ABSTRACT
It has long been recognised that the establishment of the Office of Music (Yileh fu) as one of the agencies of state in Han imperial government played an important role in the develop ment of Chinese poetry and nurtured the growth of particular genres of literature; and the precedent that was set at this time was followed at later stages of China’s literary development with highly important results.1 Less attention, however, has been paid to the work of the office in arranging musical per formances, or to the circumstances in which the office was established and in which its activities were several times cur tailed, prior to its eventual abolition. In addition historians have not always appreciated the connection that may be traced between the rise and fall of this office and other changes which occurred in the intellectual history of Han China.
