Let's look at the traditional Chinese character "Li". On the left is a "sign" and on the right is composed of two parts. The upper part is now written as "Qu" and the lower part is a "bean". In ancient Chinese, the words beside the word "xiu" were mostly related to offering sacrifices to gods, such as "God", "Society", "Prayer" and "Wish". The word "go" to the right of the word "Li" is an pictograph. Archaeologists believe that it symbolizes that there are two strings of jade in a vessel, and the word "bean" below is the stool for putting the vessel. In this way, we know that the word "Li" was originally a ritual to worship the gods, and the two strings of jade in the vessel were sacrificed to the gods.
The word "music" was originally a hieroglyph, symbolizing a musical instrument. In ancient times, musical instruments, dances and songs were usually performed when ceremonies were held to worship the gods, and the lyrics were "poems". Therefore, the word "music" originally refers not only to music, but also to dance, poetry and so on. It can be said to be the floorboard of ancient art .. Some poems in The Book of Songs are called "Odes", which were sung when the country held a ceremony to sacrifice ancestors at that time. According to legend, after the Yellow Emperor, each dynasty had its own unique music and dance. The Yellow Emperor called Yunmen, Xianchi and Shao, Xia Dynasty called Daxia and Zhou Dynasty called Dawu. Until the Tang Dynasty, there was a kind of court music and dance called "Qin Wang's Broken Array Music", which was said to be personally conducted by Li Shimin, an official of the Tang Dynasty, to show his literary martial arts. "Music" used to be a ritual of offering sacrifices to gods like "Li", and it was always carried out in coordination with "Li". When the ancients talked about reason, they always mentioned "le", so the word "le" came into being. We know that many ethnic groups have experienced a stage of "witchcraft culture" or "religious culture" in the early stage of their cultural development, and rites and music are the products of our nation at this stage. There is a saying in Zuo Zhuan: "The great event of a country lies in respecting peace and glory." During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Duke Zhou reformed the system of rites and music. "Rite", once a ritual to worship the gods, has gradually become a political hierarchy and a ritual for people to communicate in social life.