Chapter 6 Music of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

From the Jian'an period at the end of the Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties when Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty unified China, the North and the South confronted each other and the society was in turmoil, but the mind was relatively liberated, so the culture and art of this period were quite developed. The music of this period has three main characteristics: First, the educational function of music has been further weakened, while the entertainment has been strengthened. The struggle works in the Yuefu folk songs of the Southern Dynasties have been significantly reduced, and the theme of love has become the mainstream.Second, a large number of ethnic minorities and foreign music were introduced, which had a huge impact on the music of the Central Plains.Third, Buddhist culture, including the introduction of Buddhist music, has had a huge impact on Chinese traditional culture.

The chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty also caused a devastating blow to the art of music and dance.After Cao Cao pacified Jingzhou and basically stabilized the north, he also began to make rituals and music.Cao's father and son are both great writers and poets, and they also love music and dance, so the art of music and dance has been restored to a certain extent. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty in southern An'an, the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties have been extremely extravagant and corrupt, pursuing the pleasure of sensuality, and their level of extravagance is rare in history. "Silk and bamboo are endless day and night" ("Song Shu Biography of Du Ji").

This was true in the Southern Dynasties, as well as in the Northern Dynasties. Although the Qiang, Di, Xianbei and other ethnic minorities ruled in the north, the style of indulging in sensuality and love of singing and dancing was no different from that of the Southern Dynasties. "End of the Sun" ("Luoyang Jia Lan Ji"), "beauties dance at the window, enchantresses cover their fans and sing" (Later Wei Wen Zisheng's "An Ding Hou Song"), are not inferior to those of the Southern Dynasties. Among the folks, this kind of singing and dancing style is also very popular, and there are even "singing halls" dedicated to singing and dancing for everyone.

After the clothes of the Eastern Jin Dynasty went south, the old music disappeared, so they turned their attention to the folk again and drew nourishment from folk music.The folk song "Wu Sheng" popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the folk song "Xiqu" popular in Jingchu (now Hubei) were popular among the upper-class rulers and the lower-class people for their fresh, lively, melodious and melodious features. Become the main component of "Qingshangle". Different from Han Yuefu folk songs, Wu Sheng and Xiqu were produced in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the big cities on both sides of the Han River, and they reflect the life of the citizen class.They do not have the profound social content and strong fighting spirit of Han Yuefu, but more about the love between men and women; they rarely have long works like Han Yuefu, but mostly short ditties with five words and four sentences.

The folk songs popular in the north are quite different from the styles of Wu Sheng and Xiqu.The northern people are rough and straightforward, and the northern folk songs are also very bold and unrestrained. In terms of language, melody and singing style, they are very different from southern songs. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, although the confrontation between the north and the south was formed with the Yangtze River as the boundary, the cultural exchange was not abolished. On the one hand, the northern music songs were spread in the south and were adopted by the Yuefu government. On the other hand, a large number of southern music songs were introduced to the north. It was unanimously loved by the ruling and opposition parties in the Northern Dynasties.This kind of difference and integration of music songs between the North and the South promoted the prosperity of Yuefu folk songs in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and also prepared sufficient conditions for the innovation of poetry in the Tang Dynasty.

In addition to the extensive cultural exchanges between the North and the South, the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was also an era when music from the Western Regions and Buddhist music were introduced into China in large quantities and had a profound impact on Chinese music. Since Buddhism was introduced to China in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it had a huge impact on Chinese philosophy, literature and art. With the prosperity of Buddhism, Buddhist music became popular in China. When Buddhism holds religious ceremonies, it sings admiration, praises the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and preaches scriptures, all of which can be sung according to a certain tune, which is called "Fanbai".This kind of Buddhist songs and praises are performed in large numbers in temples to attract audiences, and even "Sanskrit sings Tu Yin, and the eaves are connected" ("Wei Shu · Shi Laozhi").

The introduction of Buddhist music not only injected fresh blood into Chinese folk music, influenced the formation of rap arts such as "Bianwen" and "Baojuan" after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but also had a great impact on Chinese phonology.The development of four-tone rhyme has a great influence on the creation and singing of songs of later generations. It directly affects the formation of modern style poems and words in Tang and Song Dynasties, and affects the development of singing theory in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are also two characteristics of musical instruments in this period: one is that the performance level of old musical instruments has been continuously improved, and some famous performers have appeared, such as Ruan Xian who is good at playing Ruan Xian, Huan Yi who is good at playing flute, Chao Yun who is good at playing chi, and who is good at playing piano. Dai Kui et al.; First, the emergence of many new musical instruments.

Most of the new musical instruments came from the Western Regions, the most important being the stringed instrument pipa and many percussion instruments. The pipas of the Qin and Han Dynasties all had straight handles, and the speakers were round.During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Quxiang Pipa was introduced to China from the Western Regions.It is characterized by a pear-shaped sound box and a curved handle, which is very similar to today's pipa, and it has become one of the most popular instruments since the Tang Dynasty. The new wind instrument is the 筚篥, which is the predecessor of the descendant Guanzi. In the Tang Dynasty, it was also one of the very popular instruments.

Fangxiang was also introduced to the mainland during this period. It probably originated in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It was hung on a wooden frame with sixteen pieces of iron with different pitches. During this period, many new percussion instruments were introduced. Star, is to touch the bell. Dab is the tambourine.An important percussion instrument of the Uighurs in Xinjiang.A wooden circular drum frame, covered with sheepskin or python skin on one side, and there are many small iron rings on one type of frame, which can be struck with both hands to make sound, which has already appeared in the murals of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in Dunhuang.

According to the records of Tang Dynasty classics, there are many types of drums.These drums have different shapes, different sounds, and different percussion methods, and are widely used in "Qibuyue", "Jiubue" and "Shibuyue".These drums are collectively called "Hu drums" (see Du You's "Tong Dian Yue Dian II"), and they should have been introduced to China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Drums, Maoyuan drums, etc.