Editing Music theory (section)

====China====
{{see also|Music of China|Chinese musicology}}

Much of Chinese music history and theory remains unclear.<ref name="Lam">{{harvnb|Lam}}</ref>

Chinese theory starts from numbers, the main musical numbers being twelve, five and eight. Twelve refers to the number of pitches on which the scales can be constructed, Five refers to the Pentatonic Scale (primarily uses a 5-note scale), And Eight refers to the eight categories of Chinese Music Instruments; classified by the material they are made from: (Metal, Stone, Silk, Bamboo, Gourd, Clay, Leather, and Wood). The [[Lüshi chunqiu]] from about 238&nbsp;BCE recalls the legend of [[Ling Lun]]. On order of the [[Yellow Emperor]], Ling Lun collected twelve [[bamboo]] lengths with thick and even nodes. Blowing on one of these like a pipe, he found its sound agreeable and named it ''huangzhong'', the "Yellow Bell." He then heard [[Fenghuang|phoenixes]] singing. The male and female phoenix each sang six tones. Ling Lun cut his bamboo pipes to match the pitches of the phoenixes, producing twelve pitch pipes in two sets: six from the male phoenix and six from the female: these were called the ''lülü'' or later the ''shierlü''.{{sfn|Service|2013}}

<blockquote>Apart from technical and structural aspects, ancient Chinese music theory also discusses topics such as the nature and functions of music. The ''[[Record of Music|Yueji]]'' ("Record of music", c1st and 2nd centuries BCE), for example, manifests [[Confucianism|Confucian]] moral theories of understanding music in its social context. Studied and implemented by Confucian scholar-officials [...], these theories helped form a musical Confucianism that overshadowed but did not erase rival approaches. These include the assertion of [[Mozi]] (c. 468 – c. 376&nbsp;BCE) that music wasted human and material resources, and [[Laozi]]'s claim that the greatest music had no sounds. [...] Even the music of the [[Guqin|''qin'' zither]], a genre closely affiliated with Confucian scholar-officials, includes many works with [[Taoism|Daoist]] references, such as ''Tianfeng huanpei'' ("Heavenly Breeze and Sounds of Jade Pendants").<ref name="Lam"/></blockquote>