On Music and Rites as Governmental Apparatuses in Late Imperial China: Qiu Jun’s Supplement to the Extended Meaning of The Great Learning, 1487

Malcolm Thompson (Harvard University)

What were the tasks of governing, according to the operators of the late imperial Chinese state? What systems of organization existed for their achievement, and how should they be best managed? Based on a reading of Qiu Jun’s (1421–1495) massive compendium of classics and historical commentaries, this talk will focus on one such task – the regulation of “sentiments” (qing) – and the problem of the correct relationship between the linked apparatuses devoted to it: Music (yue) and Rites (li).