What are the categories of music that are specified in the ritual and music system? And why?

As one of the world's four great civilizations, China is often referred to as "China's rituals". But in fact, the term "knowledge of etiquette" does not accurately describe the origin of Chinese culture, and it seems more appropriate to use the state of etiquette and music as a metaphor for the ancient civilization of all of us, because from the Zhou Dynasty onwards, music has long entered the life of the Chinese people, and is closely linked to economic life. In Chinese history, the Zhou Dynasty, as the most common feudal party, was a milestone in the establishment of political discipline. Its use of different ceremonial knowledge and music to differentiate between groups of people gave China a distinctly different class, which was the basis of the Western Zhou feudal system, in which music and ceremonial knowledge were as important as they were effective.

In order for music to take on such a strong political and cultural significance, the music officials and rulers of the Western Han Dynasty perfected the knowledge of music at that time, and carried out a rigorous categorization of traditional musical instruments and folk dances, creating a very sound structure for the development of Chinese music, which would guide the development of national instrumental music in the future. After King Cheng of Zhou won the victory over King Zhou of Shang and got the leadership of the Central Plains, the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty influenced the application of the system of feudalism to regulate the vast territory of our country through exploration. The feudal system was based on the hierarchical classification of power, and only by creating a stable political discipline in the country could the system be kept stable. While in power, Zhou Gongdan opened a system of rituals and music that used different knowledge of etiquette and music to distinguish status, which in turn allowed China to enter into a Chinese feudal society.

And in order to make music, a specialized instrument, more and more legally valid, the government departments of the Western Han Dynasty also enacted a series of systems to circumscribe the scope of music. The first was to clarify the meaning of music, which, before the Zhou Dynasty, lacked a standardized form, even though previous Chinese peoples had created many different varieties of music. The rulers of the Zhou Dynasty integrated music, folk dance, and a series of other appropriate performance methods, and brought them all under the zongmiao system, and defined the music that people of different places and statuses needed to adopt. They were the first to develop eight key ritual music categories, which in turn established the link between music and culture. These eight places of ceremonial knowledge were the place of sacrifice, the ancestral temple, the great feast, the Yan ceremony, the great shooting, the pension service, the township drinking and the township shooting. And for the folk dance that goes with it, the Western Han's ritual and music system also carried out relative standards.

The performance of songs and dances at that time was divided into six categories, namely, the six generations of music and dance for large and medium-sized worship, for the ode music and elegant art, and also for the banquet of the room music and the surrounding music of the four barbarians, from which we can see that in the Zhou Dynasty's ritual system, the development of music is a very serious and detailed, with a complex process of standards. In order to implement the ritual music system, the government department of the Western Han Dynasty also specially installed a high-ranking official who specialized in music-related work, namely, the Dasi music. Their specific function was to learn a large number of drummers and to customize the performance of the corresponding tunes. Moreover, they had to educate the children of the royal family about the corresponding music expertise, so that they could understand the association between the real identity and the music, which was the fundamental belonging of the Western Zhou feudal system. After the establishment of music as the fundamental system of the state, the musicians of the Western Han Dynasty gradually carried out more in-depth research on the knowledge of music theory and the way of playing music. At that time, the key to the analysis of two directions, one for the summarization of the meter, and the other is the production of traditional musical instruments and combing.