimes and twelve pitch standards of the Shang and Zhou; it continues in court yayue, the Zhonghe shaoyue and the Confucian temple dances, and also includes Buddhist, Daoist and folk ritual music.
1200 BCE · OriginA set of five bronze nao from the tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu, used at banquets and sacrifices, is early material evidence of tuned sets of ritual instruments.433 BCE · EvolutionThe bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng, cast in 433 BCE, are 64 bells hung in three tiers and eight groups, each sounding two tones, the high point of pre-Qin ritual music.1446 · EvolutionIn the Zhengtong reign of the Ming, Wang Zhen moved court music into Zhihua Temple in Beijing, founding the Buddhist Jing music still handed down there.1584 · ImpactIn the Ming, Zhu Zaiyu set out equal temperament by exact calculation in his Lüxue xinshuo, taking the twelve-pitch theory to a new level.
The Zhou joined li (ritual) and yue (music). Ritual set each person's place and movement in a ceremony; music let everyone move to one rhythm. Sacrifices to Heaven and the ancestors, banquets and archery rites all had music, and the number of bells, chimes and dancers followed rank: eight rows of dancers for the Son of Heaven, six for a feudal lord, four for a high officer, two for a gentleman. Confucius condemned the Ji family for having "eight rows dance in their courtyard" because it broke this rule.
Bells were the frame of ritual music. The Shang already had sets of nao; the Western Zhou had full sets of yongzhong and niuzhong bells. The 64 bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng hang in three tiers and eight groups, and each sounds two different pitches when struck at the centre and at the side; the bells also carry long inscriptions on pitch, showing a systematic knowledge of the twelve pitch standards.
After the Qin and Han, every dynasty kept an office, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices or the Board of Rites, to manage yayue for sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, the ancestral temple and the Confucian temple. Ritual dance had a civil form, with flute and pheasant feather, and a martial form, with shield and axe. The Zhonghe shaoyue and the Confucian temple music of the Ming and Qing courts kept this layout of bells, chimes, qin, se, sheng and xiao played together.
Religion and folk life have their own ritual music. Buddhist chant and temple ensembles, such as the Jing music of Zhihua Temple in Beijing; the hymns and wind-and-percussion music of Daoist rites; and the gongs, drums and dances of ancestor worship, god worship and temple fairs across the country all serve to invite, honour and send off the spirits. Most of these traditions are still in use and are on intangible heritage lists.
Ritual music and dance is the music performed in sacrifices, court assemblies and religious rites. Its historical core is the bronze bells, stone chimes and twelve pitch standards of the Shang and Zhou: sets of bells tuned in order were both instruments and marks of rank. Court yayue, the Zhonghe shaoyue and the Confucian temple dances carried this line forward, and the liturgical music of Buddhist and Daoist temples and local ritual music and dance also belong to this type.
This line can begin with the Shang nao. The tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu held a set of five bronze nao in graded sizes, used at banquets and sacrifices. The Zhou formed the Six Dynastic Dances: Yunmen, Daxian, Dashao, Daxia, Dahuo and Dawu, the first four civil and the last two martial, each performed for sacrifices to Heaven, Earth, mountains, rivers and ancestors. The Rites of Zhou had a Grand Director of Music teach music and dance to the sons of nobles, and the eight-row system tied the number of dancers to rank.
By the mid-Western Zhou, sets of yongzhong bells were standard, and bells and stone chimes formed the core of the "music of metal and stone." The early Warring States tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng held 64 bells together with chimes, a drum on a post, qin, se, sheng and panpipes; the bell inscriptions match the pitch names of different states, making it a rare, complete survival of pre-Qin ritual music. Late in the Spring and Autumn period Confucius said the Shao was "perfectly beautiful and perfectly good" and the Wu "perfectly beautiful but not perfectly good," and ritual music became a Confucian standard for judging government.
The Han set up a Grand Music Office for yayue, and Han hymns for the suburban and ancestral sacrifices survive. The Sui and Tang separated yayue for sacrifices from yanyue for banquets. The Song debated pitch and recast bells many times. The Ming named its court ceremonial music Zhonghe shaoyue, and later in the Ming the Confucian rite rose to eight rows of dancers; the Qing kept the Zhonghe shaoyue and compiled the Lülü zhengyi on pitch. In 1584 Zhu Zaiyu of the Ming set out equal temperament by exact calculation in his Lüxue xinshuo.
