Music And Identity: The Music Life Of Geishas In The Tang Dynasty

Geishas in the Tang Dynasty were a special group. They were born from humble beginnings. Due to the identity restriction, they have been trained for singing and dancing since childhood, so they became one of the very important carriers of music performances in the Tang Dynasty. Geishas are the study object of this thesis, and the specific research idea is as follows. Based on the background of the "Yueji" system, the thesis is aims to discuss Geishas’life and music performance under the identity restriction of Geishas, to probe the cultural role during the evolution of music of "Yixia" and the contribution of musical development of Tang Dynasty.Besides the introduction, the thesis is divided into four chapters. The introduction mainly contains the literature review and research method, purpose and significance.The chapter one is to narrate the "Yueji" system and to discriminate the definition of Geisha who lived mainly by performing rather than having sex for money.The chapter two is to discuss all kinds of Geishas’life from the rank angle, which include the social rank, the art rank and the relationship rank, so that we could understand their life.The chapter three focuses on the music performance of Geishas, which contains the songs, dances, musical instruments, performance places, costumes and makeup etc.The chapter four is the conclusion. It is divided into four aspects. The first aspect is to analyze the meaning of "Yueji". The second one is to explore the identity of Geishas. The third one is to summarize the relationship between Geishas’life and their music performance. The fourth one is to probe the cultural role of Geishas during the evolution of music of "Yixia" and to discuss the contribution of Geishas in the musical development of Tang Dynasty.