Log24

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=22045

. . . the ancient Chinese made music the pinnacle of wisdom.

There was a Classic of Music (Yuè jīng 樂經), but it was lost already by the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).  Yet we know the esteem in which music was held by the ancient Chinese from passages in the classics like the following:

The Master heard the Shao in Qi and for three months did not notice the taste of the meat he ate. He said, 'I never dreamt the joys of music could reach such heights.'（D.C. Lau）

Analects  7.14

Shao is the music of the mythical emperor, Shun 舜.

Qi one of the Warring States.

Extensive commentary here.

Another instance of the sublimity of music in ancient China is the description of the performance of the Yellow Emperor's "The Pond of Totality" in chapter 14 of the Zhuang Zi  (see Victor H. Mair, tr., Wandering on the Way  [Bantam, 1994; University of Hawaii Press, 1998], pp. 132-136, available here).

Conversely, language studies in traditional China were referred to as "minor learning" (xiǎoxué 小學).

November 5, 2015 @ 4:05 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and music, Language and philosophy