National music agency

National music agency

Located in the south of the west gate of the temple of heaven in Beijing, it is one of the five groups of large-scale buildings in the temple of heaven. It is an institution specialized in music and dance for the Royal ceremonies of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was built in 1420, the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty. It is also known as Shenle temple. It was called Shenle Institute in 1743, and its name was changed in 1743. The National Conservatory of music is the organ that manages the performance of ancient music during the sacrificial ceremony, and is specially used to train sacrificial music and dance personnel.

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Basic introduction

It was built in 1420, the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty. The national music administration is the organ that administers the performance of ancient music at the time of offering sacrifices to heaven. The Ming Dynasty was called Shenyue temple. At that time, the music and dance officials and dancers of Shenyue temple were all held by Taoists. When Yongle moved its capital to Beijing in the 18th year of the Ming Dynasty, 300 musicians and dancers entered Beijing with them. After that, there were about 600 musicians and dancers in Shenle Temple of the Ming Dynasty. By the time of Jiajing, the total number of music and dance students was 2200.

In the eighth year of Qianlong (1743) of the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed as shenlesuo, and in the twentieth year of Qianlong (1755) it was renamed as shenleshu. There is one official in the sixth grade, one in the left and one in the right of the eighth grade, five in the left and five in the right of the eighth grade, and nearly 500 musicians and dancers. These orchestras are specially responsible for the performance of sacrifice. Usually, they also study music, and officials of the National Conservatory of music, Beijing people, call them "fake Taoist". The so-called fake Taoist means that they have no fixed identity. They were the officials of the Qing Dynasty with flower plumes on their heads in the music department; when they left the temple of heaven and returned to the Taoist temple, they became Taoist priests in Taoist robes; when they stayed in private houses and changed into casual clothes, they were also rich gentry with wives and concubines around their knees and their children and grandchildren around their knees.

In 1673, the hall of Supreme Harmony was renamed Ningxi hall. There are seven small halls behind the five main halls. In addition, there are 23 rooms in the Department, including worship hall, Zhangle hall, xieliu hall, teacher's room, Linglun hall, muyisuo and the storehouse for the collection of musicians' crowns and clothes. It is a school for the cultivation of court musicians and dancers.

Building specifications

The general layout of the building is a rectangle with a length from east to west and a length from south to north. It is a three entrance courtyard with two halls. The gate of the building faces east. The front hall has five bays, which is known as Taihe hall in Ming Dynasty. It was renamed Ningxi Hall in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty, which is used for rehearsal ceremony. The back hall has seven bays, which was formerly known as Xuanwu hall. In the end of Ming Dynasty, it was renamed Xianyou hall, which is used for worshiping Xuanwu emperor and other music gods. There are robe storehouse and ceremony department at the back of the hall There are tongzan hall, Kegong hall, Zhenglun hall, Hougong hall and muyisuo in the East, and Zhangle hall, Xilu hall, teacher room, Linglun hall and zhaoyisuo in the West. According to historical records, in addition to the above buildings, there are also a large number of tea sheds, restaurants, medicine shops and other buildings in the temple of heaven. There is even a Guandi temple in the enclosure of the temple of heaven.

history

Founded in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Shenyue department is called Shenyue temple. Just as its name implies, it is a Taoist temple specializing in sacrificial music. The historical background of the appearance of Shenyue temple is like this. Two important emperors in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, believed that Zhenwu emperor protected them in the war for the throne, so they had some problems Taoist music is used in important sacrificial activities. Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty even made "Daming imperial xuanjiao movement" as the national standard of sacrificial music. The latter is also included in Taoist classics collection. The main person in charge of Mingshen's optimism is tidian, whose deputy is called youzhiguan. In addition, there are xieluang, sile and other positions.

The Ming Dynasty's Shenyue temple was not only a royal sacrificial institution, but also a place for citizens' leisure and entertainment. On the one hand, officials at all levels who accompanied the emperor to the temple of heaven for sacrifice would rent houses in the Shenyue department. On the other hand, the Taoist's skills of planting flowers and preparing herbs were very popular among the citizens. People came here to enjoy the flowers and buy Herbs There are Baohe hall, Baoling hall, Yusheng hall, Guangde hall, Tiande hall, Ruide hall and so on. Over time, the music department became a major temple fair in Beijing and flourished until the early Qing Dynasty. According to the records of the Qing Dynasty's "Jisheng at the age of the emperor's capital", when the emperor entered the altar on the afternoon Festival, the God was optimistic and touched the wall to gamble on the villa, Chen Shu dishes, drink wine, shout in the setting sun, and forget to go home

