The Confucian view of music is represented by the speech of its founder Confucius. Although Confucius did not have a systematic work on music theory handed down from generation to generation, he learned from The Analects of Confucius and Historical Records. According to Confucius Family and other documents, Confucius has rich practical experience and high musical accomplishment. He emphasized the aesthetic function of music, attached importance to music education for his disciples, included music in the "six arts" he taught, and regarded music as the highest stage of life accomplishment. However, Confucius' emphasis on music is inseparable from his political views. He advocated the combination of "music" and "ceremony" as a means of governing the world. The so-called "governing the people with harmony, not good at etiquette, changing customs, not good at music" ("filial piety? Wide avenue), the music view has a conservative side. He not only couldn't bear this behavior beyond the musical level, but also made outraged remarks such as "Eight tricks of dancing in the palace are tolerable, but not tolerable" and "Competing with each other, emperors learn from three schools regardless of each other". He also expressed disgust and rejection of folk music that impacted the orthodox position of gagaku, and "Evil Zheng Sheng disorderly gagaku" and "Let Zheng Sheng go, let it go. Mencius and Xunzi, two other representatives of Confucianism, one advocated "benevolence" as a means of education to influence people; One advocates that people's viciousness should be guided and reformed by the voice of ethical praise, so that natural feelings can obtain social content and meet social needs, and the relationship between rulers and ruled can be reconciled by means of "music" to improve social atmosphere.

Although Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi have different expressions, their so-called "music" is "the sound of elegant praise" and "the music of the former king", that is, the elegant music that serves to maintain the ruling order, while the attitude towards folk music is "eyes don't see evil colors, ears don't listen to evil sounds" (Mencius? ")," Zheng Zhe's voice makes people's heart yin "("Xunzi? Music theory), resolutely do not advocate.

The musical thoughts of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period were systematically summarized in the later Yue Ji (it is said that it was written by Sun Nizi in the early Warring States period, and it was also said that Liu Xiang and Liu Xin, sons of Han Confucianism, proofread ancient books in the pre-Qin period). The writing purpose of the author "Ji Le" is to consolidate the ruling order of the ruling class by advocating and maintaining the "voice of praise". Therefore, the book focuses on the political and social functions of music from beginning to end, and comprehensively discusses the source and essence of music, the political connotation of music, the relationship between the content and form of music, the role of music in cultivating the ruler's appearance and demeanor, the role of music in educating people and maintaining social order, reconciling class contradictions, and the aesthetic standards of music.