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Marquess Wen of Wei (died 396 BCE), personal name Wei Si , was the founding marquess of the Wei state . He belonged to the Wei clan, one of the noble houses that dominated Jin politics in the 5th and 6th centuries BC.

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65-525: Yayue ( Chinese : 雅樂 ; lit. 'elegant music') was a form of classical music and dance performed at the royal court and temples in ancient China. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou . Together with law and rites , it formed the formal representation of aristocratic political power. The word ya ( 雅 ) was used during the Zhou dynasty to refer to

130-481: A yue flute (籥) in their left hands and a feather plume (羽) in their right, while in military dance the dancer may hold a shield (干) in their left hands and a battleaxe (戚) in their right hands. Yayue music does not use just any kind of traditional Chinese musical instruments, but instead includes only a small selection, taken from the oldest ones, according to the eight categories of materials used in their construction. In Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese,

195-542: A Chinese and South Asian form, called togaku . In Korean, Yayue is called '아악' ( Aak — 아=雅, 악=樂). It was brought to Korea in the 12th century and it still preserves some of the music of the Song dynasty . In Vietnam, Yayue is pronounced ' Nhã nhạc ' (Nhã=雅, nhạc=樂). It was brought to Vietnam around the Song dynasty and was mainly influenced later by the Ming dynasty court of China. This began to flourish even more after

260-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from

325-595: A form of song-texts used in court and collected in Shijing . The term yayue itself appeared in Confucius's Analects , where yayue was considered by Confucius to be the kind of music that is good and beneficial, in contrast to the popular music originated from the state of Zheng which he judged to be decadent and corrupting. Yayue is therefore regarded in the Confucian system as the proper form of music that

390-400: A group of local elders to learn about the frequent disasters suffered as a result of the nearby Zhang River flooding. He was told that as a result of collusion between witches and local officials, every year a maiden had to be sacrificed to appease the river god Hebo on the occasion of his taking a wife to obviate floods. Ximen Bao dismissed the story as superstitious nonsense and said it was

455-595: A multitude of talented people. There were many times when Marquess Wen respectfully consulted Zixia regarding the Confucian Classics and the Confucian arts of rites and music . The scholar was always patient and passed on to his ruler policies of benevolent government that cherished the people while providing an analysis of the differences between ancient and (at that time) modern music. He also used musical metaphors and advised Marquess Wen to personally follow

520-417: A number of situations where yayue might be performed. These included ceremonies in honour of Heaven and Earth, the gods or the ancestors. There were also detailed rules on the way they were to be performed at diplomatic meetings. Yayue was also used in outdoor activities, such as aristocratic archery contests, during hunting expeditions, and after the conclusion of a successful military campaign. Yayue

585-621: A result, elements of Song dynasty yayue music such as melodies are still preserved in Korea. Some forms of yayue survived for imperial ceremonies and rituals until the fall of the Qing dynasty when the imperial period of China came to an end. Yayue however was still performed as part of a Confucian ritual in China until the Communist takeover in 1949 when it completely disappeared. There has been

650-535: A revival in yayue in Confucian ritual in Taiwan since the late 1960s, and in mainland China since the 1990s. A major research and modern reconstruction of yayue of the imperial court was initiated in Taiwan in the 1990s, and in mainland China a performance of yayue music in 2009 by Nanhua University 's yayue music ensemble in Beijing also spurred interest in this form of music. There are however questions over

715-569: A ruse to cheat people out of their money and property. After outlawing the sinister practice of sacrifice to the river god, Ximen Bao mobilized manpower to cut twelve drainage canals to channel the waters of the Zhang River. Thereafter there were no more floods and instead of suffering damage from the river, the fields were irrigated by it. Marquess Wen wanted to take control of the State of Zhongshan but in order to attack, he needed access through

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780-495: A wide reputation as a worthy individual and went in person to pay his respects to the master. Moved by Marquess Wen's sincerity, Zixia came to Xīhé in Wei. Thereafter the people of Wei benefited greatly from Zixia's training of students in Confucian statecraft such that people longed to come to Xīhé. One after another, many new students arrived to study under Zixia. As a result, Wei became a concentrated center of academic study possessing

845-869: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;

910-591: Is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to

975-425: Is not to your minister's credit, it is to your credit". The Marquess rewarded Yue Yang by giving him Lingshou County (in modern-day Hebei Province ) but never again used the general in an important position. In 424 BCE, the tenth year of the reign of Duke You of Jin , Marquess Wen adopted his title on his own initiative and declared 424 BCE as the first year of his own reign. Nineteen years later in 405 BCE, during

