Zhihuasi Temple Jing Music

The Jing music of Zhihuasi Temple dates to the Ming dynasty and is preserved at Beijing's Zhihuasi Temple (built in 1444); a Buddhist ritual music passed down by generations of temple monks, it is hailed as a "living fossil" of Chinese music.

The music is played on sheng mouth-organ, guan pipe, dizi flute and yunluo gong-chimes in ensemble, following ancient scores; solemn and archaic, it retains echoes of Ming court and Buddhist music, transmitted strictly by oral master-to-disciple teaching.

Inscribed as national intangible cultural heritage, the Zhihuasi music — with its unbroken lineage and surviving old scores and instruments — is of exceptional value for the study of ancient Chinese music.

Within Zhihuasi Temple the Jing music is still performed regularly by its musician-monks; heard in the original setting of the Ming timber halls, the music and the ancient temple complete each other.