Music Aesthetic Ideas of Confucian and Its Impact on the Ancient Chinese Music Development

Music aesthetic ideas of Confucian was formed in the Confucius,developed in the Mencius and matured in the Xunzi.In the Han Dynasty,with the emergence of Yue Ji(《乐记》),it developed to a peak and stereotyped.Confucian not only fully affirmed the social function of music and thought music as a means of moral education,but also advocated music should be compatible with ceremony in order to govern the dumb millions and the nation.Besides,Confucian praised elegant music highly,argued against popular music and opposes to transform.Thus it formed the Confucian neutral esthetic principle that music should be happy but not to be excess,should be sad but not to be distressing,and formed the music esthetics view that beauty should unify with goodness.It has both positive effects and negative side for the development of music in ancient China.