1040-461: Is refined, improving, and essential for self-cultivation, and one that can symbolize good and stable governance. It means the kind of solemn ceremonial music used in court, as well as ritual music in temples including those used in Confucian rites. In a broader sense, yayue can also mean a form of Chinese music that is distinguishable from the popular form of music termed suyue (俗樂) or "uncultivated music", and can therefore also include music of

1105-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to

1170-610: The Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such

1235-565: The Kensiu language . Marquess Wen of Wei He became the leader of the Wei clan in 445 BCE, succeeding his father Viscount Huan , and in 424 BCE adopted the title of "Marquess" (侯). In 403 BCE, King Weilie of Zhou acknowledged Wei Si as Marquess of Wei while conferring similar titles on the leaders of the Han and Zhao clans, thereby effectively splitting the Jin state into three and confirming

1300-551: The dynasty through to the Nguyễn dynasty , which ended in the 20th century. It is still being performed in the city of Huế . Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in

1365-533: The Partition of Jin . Sima Qian praised Marquess Wen for his eagerness to learn. Marquess Wen is said to have often consulted the Confucian scholar Zixia as well as Tian Zifang (田子方) and Duangan Mu (段干木), among others. Marquess Wen also appointed Legalist philosopher Li Kui , whose principles for the implementation of political reforms were "to eat one must labor, to receive a salary one must provide meritorious service; those who do not will be punished." As

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1430-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝   'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for

1495-595: The State of Zhao . The rulers of Zhao at first refused the Marquess’ request but when the Zhao Chancellor heard he said: "If Wei attack Zhongshan and they are defeated, they are bound to have lost a significant portion of their resources and will become a weak country. If on the other hand they annihilate Zhongshan, the new territory will be bisected by our country and it will be difficult for Wei to remain in control of it for any significant period." On hearing this

1560-413: The yin and yang , a smaller one (the yin ) that was meant to play on the terraces of a building and called dengge (登歌), and a larger one (the yang ) that performed in the courtyard called gongxian (宮懸). The smaller ensemble consisted of mainly chordophones (such as qin and se zithers) and aerophones (such as the dizi and xiao flutes, and panpipes ), as well as singers. The larger ensemble

1625-564: The Chinese characters yayue ('雅樂) are pronounced differently. The form and content of yayue in these countries may differ in significant aspects. Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial court for several centuries. It differs in form and content from the Chinese yayue , and consists of native Shinto religious music and folk music , a Goguryeo and Manchurian form, called komagaku , and

1690-742: The Marquess of Zhao and I are like brothers, therefore I dare not lend you troops to attack his country." Subsequently, the Zhao state sent an envoy with an identical request for an attack against Han. Again Marquess Wen replied "As sovereign I will tell you that the Marquess of Han and I are like brothers, therefore I dare not lend you troops to attack his country." As a result, neither Han nor Zhao received military assistance from Wei, and both envoys returned angrily to their capitals. Not long afterwards, they discovered that Marquess Wen had already mediated in

1755-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China

1820-592: The State of Wei along its western borders. Marquess Wen then established the Xihe Commandery consisting of the five captured cities. Marquess Wen appointed Ximen Bao as magistrate of Ye but he did not want the post. The Marquess persuaded him to take the job by saying: "Worthy minister, you should not miss this opportunity; you can definitely achieve great things in politics and become famous throughout China!" Ximen Bao took up his post then immediately summoned

1885-677: The State of Wei underwent these reforms it became rich and powerful. In turn, Marquess Wen defeated the Zhongshan state while General Wu Qi attacked and took five cities in what would become the Xihe Commandery within the borders of the Qin state (between the Yellow River and Luo River , spanning parts of modern-day Shaanxi and Shanxi ). With Ximen Bao installed as magistrate of Ye (in modern-day Hebei ), Beimen Ke (北門可) in control of Suanzao (酸棗) and Zhai Huang (翟黃) as Senior Minister,

1950-532: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,

2015-493: The Wei state underwent political reforms and constructed irrigation systems. As a result, Wei became a powerful state during the early Warring States period . In 446 BCE, the sixth year of the reign of Duke Ai of Jin , Wèi Huán-zǐ died and was succeeded by his son Wèi Sī who became Marquess Wen of Wei. Marquess Wen knew full well that to bring peace and stability to the country he needed to appoint worthy and virtuous officials. He had heard that Confucian scholar Zixia enjoyed

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2080-747: The Zhao ruler Zhào Xiàn-zǐ ( simplified Chinese : 赵 献 子 ; traditional Chinese : 趙 獻 子 ) agreed to allow the Wei army to pass through the Zhao State. At this time, among Minister of War Zhai Huang 's ( Chinese : 翟 璜 ) entourage there was an individual called Yue Yang  [ zh ] ( simplified Chinese : 乐 羊 ; traditional Chinese : 樂羊 ) who advocated an immediate attack on Zhongshan. Even though his son had been killed in Zhongshan because of Yue Yang's son Yue Shu ( simplified Chinese : 乐 舒 ; traditional Chinese : 樂 舒 ), Zhai Huang knew that Yue Yang

