Conclusion

When the first light of Chinese civilization emerged in the Yellow River basin, the history of the integration of music and language likely began. What Zhuangzi 莊子 (ca. 369–ca. 286 BC) called tianlai 天籟 (heavenly sound) 1 and what Liu Xie 劉勰 (ca. 465–ca. 532) referred to as wen 文 (literature, as in “sound produces literature” 聲發則文生) 2 both represent music as a means of language expression—a musicalized language. The central part of Chinese literary or musical history over the past several thousand years is essentially the history of Chinese musical literature.