A Study Of The Natural View Of "Harmony Between People And Nature" In Chinese Guqin Art

Guqin, also called Chinese lute, is one of the precious heritage of Chinese ancient Culture. In ancient time, the Chinese considered it not only as an musical instrument, but also the symbol of the harmony between people and nature. Ancient sages’ basic attitude about the relationship between man and nature can be summed up as "harmony between people and nature". The category of "nature" is both considered as a nature of entity and as an ideal natural state.It also reflects the pursuit of a naive and plain aesthetic style. The dissertation explores the harmony of people and nature in the art of Guqin from the philosophical view of Guqin, the musical instrument of Guqin, Guqin songs, playing skills and the good taste of Guqin art. The thesis aims at analyzing the natural images in the art of Guqin, and it includes 5 parts.The first chapter focuses on the philosophical basis of Guqin which called isomorphic form of the relationship between temperament and calendar. Guqin was closely connected with the Chinese Philosophy and culture. The relationship between temperament and calendar always has an important status in the history of Chinese ancient music. The isomorphic form of the relationship between temperament and calendar is a multi-layer structure of the Twelve Earthly Branches, Five Elements, Five Notes, Twelve Frequencies and the Sixty Notes. This Chapter explains development process of the relationship between temperament and calendar, and explains that the highest ambit of music is the spirit of the universe. The Chinese classical music is the symbol of harmony between people and nature.The second chapter explains the material of Guqin and the Shape scale of Guqin. The Chinese Guqin is made of wood and silk. In ancient times, people thought that materials were impacted by the environment, and the environment became the symbol of human’s freedom and ideal. What’s more, people gave the character of summer and the location of south to Guqin in order to shape a special meaning.First of all, from the content, Guqin is a product of the ancient sage natural view, and the art of Guqin is in line with the symbol of heaven running principle of the natural order of the universe and the earth ritual order. Secondly, Guqin’s art is based on the related creation of the characteristics of the thinking of Han Dynasty. It related with the ideal governing the country and export-oriented development and the harmony between man and nature a spirit.The third chapter explores the natural images of Guqin music, including landscape, flower and crane and four seasons. All these natural images of Guqin music are associated with people who wants to share their feelings together with the nature. Landscape in the Chinese traditional culture has special and profound connotation. It relates to all thriving things in nature, and always treated as an important symbol of man’s spirit and free state of mind. Both birds and flower are nature creatures, so only people with love can feel the beauty of life through those images. In Guqin music there are many bird images, such as singing birds, flying birds, looking back birds, hanging around birds. These images show and express people’s inner emotion and deep thoughts about life. People’s emotion and passion may change according to the change of the circulation with four seasons.The fourth chapter discusses systematic skills of playing Guqin. The essence of proper attitude towards playing is unintentional. The right attitude requires the player to treat the playing as unprofitable. Skills of playing this instrument are difficult and tedious, which have to be practiced a lot. People playing Guqin often attach importance to the natural environment of playing Guqin. Good players need to cultivate an harmonious and calm temperament, and they have to adhere to high standards of morality.The fifth chapter analyzes the aesthetic characteristics of Guqin. The aesthetic characteristics are pure, graceful, natural and so on. All these factors lead to the harmony between the People and nature. The tone of Guqin sounds light and thin. Guqin’s long rhymes tries to express the most abundant connotation with the least notes. The empty and quiet and mysterious state and the harmony of yin and Yang was considered as the supreme state of Guqin art. In conclusion, the artistic conception and state of Guqin art refers to the utter and natural harmony of man and nature created through the pure, quiet, mysterious tones of Guqin.