Illustrated History of Chinese Music

Author: Institute of Music Research, Chinese Academy of Arts
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-09-01
Features: A large-scale collection of artifact images for the study of Chinese music history. Primarily image-based, supplemented with concise textual descriptions. It includes 497 precious images of musical artifacts from ancient times to the late Qing Dynasty, including the year 10 of the Jian Guo era, with a focus on newly discovered rare materials and traditional artifacts from the past decade in music archaeology. These images cover various musical instruments, musical figurines, and all types of artifacts related to music, such as bricks, reliefs, stone carvings, rock paintings, sculptures and murals in caves, temples, and tombs, paintings and illustrations from different dynasties, as well as ancient musical notations, scores, and specialized music books—all of which are highly valuable both historically and artistically. The book is organized chronologically by the historical era of the artifacts, divided into five parts: Ancient Times to the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties, the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. Each part is arranged based on the nature of the images. All descriptive text emphasizes detailed descriptions of the selected artifacts and strives to provide historical context and continuity. This book holds essential historical value for the study of Chinese music history and serves as a significant reference for research in Chinese cultural history, ethnic history, craft history, folk customs history, and other related fields. Yin Falu wrote the preface for this book. (Xu Zaiyang)