Sound Research WIKINDX
Sound Research WIKINDX |
|
 |
|
Wang, J. (2021). Half sound, half philosophy: Aesthetics, politics, and history of China’s sound art. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (1/7/25, 2:30 PM) Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (3/12/25, 1:08 AM) |
 |
| Resource type: Book Language: en: English Peer reviewed ID no. (ISBN etc.): 978-1-5013-3350-7 BibTeX citation key: Wang2021 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Chinese philosophy, Definition of sound, Philosophy, qi, Resonance Creators: Wang Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic (New York) |
Views: 40/524
|
| Notes |
|
Wang makes heavy recourse to Needham who discussed ancient Chinese accoustics and the philosophy of qi concerning sound (but has some reservations about Needham [see around p.17]).
Needham, Joseph. 1965. Science and Civilisation in China Physics and Physical Technology Vol.4: Physics and Physical Technology. Part II: Mechanical Engineering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| Quotes |
|
p.1
Paraphrasing Needham, "Chinese acoustics is an acoustics of qi."
Needham, Joseph. 1965. Science and Civilisation in China Physics and Physical Technology Vol.4: Physics and Physical Technology. Part II: Mechanical Engineering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-AagaardKeywords: Definition of sound Philosophy qi Chinese philosophy |
|
p.3
"Western philosophy can be seen as knowledge-centered and as a game of rationality. Chinese philosophy or Eastern philosophy at large is life-centered."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Definition of sound Philosophy qi Chinese philosophy |
|
p.4
"the Song Dynasty scholar Zhang Zai (1020–1077), known as the philosopher of qi, defines qi as change, mutation, propensity, and transformation."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi |
|
p.4
"As Joseph Needham points out, just as form and matter dominated European thought from the age of Aristotle onwards, the notion of qi has molded Chinese thinking from the earliest times (Needham 1965, 133). In ancient China, qi was considered both the vital source breath for life and the driving force in the cosmic world. Qi was used to describe the human body as used in qi-blood, explaining how the human is a part of the resonant cosmic cycle, forming into a union with the heaven and earth. The notion of qi refers to the ceaseless fluctuation, interpenetration, and transformation of yin-qi and yang-qi. Through different historical periods, qi, from a vague idea, was developed into a cosmological, aesthetic, social, medical, moral concept, and eventually a philosophical system, reaching its maturity in the Song Dynasty."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.5
"Zhang Zai uses the perspective of qi to interpret the cosmos and human experience. Instead of using words like being and nonbeing, existence or nonexistence, Zhang Zai’s qi-philosophy favors another set of vocabularies, condensation and dissolution, coming to be and passing away, moving and resting, contraction and expansion, ascending and descending."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi |
|
p.5
"Based on the Confucian scholar Jung-Yeup Kim’s interpretation of Zhang Zai, it is one primary goal of Zhang Zai to realize in the cosmos and the myriad things the capacity for resonance, which is often veiled or hidden. This capacity for resonance is creativity. As Zhang Zai writes, that which interpenetrates through resonance (感) is creativity (诚) (感而通诚也). Resonance as a transformative interaction among polarities of qi leads to the great harmony, which further produces and sustains life vitality."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Creativity Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance Comments: How is creativity defined in this philosophy? Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (2025-03-09 02:06:39) |
|
pp.5–6
"Zhang Zai (1020–1077) describes sound as a result of qi riding each other. Song Yingxing (1587–1666), a Chinese scientist and encyclopedist during the late Ming Dynasty, extends Zhang Zai’s statement and adds that sound is qi disturbed in a certain way. Song stresses that to make sounds, qi has to possess shi (the advantage of position of force). Considering Zhang Zai and Song Yingxing’s interpretations of sound through qi, together with Needham’s discussion of ancient Chinese acoustic technology, the relation between sound and qi in ancient China can be summarized as: (1) sound is produced by qi; (2) sound is a manifestation of qi; and (3) acoustic technology is a facilitator of qi."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi |
|
p.7
"The nature/culture divide and the temporal precedence is a highly Western way of thinking. . . . Through qi-thinking, myriad things (including humans) are constantly changing and resonating to known and unknown forces. It does not therefore make sense to ask “what it is.” Rather, what is important to ask is “what is its propensity?” or, in other words, to ask “what and how it is going to become.” . . . qi-thinking places things in relation to each other through resonance, an innate capacity of the cosmos and of myriad things, the secret of creativity."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.12
"Chinese thinking . . . does not distinguish the thing and its medium or the thing and its action. . . . François Jullien has convincingly argued that there is no ontology in Chinese thinking in the sense that Chinese thinking does not concern much with questions of being but more with the ungraspable, the evasive, and allusive (Jullien 2018b)."
