Late feudal society: Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911 AD)
By the time of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), China had a highly developed economy and its technology surpassed that of much of the rest of the world. The capitalist economy brought with it a strong demand for humanism from the citizens, and primarily secular musical genres like ballad-singing, opera, and folk song remained popular. Meanwhile, conflict between the social classes became severe, with periodic rebellions and uprisings throughout the whole period. In response to these, officials regularly banned music genres which satirized the government and expressed rebellious thoughts.
We have records from this period of several ethnic minority musical expressions, including the Dai ethnic musical poem 'Zhaoshu Village' and their poem with Buddhist thought 'Langa xihe'. (The Dai people form one of the 56 ethnic groups that are currently officially recognized by the People's Republic of China). Collectors also noted down the lyrics of sung epics from the Tibetans and Mongols ('The Tale of King Gesaer' and 'The Tale of Gesier' respectively; first published in Beijing in 1716 and later translated into several other languages). Meanwhile, members of the Miao ethnicity, who may have traveled southwest across China over many generations created a 'Song of Migration' to record the hardships of their migration and to remind their offspring where they came from (Example 2: Performed by Luo Jitang. Courtesy of Qian Lijuan.).
Example 2: Luo Jitang "Song of Migration"
Ballads stemming from the bianwen of the Tang dynasty had already evolved into Northern and Southern types in the Ming dynasty. Known respectively as guci and tanci, the former category usually picked its themes from stories of warfare and of love. Some were also adapted from well-known novels, such as Outlaws in the Marsh, Journey to the West, and Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, and others from opera scripts, for example the kunqu opera 'The Romance of the West Chamber'. In the main, guci were simply accompanied by a sanxian (three-stringed plucked instrument) and a drum. Tanci were found mostly in southern cities such Suzhou, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Some tanci used official Chinese and others employed local dialects. Its main audiences were women. For this reason, several female script-writers emerged at that time. For instance, the masterpiece 'The Reincarnation' was written by a woman, Chen Duansheng (Liao 1964: 116). 'The Reincarnation' expresses the hope that women could be equals with men in social and familiar standing and that they could decide their own marriages. But Chen only completed 17 chapters of the script, with the final 3 remaining chapters written by a man. These last chapters contrast notably with the main content, showing how the woman in the story goes back to her family to be a good wife and mother.
Chinese historical sources treat music as just one component of a unified art of performance.