Buddhist music arrived with Buddhism in the Han and Wei, and the legend that Cao Zhi created fanbai chant is widely told. In 1446 Wang Zhen moved court music into Zhihua Temple in Beijing, forming the Buddhist Jing music that has been handed down to this day. Daoist ritual music is handed down at Wudang, Suzhou and elsewhere. When the Qing fell in 1911, court yayue lost its state role, but the Confucian dances are still performed on schedule at the temples in Qufu, Taipei and elsewhere, and replica bell sets have returned to the stage.
Bianzhong Rack
The ranked chime bells hanging in the central hall are the clearest subject of the ritual-music scene.
Bell Striker
The musician striking the bells inside the hall directly shows the performance action of the bianzhong.
Ritual Terrace
The officials and instrument holders on the left terrace form the command-and-observation layer of ritual music.
Processional Ensemble
The ranks of bannered and instrument-bearing figures at mid-lower center show the processional side of ritual music.
In a ritual music hall, bronze bell-chimes hang in three tiers as musicians strike them with mallets, zithers and stone chimes sound, and dancers wave pheasant feathers in the courtyard. The acoustic materialization of political rank and musical temperaments in solid bronze.
Ritual music is like the pillars of a great hall. People bow, offer incense and kneel inside, and seldom look up at the pillars, yet without them the roof would fall. When the bells and chimes sound, everyone knows when to rise, when to stand still and when to bow.
Today the palace halls are empty, but at Confucian temple rites, morning services in monasteries and village temple fairs, the pillars still stand.
The day before the autumn sacrifice at the Confucian temple in Qufu, an old musician was tuning bells in front of the Hall of Great Achievement. A young player asked him, "Who can understand these bells now? Why does every one have to be so exact?"
The old man struck the largest bell, then the one beside it. "Listen. These two are one tone apart. If a single bell is off, the whole set falls into disorder."
"But the audience can't hear the difference."
"I think of the bells in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. Each bell gives two pitches, and the bells carry inscriptions on pitch. I suspect the bell-casters wanted the whole set to sound true, so that those at the sacrifice could keep to one beat."
The next day the bells rang out, and the dancers, holding flutes and feathers, moved a step and a pause at a time. Standing in the orchestra, the young man found that his breathing had slowed to the pace of the bells.
The heart of ritual music is using sound to set order. From Shang and Zhou bells to the Ming-Qing Zhonghe shaoyue, today's Confucian temple dances and the ritual music of monasteries and villages, music lets everyone begin together and stop together, carrying out a solemn act as one. (This is an illustrative story, not a historical account.)
Bell and Chime MusicTuned sets of bronze bells and stone chimes, with dance, at the sacrifices and banquets of the Shang and Zhou
Court Ritual Music (Yayue)The ceremonial music of the imperial courts, from the Han suburban and temple hymns to the Ming–Qing Zhonghe shaoyue
Confucian Temple MusicThe ritual music played through the welcoming, three offerings and farewell of the sacrifice to Confucius
Daoist Ritual MusicThe sung hymns and instrumental labelled tunes of Zhengyi and Quanzhen priests in Daoist rites of offering and purification
Buddhist MusicThe chant and ritual-instrument music of Han and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries at daily services and great rites
Ritual Music of Ethnic MinoritiesChant, song and ensemble music of minority priests and ritual singers at sacrifices, blessings and funerals: Yi bimo, Zhuang wudiao and the Naxi Baisha xiyue
Xuanjuan: Precious-Scroll RecitationTelling and singing precious scrolls from the written text at gods' birthdays, blessings, birthdays and memorial rites, one lead voice with helpers joining in
Dongjing Scripture MusicRitual music of lay Dongjing societies, who chant the Dadong Scripture of Wenchang to strings, winds, gongs and drums
Folk Ritual and Funeral MusicWind-and-percussion music and sung storytelling for village rain-prayer processions, river-god rites and funeral wakes