ABSTRACT
For Confucians, harmony not only exemplifies beauty as manifested in music, but also realizes human goodness through rules of ritual propriety (li https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315886619/950eb53f-7775-4dc4-bc93-54d6bcfcb6de/content/fig57_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>). Confucian classics make a close linkage between harmony and ritual propriety, as is illustrated in the Analects:
Of the things brought about by ritual propriety, the most important is harmony. It is precisely such harmony that makes the ancient sage-kings’ way so beautiful.
(Analects 1.12; TTC 2458)