Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of Harmony in Early China (Chinese Philosophy Culture)

Brindley, Erica Fox

ISBN 10: 1438443145 / ISBN 13: 9781438443140

Published by State University of New York Press, 2013

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of ...

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Publication Date: 2013

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Explores the religious, political, and cultural significance attributed to music in early China.

In early China, conceptions of music became important culturally and politically. This fascinating book examines a wide range of texts and discourse on music during this period (ca. 500–100 BCE) in light of the rise of religious, protoscientific beliefs on the intrinsic harmony of the cosmos. By tracking how music began to take on cosmic and religious significance, Erica Fox Brindley shows how music was used as a tool for such enterprises as state unification and cultural imperialism. She also outlines how musical discourse accompanied the growth of an explicit psychology of the emotions, served as a fundamental medium for spiritual attunement with the cosmos, and was thought to have utility and potency in medicine. While discussions of music in state ritual or as an aesthetic and cultural practice abound, this book is unique in linking music to religious belief and demonstrating its convergences with key religious, political, and intellectual transformations in early China.

About the Author:

Erica Fox Brindley is Associate Professor of History, Asian Studies, and Religious Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Individualism in Early China: Human Agency and the Self in Thought and Politics.