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The type of books on music (yue lei 樂類) is a sub-category to the literary category of Confucian Classics (jingbu 經部) in the collectaneum Siku quanshu 四庫全書. This categorization follows the traditional assumption that either there was once a classic on music (the putative Yuejing 樂經) or that at least, the Confucians as ritual experts had a great interest in music as the base for cosmic and social harmony. It might also have been that the term yue designated the musical notes for the songs in the Confucian classic Shijing 詩經. The imperial bibliography Yiwenzhi 藝文志 in the official dynastic history Hanshu 漢書 lists a 23 juan "scrolls" long book with the title Yueji 樂記. The ritual classic Liji 禮記 has a chapter with that title. In fact, there are a lot of books on music included in other literary categories, like books on the zither, or various songs and arias in the belles-lettres category. The section on musicological books in the Siku quanshu includes 22 books. The most important are the Yueshu 樂書 and the Yuelü quanshu 樂律全書.
| 書名 |
Title |
Composer(s) |
| 皇祐新樂圖記 | Huangyou xin yue tuji | (Yuan) 阮逸 Ruan Yi, 胡瑗 Hu Yuan |
| 樂書 | Yueshu | (Song) 陳暘 Chen Chang |
| 律呂新書 | Lülü xinshu | (Song) 蔡元定 Cai Yuanding |
| 瑟譜 | Sepu | (Yuan) 熊朋來 Xiong Penglai |
| 樂律全書 | Yuelü quanshu | (Ming) 朱載堉 Zhu Zaiyu |
* not included in the imperial collectaneum Siku quanshu 四庫全書
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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