Rites & Music of Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty was the first dynasty to lay down rules of "rites" (sacrificial ceremonies, court protocol, etc.) and "music" (music and dancing which accompanied ceremony). Tradition has it that these rules were promulgated by the first great ruler of the dynasty, the Duke of Zhou. The system of rites and music endured for the following 2,000 years and more, until it was abolished with the end of the Qing Dynasty, China's last feudal dynasty. Each era made its own modifications to the system, but it lasted essentially intact as to its rationale just as it had been formed in Zhou times. If we say that the Shang Dynasty worshipped deities, then we can say that the Zhou Dynasty worshipped ritual. As far as the supernatural was concerned, the people of Zhou held it in awe, but at a distance. There were two basic features of the system of rites and music in Zhou times: One is that it was strictly graded, and the other is that the music and dancing designated to accompany the rites was Ya yue.

Because activities involving the system of rites and music was restricted to the upper echelons of society, in order to understand the system it is first necessary to understand the structure of that upper class. Historical studies show that the phenomenon of dividing the domain up into feudal fiefdoms first appeared during the Shang Dynasty, as this was the most convenient way of ruling such a large stretch of territory. Unlike the Shang, which did not bestow the fiefdoms exclusively on members of the ruling clan (who all had the same surname), the Zhou Dynasty, which followed the Shang practice of ruling through fiefdoms, made sure that most of the feudal lords were of the ruling clan. For instance, at the beginning of the Zhou period, the ruler of the State of Wei, which was located in what had been the heartland of Shang, was Kang Shu, the younger brother of the Duke of Zhou, and toward the end of the dynasty, You, the half-brother of Emperor Xuan, was made ruler of the State of Zheng. So a strict hierarchy grew up among the feudal lords of the Zhou Dynasty, based on the patriarchal clan system and involving clans to which principal wives and concubines belonged. The feudal lords themselves stood in a position of being either major or minor descendants of the Zhou emperor, as did the grandees who ruled the various districts of a feudal state with regard to the ruler of the state, and the nobles under them vis a vis the grandees.

The system of rites and music reinforced and stabilized this strict patriarchal clan hierarchy. Every person of each grade in the hierarchy enjoyed the type of rites and music assigned to his particular grade. The items of music and dance, the types and number of musical instruments, and the number of musicians for each grade were strictly limited, and to exceed the limits was considered a grave offense. The adoption of Ya yue, or the music of the Qizhou district, for the activities of each grade or among grades of people no doubt within a certain period of time came to strengthen clan consciousness and brought about the formation of the idea of "All under Heaven is one family".

Western Zhou lasted 300 years, but long before this time was up, the original meaning of Qizhou music from which Ya yue sprang was gradually forgotten.Qizhou music lost its ability to function as a means for stimulating and unifying clan consciousness, as the rules governing it according to the system of rites and music became ossified. Even the aristocracy became estranged from it, regarding it simply as "old music". So Ya yue lost its function as a political instrument, and its historical fate was to wither away as insipid "old music".

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