Ancient Shamanic Music in Chinese Musical History: Origins and Sacrificial Functions

Shamanic music, emerging from Neolithic animism, represents the earliest organized sound in Chinese civilization. It functioned as a psychological technology for inducing trance, a social mechanism for group cohesion, and a cosmological instrument for maintaining universal harmony. This paper traces its trajectory from seventh-millennium-BCE bone flutes through partial institutionalization in Shang and Zhou state sacrifice to marginalization in folk and non-Han traditions. Synthesizing archaeological data, oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions, transmitted literary sources, and comparative evidence from living Manchu, Daur, and Hezhe performances, the analysis shows that features later regarded as quintessentially Chinese—the five-tone scale and music as regulator of qi—originated in shamanic practice long before Confucian systematization.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Shamanic music constitutes the deepest stratum of organised sound in Chinese civilisation. Emerging from Neolithic animistic beliefs that attributed spirit to every phenomenon, it developed into a sophisticated sonic technology for mediating between human society and the unseen world. This paper traces the trajectory of shamanic music from the earliest bone flutes of the seventh millennium BCE through its partial institutionalisation in Shang and Zhou state sacrifice, and its subsequent marginalisation and survival in folk and non-Han traditions. By synthesising archaeological data, oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions, transmitted literary sources such as the Shiji, Shanhaijing, Zhouli, and Chuci, and comparative evidence from living Manchu, Daur, and Hezhe shamanic performances, the study demonstrates that shamanic music functioned simultaneously as psychological technology for trance induction, social mechanism for group cohesion, and cosmological instrument for maintaining universal harmony. Particular attention is devoted to the pentatonic foundation, rhythmic incantation patterns, symbolic instrumentation, and the multisensory nature of performance. The analysis reveals that many features regarded as quintessentially “Chinese” in later court and literati music—most notably the five-tone scale and the conception of music as regulator of qi—originated in shamanic practice long before Confucian systematisation.