During the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, there were too many tourists to manage the Shenle temple, and even a case of tourists crossing over the wall to enter the forbidden area of the temple of heaven, which caused the emperor's dissatisfaction. He changed the Shenle temple into the Shenle office, dismissed the original Taoist priests, and replaced them with the handsome one among the children of the eight banners Medicine has a good reputation among the people, so the major pharmacies in Guanzhong have been preserved. In the Qing Dynasty, there were official posts such as chief of the Department, chief of the Department, Xie Lulang and Si Le. At that time, the sacrificial musicians and dancers of the Royal altars in the capital were selected from the members of the temple of Heaven Music Office.

In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight Allied forces dispersed the staff in the Department, and the Department became a military station. Since then, the Department has begun to decline. In 1914, Yuan Shikai ordered to move out of all the drug stores in the Department. Since then, the forest art laboratory, yanle Research Institute, infectious disease hospital, central epidemic prevention department, biological production Institute and other institutions have occupied the office of the Department. After the outbreak of the Anti Japanese war in 1937, the Japanese Xicun Army (1855 Army) set up its headquarters in the Department, where it carried out experiments and Research on bacterial warfare. After 1949, the buildings of the national music administration were gradually transformed into civilian houses, the Ningxi hall became a warehouse, and the Xianyou hall became an organ canteen. By 2002, there were only a few architectural remains in the national music administration, such as the Ningxi hall, the Xianyou hall, the corridor room, and the mountain gate.

Taoism and XuanZhen school

XuanZhen sect of Taoism, also known as yuewusheng, claims to be a believer of Zhengyi sect of Taoism. It is called "XuanZhen sect" because of its worship of Zhenwu emperor. However, XuanZhen sect is not included in the general book of Zhuzhen sects. Therefore, XuanZhen sect can only be regarded as a branch of orthodox Taoism.

XuanZhen Taoist school does not wear Taoist robes, do not read Taoist Scriptures, do not eat fast food, and can get married and have children. They do not live in Taoist temples, but live in the well like ordinary citizens, so they are called "living together Taoist". The XuanZhen School of Taoism lived on the salary provided by the royal family, and was responsible for all the music and dance rituals of Royal sacrifices, including: the winter solstice to the round hill altar; the summer solstice to the Fangze altar; the Spring Festival to the Xiannong Altar and the imperial temple; the spring equinox to the sun altar; the autumn equinox to the Xiyue altar; the autumn Ding festival to the Imperial Academy and the Wen temple; and the spring and Autumn Festival to the Taimiao temple and the sheji altar. From this point of view, they are more like civil servants employed by the royal family than priests.

The leading position of Xuan Zhen's Taoist temple is the divine Bureau of Tiantan in Beijing. In addition, there are many other places in Beijing, such as Yao Wang Temple, Town God's Temple, three official Temple, Guan Yu Temple, fire god temple, Chong Zhen view, and Bai Yi nun. Besides, there are two small temples in the Zhengyang gate urn City: the East Zhen Wu Xi Guan Di is also a Taoist school. However, all these XuanZhen Taoist temples were not managed by Daolu department, the highest administrative organ of Taoism at that time, and had no connection with other Taoist temples in terms of religious affairs. From this point of view, these XuanZhen Taoist temples were more like government institutions than religious places.

XuanZhen school originated in the Ming Dynasty. It came into being with the establishment of the temple of heaven's concept of divine music. At the same time, it died out with the decline of the temple of heaven's music office. After 1949, due to the complete disappearance of the sacrificial system, the ceremony music and XuanZhen school also disappeared in the long history

present situation

After more than a hundred years of destruction since 1900, the temple of heaven has been in a state of disrepair. There are not many other buildings, and only some of the main buildings have been preserved.

In 2002, the Beijing municipal government set up the "330 million cultural relics rescue and repair plan" to list the temple of Heaven Music agency among them. All the residents of the agency moved out and began the reconstruction project of the music agency. On September 20, 2004, the reconstruction project of the music agency was officially completed.

At present, as an ancient music Museum, the temple of Heaven Music Office is open to the public. The museum displays the history, rhythm, CI and Qu, Qin and Se, drums, Longsheng and other musical instruments, Zhonghe Shao music, dance costumes and so on. The exhibits can be actually played, and there are Braille commentaries.

Address: Tiantan Park, Tiantan Road

Longitude: 116.40554375947

Latitude: 39.878827043218

Chinese PinYin : Shen Le Shu