Textual Research On Plucked Musical Instruments In Northern Wei Dynasty In Yungang Grottoes

Yungang Grottoes,one of the three great grottoes of China,is located in the famous city of Yungang Grottoes,Datong,Shanxi Province.The Grottoes are excavated at the South Foot of Wuzhou Mountain,stretching 1 km from east to West.They are world-famous Buddhist art treasures.The TUOBA Xianbei established the Northern Wei Dynasty in 386 AD and moved its capital to Pyongsong in 398,becoming the economic,political and cultural center of the time.Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty began to introduce Buddhist thoughts and highly praise Buddhism in order to consolidate the state power,ease the contradiction between the national classes and rule the people ideologically.Therefore,the early excavation of the grotto statues to the main Buddha,with a strong Buddhist art.In the middle and late period,a large number of Yueji with different musical instruments began to appear in the grottoes,depicting more than 600 pieces of musical instruments.Musical instruments can be divided into three categories:plucked,played,and percussion.Among them,the plucked string instruments are the most abundant and numerous,including the traditional plucked string instruments of Central Plain and those introduced from the western regions.From the shape of plucked instruments to the performance of the attitude,reflects the social and cultural forms and development of plucked instruments for future generations to provide a very valuable first-hand information on the development of plucked instruments.Therefore,the study of plucked instruments in grotto statues is worth further discussion,because plucked instruments are of great value and significance in Chinese traditional music.This paper mainly focuses on the research of plucked musical instruments in the grottoes.The article is divided into three chapters and five parts: the first part is the introduction,expounding the research goal and significance,the research status at home and abroad,as well as the research ideas and methods;The second part is about the exploration of the historical origins of Yungang Grottoes,analyzing in detail the factors that led to the excavation of the grottoes,and the third part is about theplucked-string instruments in Yungang Grottoes,the fourth part discusses the artistic characteristics and development of plucked instruments in Yungang Grottoes,which is divided into three periods: early,middle and late,the fifth part is the conclusion,which expounds the overall arrangement and influence of the plucked musical instruments in the northern Wei Dynasty in Yungang Grottoes.