The shao was the music of Shun who, chosen for his virtue, succeeded to the throne through the abdication of Yao, while the wu was the music of King Wu who, in spite of his virtue, won the Empire only after resorting to force – hence the name wu ‘military force’. For this reason the former was not only perfectly beautiful but also perfectly good while the latter, though perfectly beautiful, left something to be desired in its goodness. That Confucius should consider the wu inferior to the shao is not surprising if we remember his abhorrence of force which was said to be among the things he
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