Classic of Music

The Classic of Music (Chinese: 樂經; pinyin: Yuè jīng) was a Confucian classic text lost by the time of the Han dynasty. It is sometimes referred to as the "Sixth Classic" (for example, by Sima Qian ^[1]) and is thought to have been important in the traditional interpretations of the Book of Songs.^[2]

Qing dynasty scholar Shao Yichen (邵懿辰, 1810-1861) 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.

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. As accounted in the Book of Han, Dou Gong 竇公 (5-4 cc. BC), a musician of the state of Wei possessed a book Yue shu which was presented to Han Wen-di. However, the text is associated with the Da siyue section of the Zhou li (大宗伯 part).

References

• "The Shih Ching or Book of Poetry". The China Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. IV, No. I (Jan 1926).
• Sima Qian Records of the Historian: Chapters from the Shih Chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Translated by Burton Watson (1969). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231033213.

Notes