From the Natural to the Instrumental: Chinese Theories of the Sounding Voice before the Modern Era

Judith T. Zeitlin

doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20258301

Volume 8 Issue 3

Oct. 2025

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > International Comparative Literature > 2025 > 8(3): 5-25

Judith T. Zeitlin. From the Natural to the Instrumental: Chinese Theories of the Sounding Voice before the Modern Era[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2025, 8(3): 5-25. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20258301

Citation:

Judith T. Zeitlin. From the Natural to the Instrumental: Chinese Theories of the Sounding Voice before the Modern Era[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2025, 8(3): 5-25. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20258301

Citation:

PDF( 2101 KB)

From the Natural to the Instrumental: Chinese Theories of the Sounding Voice before the Modern Era

doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20258301

Judith T. Zeitlin^,

The University of Chicago

More Information

Author Bio:
Judith T. Zeitlin is a professor at the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations（EALC）, University of Chicago. Her areas of interest are literature in the Ming and Qing dynasties, drama and visual culture.
Received Date: 2025-01-01
Accepted Date: 2025-04-25

Abstract

Abstract

The default maneuver in Chinese traditional writings, I argue, is to situate the human voice on a continuum with other sounds, rather than isolating it as a categorically separate phenomenon in its own right. My strategy in this chapter, therefore, is to trace the emergence of different models of the voice over time. There are two diametrically opposed approaches to the voice in canonical writings from early China（fifth century BCE to first century CE）: an expressive model found in Confucian statements on music and poetry and a physiological model found in the volume on acupuncture in The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon（黄帝内经）. I then locate a major turning point in court literature of the Six Dynasties（third to fifth centuries CE）, where a model of voice as a natural musical instrument is developed in several interesting directions, including the carnal voice, voice beyond language and voice as inherently musical. A Pedagogical Method for the Operatic Voice （乐府传声）by the Qing dynasty physician Xu Dachun advocates a modern, technical approach to training the voice as an idealized vehicle for repairing a fatal rupture between the musics of the past and present. In Xu’s view of opera, only two things are fixed and unchangeable: not melodies and rhythms, but the system of keys and modes and the need for mouthing methods. Only the soundproducing voice can bring the human microcosm into harmony with the order of the cosmos and human governance in harmony with the teachings of the sage-kings. And not just this. Only the trained operatic voice can realize this potentiality by perfecting the sounding instrument that all human beings innately possess.
- voice,
- model of voice,
- the art of singing,
- Xu Dachun,
- A Pedagogical Method for the Operatic Voice（乐府传声）

FullText(HTML)

References(33)

References

[1]	. 陈初生等编《金文常用字典》，陕西人民出版社，1987 年。
[2]	. 古兆申、余丹合编及注释《昆曲演唱理论丛书》，牛津大学出版社，2006 年。
[3]	. 古兆申、余丹《徐大椿：诗歌咏唱传统》，牛津大学出版社，2006 年。
[4]	. 郭霭春主编《黄帝内经词典》，天津科学技术出版社，1991 年。
[5]	. 黄莹《曲学家徐大椿研究》，苏州大学硕士学位论文，2008 年
[6]	. 李圃主编《古文字诂林》，上海教育出版社，2004 年。
[7]	. 徐景藩等主编《徐灵胎研究文集》，上海科学技术出版社，2001 年。
[8]	. 许慎撰，段玉裁注《说文解字》，上海古籍出版社，1981 年。
[9]	. 许自昌《水浒记》，收入《六十种曲》，中华书局，1958 年。
[10]	. 张介宾《景岳全书》，上海科学技术出版社，1984 年。
[11]	.《中医大辞典》编辑委员会编《中医大辞典》，人民卫生出版社，1987 年。
[12]	. 中国戏曲研究院编《中国古典戏曲论著集成》，中国戏剧出版社，1959 年。
[13]	. Robert Ashmore，“The Art of Discourse：Xi Kang’s‘Sound Is without Sadness or Joy’，”in Early Medieval China：A Sourcebook，ed. Wendy Swartz et al. New York：Columbia University Press，2014.
[14]	. Beverley Bossler，“Vocabularies of Pleasure：Categorizing Female Entertainers in the Late Tang Dynasty，”Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 72，no. 1（June 2012）.
[15]	. Scott Cook （顾史考），“‘Record of Music’：Introduction，Translation，Notes，and Commentary，”Asian Music 26，no. 2（Spring-Summer 1995）.
[16]	. Kenneth J. DeWoskin（杜志豪），A Song for One or Two：Music and the Concept of Art in Early China，Ann Arbor，MI：Center for Chinese Studies，University of Michigan，1982.
[17]	. E. D. Edwards，“‘Principles of Whistling’：Hsiao Chih—Anonymous，”Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 20，no. 1/3（1957）.
[18]	. Lothar von Falkenhausen（罗泰），Suspended Music：Chime-Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China，Berkeley：University of California Press，1994.
[19]	. Bonnie Gordon，“It’s Not about the Cut：The Castrato’s Instrumentalized Song，”New Literary History 46，no. 4（Autumn 2015）.
[20]	. Donald J. Harper（夏德安），Early Chinese Medical Literature：The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts. London：Kegan Paul International，1988.
[21]	. Arthur W. Hummel，Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period. Taipei：SMC Publishing，1991.
[22]	. David Knechtges（康达维），Wen xuan or Selections of Refined Literature ，Princeton，NJ： Princeton University Press，1996.
[23]	. Mingyue Liang，Music of the Billion：An Introduction to Chinese Musical Culture，New York： Heinrichshofen Edition，1985.
[24]	. Michael Loewe，Early Chinese Texts：A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley：Society for the Study of Early China and Institute of Asian Studies，University of California，Berkeley，1993.
[25]	. Richard B. Mather （马瑞志），trans.，Shih-shuo Hsin-yü：A New Account of Tales of the World， Minneapolis：University of Minnesota Press，1976.
[26]	. Stephen Owen（宇文所安），Readings in Chinese Literary Thought，Cambridge，MA：Council on East Asian Studies，Harvard University，1992.
[27]	. Vincent Yu-chung Shih，trans.，The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons，Hong Kong： The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press，1983.
[28]	. Roel Sterckx（胡司德），“Transforming the Beasts：Animals and Music in Early China”，T’oung Pao 86（2000）.
[29]	. Richard Strassberg（韩禄伯），“The Singing Techniques of K’un-chu and Their Musical Notation，”CHINOPERL Papers 6（1976）.
[30]	. Paul U. Unschuld（文树德），trans.，Huang Di Nei Jing Ling Shu：The Ancient Classic on Needle Therapy，Oakland：University of California Press，2016.
[31]	. Paul U. Unschuld，Forgotten Traditions of Ancient Chinese Medicine，Brookline，MA：Paradigm Publications，1990.
[32]	. Isabel Wong，“Kunqu，”in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music：East Asia，ed. Robert C. Provine et al.，New York：Routledge，2002.
[33]	. Peng Xu，“Courtesan vs. Literatus：Gendered Soundscapes and Aesthetics in Late-Ming Singing Culture，”T’oung Pao 100，no. 4-5（2014）.