Cult Ov 1 Fin Exam 2024

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Please write here a textbook chapter about a Chinese cultural phenomenon until June 15 and start writing now, with unlimited revisions possible until June 15. When you find your topic listed here it means it has been approved by the teacher. It can be either in traditional culture or today. It cannot be a topic already published in the textbook.

Please do not forget to put it into context and relation in the beginning, e.g. where it emerged and how it spread, if it is unique to Chinese or Asian cultures, if it is well-known or exotic, when it occured and how it developed throughout history.

Please write 1000 English words, and on top of it write Terms and Expressions, Questions, References. The References should contain also paper books or papers and also at least one Western source. You also need to provide a Chinese version of the text and questions.

Zhao Mengjiao | Mysterious culture：Physiognomy

Physiognomy, is a part of ancient Chinese traditional culture and is often used to infer the fate and future of characters in ancient times. It mainly judges a person's character and health through the characteristics of the person's face or body, behavior, etc., and then speculates the fate. Physiognomy was first recorded in Li Ji in China. Physiognomy is not unique in China. In the West, the history of physiognomy can be traced back to the ancient Greek period, and it is widely popular among the folk and intellectuals.

Shi Yao | Music and instruments：Guqin

=Ding Xinyi | Music and instruments：The Spring Snow=Music and instruments： The Spring Snow

 The Spring Snow (Yangchunbaixue) is a classical piece, one of the ten most famous ancient Chinese pieces. It expresses the beauty of the early spring when winter is over and spring is coming, the earth is recovering and everything is thriving. The melody is fresh and smooth, and the rhythm is easy and bright.
 According to legend, it is an ancient piece of music composed by Shikuang of Jin or Liu Juanzi of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period.
 Yangchun and White Snow in existing ancient qin sheet music are two instrumental music, Magical Secret Sheet in the explanation of the title: “Yangchun to take all things to know spring, and the wind of the meaning of light swing; White Snow to take the austere and clean, the sound of the snow and bamboo Linlang.”
 Introduction
 The Spring Snow is a pipa suite consisting of several variants of the Chinese folk instrumental Eight Panels (or Six Panels). The cyclical reproduction of the Eight Panels variations, the combination of the individual Eight Panels variations to form a variant relationship, and the insertion of new material from the Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix make it a variant structure with a cyclical element.
 Origin
 The allusion to The Spring Snow comes from the article Song Yu's Answer to the Question of the King of Chu in the Chu Rhetoric.
 King Xiang of Chu asked Song Yu, “Do you have any hidden virtues? Why don't the public praise you?” Song Yu said, “There was a singer who came to Ying, Chu, and at first he sang Lower Class (Xialibaren), and there were thousands of people in the country who sang along with him. When the singer sang Yanga Allium dew(Yangaxielu), there were only a few hundred people in the country. When the singer sang The Spring Snow, there were only a few dozen people in the country. When the singer added some more difficult techniques to the song, i.e., ‘Yin Shang Ke Yu, Za Yi Liu Zheng’, there were only a few people in the country.” Song Yu concludes, “The songs are more difficult to sing, but the harmonies are fewer in number.” The more elegant and complex the songs such as The Spring Snow became, the fewer and fewer people were able to harmonize with them, i.e., songs of a highbrow type will find very few people to join in the chorus.
 Composition
 The Spring Snow can be divided into four parts, namely, the beginning, the beginning, the beginning, the beginning, the beginning, the beginning, and the end, and it is a variant piece with a cyclical element:
 Rising: The seventeen-beat-long “eight-panel head” variant Monopolize the Turtle Head appears at the beginning of the piece, and it is reproduced cyclically at the beginning of the next three parts. The melody of the original Eight Panels is embellished with techniques such as the “spacer” and the “added flower”, and the use of the “half-wheel”, the “pinch”, and the “push”. Using techniques such as “half-wheel”, “pinch play” and “push and pull”, the sound effect is unique and interesting, making the melody of the flower clusters full of vitality.
 Falling: Wind Swinging Lotus Flower and A Round of Bright Moon are two variations of the Eight Panels. After reproducing the Eight Panels Head in a loop on the head, the melody rises twice and moves up in the treble clef, showing a more enthusiastic mood.
 Turning: The Jade Plate Zen, the Sound of the Tieze Pan, and the Sound of the Zither in the Taoist Courtyard, several unfolding elements appear in these three passages. Firstly, the structure of the piece is divided and inverted, and new beats and strong syncopated rhythms appear. The second is the use of fingerings such as “Picking up”, “plate”, and “overtones”, which make the music light and smooth at times, and powerful at others. Especially in “The Sound of the Zither in the Taoist Courtyard”, the whole section highlights the overtones, just as “When mingling loud and soft notes were together played, You heard orioles warble in a flowery land.”, crystalline and full of vitality.
 Merging: Donggao Crane Song is a dynamic reproduction of this section, expanded at the end, taking a sudden slow and then gradually faster speed treatment, using powerful sweeping techniques, the music atmosphere is exceptionally warm.
 Comments
 The whole piece of The Spring Snow is based on the vitality of spring and the purity and flawlessness of winter snow and creates a vivid and poetic picture through the pipa's unique playing technique and rich and varied timbral expression. The music is well-structured and rhythmically smooth, with the warm and cheerful melody of spring and the light and melodious fragments like snowflakes, which complement each other and show a harmonious and rich musical connotation.
 The artistic expression of the piece is deeply rooted in the essence of traditional Chinese aesthetic sensibilities, utilizing various techniques of the pipa, such as finger-rotation, rolling, overtones, etc., which not only reflect the delicate expression of emotions but also demonstrate superior playing skills. The Spring Snow has a high degree of abstraction and symbolism in its musical construction, which expresses feelings through the scenery and symbolizes emotions in objects, achieving a high degree of integration between man and nature, music, and emotions.
 At the same time, as an important part of Chinese classical music culture, The Spring Snow has witnessed the development of pipa art from ancient times to the present day and embodies the deep cultural heritage and outstanding artistic creativity of the Chinese nation. It has not only been regarded as a classic teaching material by many pipa players but also maintains its vitality on the modern stage, constantly attracting new groups of listeners and leading them into the picturesque world of music.
 With its far-reaching artistic influence and immortal musical value, The Spring Snow has played an irreplaceable role in the inheritance and development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture and is a monument in the history of Chinese pipa art and even in the history of national music as a whole.

