The Philosophical Conception of Space in Ancient Chinese Music

A common assumption in the West is that traditional (or ancient) Chinese music, including opera, often consisting of a single melody, exhibits a somewhat linear nature.Drawing on Zong Baihua () (1897-1986), we suggest that this repertoire is instead profoundly spatial, much like Chinese landscape painting.Although appreciable attention has been paid to the concept of space in ancient Chinese poetry and landscape paintings, music has remained largely overlooked in such considerations.The present study will draw upon this broader aesthetic tradition-specifically, discussions of spatialization in ancient poetry and landscape painting-in order to examine the role of space in ancient Chinese music through a comparative study of Guqin music.