Study Of Dunhuang Quzici: A Regional Cultural Perspective

Introduction There are more than forty hand-written copies of Quzici in Dunhuang documents. Up to now, Quzici is the most controversial issue among Dunhuang literature. For nearly 100 years, though the research of Dunhuang Quzici has made encouraging headway by the joint efforts of both Chinese and foreign scholars. There are still many problems of great academic importance remained unsolved. The basic reason, no doubt, is related to the much confused history and cultural clues on the one hand, and is closely related to the limitations of belle-letter' angle, and transcendental method, etc. Starting with the hand-copied collections of Dunhuang Quzici, I am trying to seek the relationship between Quzici and the music played at the court banquet of Sui and Tang Dynasties, especially the songs and dance of Tang and Five Dynasties' court banquets music. Viewing it from a regional cultural angle together with the historical cultural phenomenon or a literary historical problemof the entire Dunhuang studies, instead of and isolated and accidental culture. And also, I'll probe the internal and blood relationship between Quzici and the western regions central plains culture. By this, it will not only bring the study into the domain of Dunhuang studies, but also grasp it literary nature and historic importance.Chapter one Dunhuang Quzici and it's proper name "Quzi" in Dunhuang documents is used to describe the song words of the new emerging "Ci-poetry" with respect to tonal pattern, rhyme scheme, etc. We should use the concept of "metrical Ci" to distinguish this new song words from the "song poetry", "Buddhism Song" and "modern poetry". Dunhuang Quzici was the result of literaties composingpoems to given tunes and given melody. The development process of the Tang and Five Dynasties "Quzici", then to the Northen Song Dynasty's "Ci", was clearly shown between it and music. The appellation of "Quzici" occupies a unique position because it does not show the clear line of the Ci-poetry's origin aptly and accurately, but also reveals the music literature's intrinsic importance since the early 20th century, many scholars have compiled and collated it. They have made great achievements and provided new research material for the study of the Chinese music literature. All of those compilations and collations have been centered on the question of the written words and expressions, images, rhymes, stanzas, etc. The thesis deals with the general condition of two hundred Quzicis in forty-four hand-written copies-make a thorough study on the writers and the copiers and the historical background of the works as far as possible. There is a case study on the No. S6537 and P3271 Ci poems, which differentiates and analyses the phenomena of mixing the "Song poem" and "Quzici" of the Tang and Five Dynasties.Chapter Two Dunhuang and the court banquet music of the Sui and Tang Dynasties The music played at the Sui and Tang Dynasties court banquets positively resulted from the communication between the east and the west. The Indian music came to China by Silk Road and then combined with the Chinese popular music at that time, and then took the form of the new popular music-the court banquet music. There are still some historical clues we can see from the Tang Dynasty's "Jiaofang Qu". The Sui and Tang Dynasties' court music came from the countries in Central Asia. So the origin of it is still the Indian music. Examining the relationship between the Chinese court banquet music of Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Central Asian music, we could make clear the fact that Central Asia has been the media of the spread of Indian culture to China. Over a long period of time, we have been confused that if there had been song and dance or some of court banquet music systems in Dunhuang. We must have a much further study on the Dunhuang court banquet music and dance in order to make a study on the regional and cultural Dunhuang Quzici. By studying the nature of the Dunhuang frescoes, music plays, dance notations, music sores, cleves, and lyrics, etc...