Terms: The Spring Snow 《阳春白雪》 Magical Secret Sheet 《神奇秘谱》 Eight Panels 《八板》 Yanga Allium dew(Yangaxielu) 阳阿薤露 Highbrow 曲高和寡 Spacer 隔凡 Added flower 加花 half-wheel 半轮 pinch play 夹弹 push and pull 推拉 Picking up 摭分 Plate 板 Overtones 泛音 When mingling loud and soft notes were together played, You heard orioles warble in a flowery land. 嘈嘈切切错杂弹，大珠小珠落玉盘

Questions： 1. Where does The Spring Snow originate from? 2. How many parts does The Spring Snow include? 3. What is the meaning of The Spring Snow in Chinese traditional pipa music?

References： 1. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%98%B3%E6%98%A5%E7%99%BD%E9%9B%AA/9881526 2. https://sou-yun.cn/QueryAllusion.aspx 3. https://www.kuwo.cn/play_detail/4272110 4. https://tv.cctv.com/2011/02/10/VIDERCjB80UYnM0O8em9G5Lk110210.shtml 5. Wang Peiguo.Appreciation of Chinese Classical Songs The Spring Snow.CNKI,2008 6. Wang Yan.Yangchunbaixue and Xialibaren.VIP,2015

音乐和乐器：阳春白雪

 《阳春白雪》是古典名曲，为中国著名十大古曲之一。表现的是冬去春来，大地复苏，万物欣欣向荣的初春美景。旋律清新流畅，节奏轻松明快。相传这是春秋时期晋国的师旷或齐国的刘涓子所作的古曲。现存古琴谱中的《阳春》和《白雪》是两首器乐曲，《神奇秘谱》在解题中说：“《阳春》取万物知春，和风淡荡之意；《白雪》取凛然清洁，雪竹琳琅之音。”
 简介
 《阳春白雪》是由中国民间器乐曲牌仪《八板》（或《六板》）的多个变体组成的琵琶套曲。“八板头”变体的循环再现，各个《八板》变体组合在一起形成变奏的关系，后又插入了《百鸟朝凤》的新材料，因此它是一首具有循环因素的变奏体结构。
 典故
 “阳春白雪”的典故来自《楚辞》中的《宋玉答楚王问》一文。
 楚襄王问宋玉，先生有什么隐藏的德行么？为何士民众庶不怎么称誉你啊？宋玉说，有歌者客于楚国郢中，起初吟唱“下里巴人”，国中和者有数千人。当歌者唱“阳阿薤露”时，国中和者只有数百人。当歌者唱“阳春白雪”时，国中和者不过数十人。当歌曲再增加一些高难度的技巧，即“引商刻羽，杂以流徵”的时候，国中和者不过三数人而已。宋玉的结论是，“是其曲弥高，其和弥寡。”、“阳春白雪”等歌曲越高雅、越复杂，能唱和的人自然越来越少，即曲高和寡。
 编曲
 《阳春白雪》可分成起、承、转、合四个组成部分，是一首具有循环因素的变奏体乐曲：
