Abstract:
As the last exponent among Confucian great masters in the pre-Qin period, Xunzi presents a rich and varied way of thinking, which is mostly reflected in his work, Xunzi. He attaches great importance to music theories and its social function, and firmly believes that music is the expression of joy and it’s indispensable for human temperament, therefore people cannot live without music. In Xunzi’s eyes, music is sufficient to rule the basic principles of conducting oneself and to regulate the changes occurring in human thoughts and feelings. Thereupon, music and rites are equally important as means to safeguard a stable society. Xunzi’s conception of music is mostly exposed in the treatise On Music, which occupies a prominent position in his book. From this treatise, we can understand the important position music occupies in running a country and educating people. In short, Xunzi’s thought about education is an absolutely necessary phenomenon in the history of Chinese education, and the above-mentioned treatise is regarded as the first monograph on music aesthetics in Chinese history.
During the pre-Qin period, Chinese music aesthetics was relatively flourishing, and like Xunzi, many others thinkers expose their aesthetics: for example, Confucius’ discourse on music is regarded as the origin of music aesthetics in pre-Qin era and he advances the importance of music in his Analects, while the Lüshi chunqiu, instead, assimilates and combines all discourses on music raising from different schools of thoughts during the pre-Qin period. By making a comparison between the two thinkers Mozi and Xunzi, we can see that the former, who lived in the early years of the Warring States period, esteems li (profit) and believes that music is unfavourable to the people, so he advances his treatise Against Music; while the latter, who lived in the middle-late years of the same period, believes that music is divided into two categories, rites and music of former sovereigns and new-born evil sounds, so one should treasure rites and music and despise evil sounds.