2145-481: The authenticity of these revived and recreated yayue music and dances, especially the use of modern forms of instruments and various substitutions rather than the more ancient and original forms, nonetheless some argued that such music and dances have always changed over time through succeeding dynasties, and that any changes introduced in the modern era should be seen in this light. The court yayue orchestra may be divided into two separate ensembles that may represent

2210-454: The dispute, and thereafter both Zhao and Han were made to pay separate tribute to Wei. Later, during the Song dynasty , Sima Guang remarked: "As a result, Wei became the strongest of the Jin vassal states with both Han and Zhao unable to match it militarily." The military commander Wu Qi threw his support behind the State of Wei when he heard that Marquess Wen was a wise and able leader. Marquess Wen asked Li Kui for his opinion of Wú Qĭ and

2275-608: The first Legalist), Zhai Huang, Yue Yang, Wu Qi, and Ximen Bao, to advance changes in government that would later be considered Legalist , would arguably make Wei one of the first states to do so, and make Wen an important figure in the "Legalist" pantheon. When war broke out between the states of Han and Zhao , the Han State sent a special ambassador to Wei to ask for military assistance. The envoy said: "We hope that your noble country can lend us troops to attack Zhao," whereupon Marquess Wen replied "As sovereign I will tell you that

2340-460: The flesh of his own son. If he can do that, whose body would he not eat?" The state of Zhongshan was eliminated in 406 BCE, the twenty-fifth year of Marquis Wen's reign. When Yue Yang returned to Wei he couldn't help but develop a somewhat arrogant manner due to his achievements. When Marquis Wen found out he summoned the general to his palace and showed him some disparaging letters he had received. A tense Yue Yang kowtowed to his lord and said: "This

2405-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from

2470-497: The literati such as qin music. The court yayue has largely disappeared from China, although there are modern attempts at its reconstruction. In Taiwan yayue is still performed as part of a Confucian ceremony, and in China a revived form also serves as entertainment for tourists. Other forms of yayue are still found in parts of East Asia, notably the gagaku in Japan, aak in Korea, and nhã nhạc in Vietnam. Although

2535-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as

2600-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In

2665-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often

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2730-475: The number of words in the text. The music performed in the courtyard are accompanied by dances, and the number of dancers varies strictly according to the rank and social status of the patron. The emperor may have the largest number of musicians and dancers (64 dancers in eight rows of eight), while a noble or chief minister may have a smaller ensemble and 36 dancers (six rows of six), and a lesser officer even fewer (four by four or two by two). In Confucian rituals

2795-677: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as

2860-582: The orchestra. Two important texts from the Song dynasty describing yayue performances are Zhu Xi 's Complete Explanation of the Classic of Etiquette and Its Commentary (儀禮經傳通解) and Collection of Music (樂書) by Chen Yang (陳暘). In 1116, a gift of 428 yayue instruments as well as 572 costumes and dance objects was given to Korea by Emperor Huizong upon request by the Emperor Yejong of Goryeo . As

2925-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as

2990-429: The principles of the ancient sage emperors Yao and Shun by staying close to his virtuous officials, avoiding flatterers, and being prudent with regard to the requirements of the monarchy over his own self-interest. Marquess Wen appointed Li Kui as his ministerial assistant responsible for political reform. Li Kui advanced policies of "utmost fertility in education", implemented a fair grain buying law and established

3055-569: The reign of Duke Lie of Jin , an internal revolt broke out in the State of Qi around the town of Tianhui in Linqiu County (modern-day Juancheng County , Shandong Province). The rebels asked the three Jin vassals Wei, Zhao and Han for assistance so Marquess Wen appointed Zhai Jue to lead an allied army and attack the Great Wall of Qi. After capturing the Qi ruler, Duke Kang , the rulers of

3120-400: The rites. Marquess Wen of Wei was said to prefer the popular music of Wey and Zheng to the ancient court music, listening to which he may fall asleep. Much of the yayue of the Zhou dynasty continued into the Qin dynasty . However, some pieces appeared to have been lost or were no longer performed by the Han dynasty , and the content and form of yayue was modified in this as well as

3185-561: The same word is used in these countries (but pronounced differently), the music does not necessarily correspond to Chinese yayue . The Korean aak , however, preserved elements of Song dynasty yayue long lost in China. According to tradition, yayue was created by the Duke of Zhou under commission from King Wu of Zhou , shortly after the latter's conquest of Shang . Incorporated within yayue were elements of shamanistic or religious traditions, as well as early Chinese folk music . Dance

