Pure Order: The Ritual Dance Of Tang Dynasty

Musical dance has never been an independent art.It is a part of the etiquette system.Although sometimes it serves as a way of entertainment,more importantly,it is the stabilizer and lubricant of social order.It demonstrates power,displays order,and delivers value by giving people intuitive feelings from watching and listening.As part of the national ceremony,musical dance has not only aesthetic meanings,but also political implications.Tang Dynasty was the booming stage of Chinese music.After over 300 years of chaos from late Han Dynasty to Sui Dynasty,ritual music was reorganized and basically united.So the Tang Dynasty inherent the ritual music system and further improved and perfected it.The Tang ritual musical dance consists of sacrificing ones and banquet ones.Civil and military dance is the symbol of sacrificing musical dance,while banquet ritual music is represented by" the Nine Play"and"the Sitting and Standing Play".The civil and military dance has been through several changes and adjustments.Since its founding in the region of Taizong,Gaozong once tried to make changes,and after Empress Wu’s failure,the civil and military dance was finally determined in the region of Xuanzong.While the Nine Play and the Two play were the new innovation of banquet ritual music in the Sui and Tang Dynasty.They were the routinization and ritualization of Siyi music,and a series of political musical dance were origin from them.As a result,deep political connotation was added to the banquet ritual music besides its nature of entertainment.The Book of Rites says that "music is connected with politics",therefore,the establishment and application of musical dance system is certainly dominated by political factors.This article takes the textual research of "the civil and military dance" in the sacrificial ceremony of Tang Dynasty and the Nine Play and the Sitting and Standing Play in the banquet ceremony as starting points,then separately discusses their symbolic significance in the ceremony.Also,I investigate the political connotation that is given to these musical dances during the creating process,and their role in the establishment of etiquette system.Ritual musical dance in sacrificing ceremony and that in banquet ceremony separately constitute ritual order of"heaven-emperor-subjects" and "emperor-subject-minority nationality-everyhing",that is "a concentric circle that centered on the emperor".