China's Musical Culture

For several thousand years the Chinese Culture was dominated by the teachings of philosopher Confucius, whom had had known music to calm passions and dispelling lust, instead of amusement. Also, traditionally the Chinese have believed that sound influences the harmony of the universe. Significantly, one of the most important jobs of the first emperor of each new dynasty was to look for a certain pitch to set as the dynasties standard pitch. A result of this philosophical orientation was that until quite recently the Chinese had actually opposed music performed only for entertainment; this put the musical entertainers at an extremely low social status in the population.
The music of China dates back to the dawn of the Chinese Civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC). The first major well-documented beginning of Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang Dynasty though it is known to have played a major part before the Han Dynasty.
There is a huge difference to the music of China to that of America. Music in America is mainly meant for fun and enjoyment, it is completely opposite in China. Most of the music is to relax the mind and calm the soul, this makes a huge impact on the comparison of culture's because music is a huge part of it.