3250-411: The six row dance (六佾舞) was originally performed as appropriate for the status of Confucius, later the eight row dance (八佾舞) was also performed as Confucius had been granted various posthumous regal titles, for example the title of King Wenxuan (文宣王) that was granted by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang dynasty. The dances are divided into two types: civil dance and military dance. In civil dance, the dancers hold

3315-443: The start and end of a piece. The "outside" music in the courtyard was meant for the praise of heaven, and the size and disposition of the orchestra varied with the importance of the occasion, while the "inside" music was used to extol the virtue of the emperors and their ancestors. The music is typically slow and stately, and monophonic with little rhythmic variety. When sung, there may be four to eight beats per phrase depending on

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3380-638: The succeeding dynasties. For example, the terrace ensemble ( dengge ) in yayue involved singings but not string instruments in the Han dynasty, and in Sui dynasty, singers and string instruments were added to the court ensembles. During the Tang dynasty components of popular music were added to yayue . However, the dominant form of music in the Sui and Tang court was the entertainment music for banquets called yanyue (燕樂), and

3445-499: The tenets of "food requires labor, salary requires meritorious service," "usefulness will be rewarded" and "the monarchy has no patience with rebels." These became standard government methods in the State of Wei and made it a powerful country in the early Warring States period . The State of Wei's laws were later codified into the Canon of Laws . Duke Wen's appointment of officials, including Li Kui (often considered by Chinese historians

3510-399: The term yayue became reserved for the music of Confucian rituals used in temples of the imperial family and the nobility as well as in Confucian temples. During the Song dynasty , with Neo-Confucianism becoming the new orthodoxy, yayue was again in ascendancy with major development, and a yayue orchestra in this era consisted of over 200 instrumentalists with many instruments added to

3575-656: The three Jin vassals had an audience with the Zhou King whereupon Duke Kang requested the King to dub the Wei, Han and Zhao leaders Marquesses. In 403 BCE, the thirteenth year of the reign of Duke Lie of Jin, the Nine Tripod Cauldrons were struck in the presence of the Zhou King who then formally acknowledged that the leaders of Han, Zhao and Wei were no longer vassals of Jin but rulers in their own right with

3640-583: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with

3705-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write

3770-417: The two of them along with Wu Qi led an army to attack Zhongshan. Yue Yang laid siege to the capital of Zhongshan for three years, during which time Duke Wu of Zhongshan captured Yue Yang's son Yue Shu, killed him then cooked the body and sent the minced remains to Yue Yang. Sitting under his tent, the general ate an entire bowl full. On seeing this Marquess Wen said: "Because of me General Yang has had to eat

3835-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being

3900-539: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c.  200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c.  the 5th century . Although

3965-480: Was a talented field commander and gave the matter considerable thought. He then told Marquess Wen: "If my lord wishes to obtain the territory of Zhongshan then your minister recommends that Yue Yang leads the army." When the other civil and military ministers heard of this proposal they opposed it strongly, believing that Yue Yang would surrender but Zhai Huang guaranteed on his own and his family's lives that Yue Yang would not betray Wei. Marquess Wen visited Yue Yang then

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4030-483: Was also closely associated with yayue music, each yayue pieces may have a ceremonial or ritual dance associated with it. The most important yayue piece of the Zhou dynasty were the Six Great Dances, each associated with a legendary or historical figure – Yunmen Dajuan (雲門大卷), Daxian ( 大咸 ), Daqing (大磬, or Dashao 大韶 ), Daxia ( 大夏 ), and Dahu (大濩), Dawu ( 大武 ). The Book of Rites records

4095-527: Was characterised by its rigidity of form. When performed, it was stately and formal, serving to distinguish the aristocratic classes. It was sometimes also accompanied by lyrics . Some of these are preserved in the Book of Songs . With the decline of the importance ceremony in the interstate relations of the Spring and Autumn period , so did yayue . Confucius famously lamented the decline of classical music and

4160-431: Was primarily instrumental and contained all the categories of musical instruments with the musicians arranged in five directions (four points of the compass and the center) in the courtyard. The wind instruments occupied the center, and the bronze bells and stone chimes (known collectively as yuexuan 樂悬) at the four sides, while the drums occupied the four corners. At the front were two wooden instruments, used to mark

4225-510: Was told: "He avidly seeks fame and glory and is a womanizer, having said that, if you put him at the head of an attack force, even Sima Rangju would not be his equal." On hearing this Marquess Wen made Wú Qĭ a general in his army and asked him to lead his troops into the State of Qin and seize five cities. General Wú Qĭ subsequently occupied Qin territory to the east of the Luo River for the four years between 409 and 406 BCE thereby expanding

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