Later, having studied Xi'an ancient music, he finally decoded them, making a big stir in the music circle. Foreign experts once believed that people could only research music from the Tang Dynasty with the aid of Japanese gagaku. However, since 1954, many experts and scholars from Hungary, Japan, Italy, the United States, Britain and Australia, have changed their views because they thought Xi'an ancient music is a good means for their research.
The ancient music of Xi'an not only provides valuable clues into researching the evolution of Chinese ancient music, but also provides many material sources and an impetus for the development of this music in Shaanxi Province. For instance, musical programmes, such as "Shooting the Drum on Fragrance Mountain", "Chant of Lishan Mountain" and "Quarrel Between Ducks," and large-scale song and dance works such as "The Tang Dynasty Song and Dance Show", "The Song and Dance Show of Tang Dynasty Chang'an," and so on, are all adapted from ancient Chinese music, and have won awards and high praise from both home and abroad.
In 1981, the Hejiaying Ancient Music Society staged a joint performance in Xi'an with the Japan Nara Gagaku Society, where the elegant and pure ancient music overwhelmed Japanese audiences. In 1987, artists from the Hejiaying Ancient Music Society and Xi'an Dajichang Ancient Music Society attended the Fifth "Sound of China" Concert to perform "The Six-Move Eight-Time Sitting Performance of Ancient Music. The consummate performing skills of these experienced artists and the elegant styles of Sui (581-618) and Tang dynasty music overwhelmed Beijing experts and audiences.
In 2002, the Ancient Music Society of Jixiang Town in Zhouzhi County held a special concert of Xi'an ancient music in Berlin, Germany, to an audience that largely consisted of German experts in musical composition, instruments and theoretical research, who were at once fascinated by the unsophisticated countryside flavor and classical elegance of Xi'an ancient music.
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A performance of Xi'an ancient music
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Present and future
"Xi'an ancient music is a unique and precious cultural treasure of Xi'an City," said Kong Zhengyi, director of a cultural preservation institute in Xi'an. Kong, who has researched the music, believes that art of the feudal age -- especially music -- reached its zenith in the glorious Tang Dynasty. As the capital city of the dynasty, Xi'an not only boasts a large number of cultural relics, but has also preserved an intangible cultural heritage, where Xi'an ancient music is considered the most interesting.
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