Jullien, François. 2018b. Cong Cunyou dao Shenghuo: Ouzhou Sixiang yu Zhongguo Sixiang de Juli. (De l’être au vivre : lexique euro-chinois de la pensée). Translated by Zhuo Li. Shanghai: Dongfang Chuban Zhongxin. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-AagaardKeywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi |
|
pp.12–13
Needham, presenting a story narrated in Chunqiu Fanlu (春秋繁露, The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals) by the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC–9 BC) thinker Dong Zhushu (179 BC–104 BC), compares the 'correlative' thinking of the Chinese to the analytic thinking of the ancient Greeks:
"Try tuning musical instruments such as the chhin [qin] or the se. The kung [gong] note or the shang note struck upon one lute will be answered by the kung or the shang notes from other stringed instruments. They sound by themselves. This is nothing miraculous, but the Five Notes being in relation: they are what they are according to the Numbers (whereby the world is constructed)" (Needham 1965, 130). Thus: "It means for Needham that the seemingly mysterious phenomenon of resonance fits well into ancient Chinese organic worldview" (p.13). Added by: Mark Grimshaw-AagaardKeywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.15
"According to Zhang Zai, to use Needham’s translation,
The formation of sound is due to the friction (lit. mutual grinding) between (two) material things, or (two) chhi [qi] (or between material things and chhi [qi]). The grinding between two chhi [qi] gives rise to noises such as echoes in a valley or the sounds of thunder. The grinding of a material thing on chhi [qi] gives sounds such as the swishing of feathered fans or flying arrows. The grinding of chhi [qi] on a material thing gives sounds such as the blowing of the reeds of a mouth-organ. These are the inherent capacities in things for response" (Needham 206). Added by: Mark Grimshaw-AagaardKeywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
pp.15–16
Needham (207–208) prefers the explanation of sound given by Tan Qiao, a Daoist of the Tang Dynasty, preceding Zhang Zai:
"The void (hsü) is transformed into (magical) power (shen). (Magical) power is transformed into chhi [qi]. Chhi [qi] is transformed into material things (hsing). Material things and chhi [qi] ride on one another (hsing chhi hsiang chheng), and thus sound is formed. It is not the ear which listens to sound but sound which of itself makes its way into the ear. It is not the valley which of itself gives out echoing sound, but sound of itself fills up the entire valley" "An ear is a small hollow (chhiao) and a valley is a large hollow. Mountains and marshes are a ‘small valley’ and Heaven and Earth are a ‘large valley.’ (Theoretically speaking, then) if one hollow gives out sound ten thousand hollows will all give out sound; if sound can be heard in one valley it should be heard in all the ten thousand valleys" This notion of sound arises from yin-yang thinking: "Sound leads (back again) to chhi [qi]; chhi [qi] leads (back again) to (magical) power; (magical) power leads (back again) to the void. (But)the void has in it (the potential for) power. The power has in it (the potential for) chhi [qi]. Chhi [qi] has in it (the potential for) sound. One leads (back again) to the other, which has (a potential for) the former within itself. (If this reversion and production were to be prolonged) even the tiny noise of mosquitoes and flies would be able to reach everywhere." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-AagaardKeywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.18
"the ancient Chinese belief in sound’s function of regulating the cosmic order. Wind was an important form of qi. In pre-qin period (2100–221 BC), wind and qi was often used interchangeably. The sound of winds/qi coming from different directions were named differently in musical terms."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.20
"Needham’s research into the history of Chinese acoustics is of great value to enrich our knowledge of sound technology in Chinese history. However, it is also important to notice his reduction of the notion of resonance and his materialistic understanding of qi. Needham reminds the reader, “Chinese acoustics . . . was from the first, if not analytical, highly pneumatic.” and “We must not forget that they thought of chhi [qi] as something between what we should call matter in rarefied gaseous state on the one hand, and radiant energy on the other” (Needham135). Pneumatic is a Greek word for breath, spirit, or soul, often used in a religious context. Defining Chinese acoustic as pneumatic steers Needham away from understanding some of the early examples of acoustic practice; it also explains Needham’s proposition that Chinese’s acoustics originates from Babylon."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.20
"Needham’s research into the history of Chinese acoustics is of great value to enrich our knowledge of sound technology in Chinese history. However, it is also important to notice his reduction of the notion of resonance and his materialistic understanding of qi. Needham reminds the reader, “Chinese acoustics . . . was from the first, if not analytical, highly pneumatic.” and “We must not forget that they thought of chhi [qi] as something between what we should call matter in rarefied gaseous state on the one hand, and radiant energy on the other” (Needham 135). Pneumatic is a Greek word for breath, spirit, or soul, often used in a religious context. Defining Chinese acoustic as pneumatic steers Needham away from understanding some of the early examples of acoustic practice; it also explains Needham’s proposition that Chinese’s acoustics originates from Babylon."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.22
Wang explains that, int he pre-qin era (BC), it was the "primordial worship of cloud and wind" that later gave rise to the concept of qi. "Wind was considered a prototype of qi. . . . Qi is considered both the vital source of life and the driving force in the cosmic world." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
p.23
"Daoism tends to thinks of qi through cosmological questions (how the cosmos and the myriad things came to be and how to cultivate oneself to be immortal), while Confucianism concerns more with cultural and political problems."
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
| Paraphrases |
|
p.17
In the text Guan Yinzi (关尹子), (possibly written by the Daoist thinker Tian Tongxiu of the Tang Dynasty) is found: "The Sound of a drum is a matter of my responding to it." Needhams interprets this as "“it is the response (gan) of a sentient being which enables one to describe this process as sound” (Nedham 209). (Wang equates 'response' with 'resonance' throughout.)
Although Needham does recognise the importance of resonance in Chinese thinking about sound, Wang complains that he reduces resonance to just psychology of hearing, whereas resonance is a far more fundamental part of the "Chinese correlational cosmology of qi." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-AagaardKeywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |
|
pp.21–22
Wang points out that most (European) translations of qi have materialist tendencies. Instead, qi should be thought of "as a big verb, a proposition, and a small noun" (22).
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Chinese philosophy Definition of sound Philosophy qi Resonance |