This article inquires into the ideological circumstances behind Wang Mang's 王莽 seizure of power, to examine how he built legitimacy at every stage of his career, by establishing a political and symbolic continuum between the role of the minister and that of the sovereign, rather than suddenly wresting power from the Liu clan. His classical learning in general and his references to Zhougong 周公 in particular were fundamental to the success of the process, which took place in three important stages: first, the offering of a white pheasant to the court; second, the bestowal of “Nine Conferrals” 九錫, and third, the composition of “Wang Mang's declaration” 莽誥. However, although the Classics constituted common references for Wang Mang and the scholars supporting him, the Classics were also used by some opponents objecting to the concentration of power in the hands of Wang Mang.

For almost a thousand years, Chinese scholars have debated the existence of a Classic of Music in pre-Qin times. Some say the text once existed but was later lost; others say it was incorporated into other works, or that it only existed as a collection of musical scores. Some say it never existed at all. Though Western scholars have tended to sidestep the issue, most have at least assumed that it was believed during Han that a music classic had once existed.

Not only is there no convincing evidence that a music classic existed during the Warring States era, however, few if any in the Han believed that it had. Indeed, the first claims that a Classic of Music had once existed emerged only in the latter part of the Six Dynasties era. This article will introduce the debates that have animated scholars on this controversy, examine the evidence for the existence of a pre-Qin music classic, and identify when Chinese scholars came to believe that such a text had once existed. I will argue that the belief that a classic music text had previously been extant reflects early medieval misunderstandings of the role occupied by written texts in antiquity.