 起部：《独占鳌头》曲首出现长达十七拍的“八板头”变体，它在以后三个部分的部首循环再现。原《八板》的旋律以“隔凡”和“加花”等技法加以润饰，运用“半轮”、“夹弹”、“推拉”等演奏技巧，音响效果独特有趣，使花簇的旋律充满活力。
 承部：《风摆荷花》、《一轮明月》这两个《八板》变体，在头上循环再现《八板头》之后，旋律两次上扬，在高音区上活动，表现情绪较为热烈。
 转部：《玉版参禅》、《铁策板声》、《道院琴声》在这三个段落中出现了不少展开性的因素。首先是乐曲结构的分割和倒装，并出现新的节拍和强烈的切分节奏。其二是运用“摭分”、“板”和“泛音”等演奏指法，使音乐时而轻盈流畅，时而铿锵有力。特别是《道院琴声》，整段突出泛音，恰如“大珠小珠落玉盘”，晶莹四射，充满生命活力。
 合部：《东皋鹤鸣》是本部的动力性再现，在尾部作了扩大，采取突慢后渐快的速度处理，采用强劲有力的扫弦技巧，音乐气氛异常热烈。
 评价
 《阳春白雪》全曲以春天的生机盎然和冬雪的纯净无暇为基调，通过琵琶独特的演奏技法和丰富多变的音色表现，营造出一幅生动而富有诗意的画面。乐曲结构精巧，节奏流畅，既有春日温暖明媚的欢快旋律，又有如雪花般轻盈飘洒的悠扬片段，两者相辅相成，展现出和谐统一又层次丰富的音乐内涵。
 该曲在艺术表现上深得中国传统审美情趣之精髓，运用了琵琶的各种技巧如轮指、滚拂、泛音等，既体现出细腻的情感表达，也展示了高超的演奏技艺。《阳春白雪》在音乐构造上具有极高的抽象性和象征性，借景抒怀，寓情于物，达到了人与自然、音乐与情感的高度交融。
 同时，《阳春白雪》作为中国古典音乐文化的重要组成部分，见证了琵琶艺术从古至今的发展脉络，体现了中华民族深厚的文化底蕴和卓越的艺术创造力。它不仅被众多琵琶演奏家奉为必修的经典教材，而且在现代舞台上依然保持着鲜活的生命力，不断吸引着新的听众群体，引领他们步入那如诗如画的音乐世界。

《阳春白雪》以其深远的艺术影响和不朽的音乐价值，在传承和发展中华优秀传统文化方面起到了不可替代的作用，是中国琵琶艺术乃至整个民族音乐史上的一座丰碑。

术语： The Spring Snow 《阳春白雪》 Magical Secret Sheet 《神奇秘谱》 Eight Panels 《八板》 Yanga Allium dew(Yangaxielu) 阳阿薤露 Highbrow 曲高和寡 Spacer 隔凡 Added flower 加花 half-wheel 半轮 pinch play 夹弹 push and pull 推拉 Picking up 摭分 Plate 板 Overtones 泛音 When mingling loud and soft notes were together played, You heard orioles warble in a flowery land. 嘈嘈切切错杂弹，大珠小珠落玉盘

问题： 1.《阳春白雪》源自什么？ 2.《阳春白雪》包括多少个曲段？ 3.《阳春白雪》在中国传统琵琶乐中的意义是什么？

参考： 1.https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%98%B3%E6%98%A5%E7%99%BD%E9%9B%AA/9881526 2.https://sou-yun.cn/QueryAllusion.aspx 3.https://www.kuwo.cn/play_detail/4272110 4.https://tv.cctv.com/2011/02/10/VIDERCjB80UYnM0O8em9G5Lk110210.shtml 5.王培国.中国古典名曲赏析《阳春白雪》篇．《CNKI》，2008 6.王燕.“阳春白雪”与“下里巴人”．《vip》，2015