Talk:滥竽充数

Question

Was Nanguo from southern China (or at least from parts south of the state of Qi? I had thought that his name implied that. 131.123.1.226 01:06, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

I reworked the notes section in an attempt to answer your question. It all comes down to how you translate 南郭. However, I should point out that either the man is from a southern city (南郭), or he is surnamed Nanguo (南郭), not both. -- A-cai 12:38, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Bamboo mouth organs are believed to have originated somewhere in Southeast Asia (perhaps in the Golden Triangle region, or the Dongson area where the bronze drums are from), and gradually traveled north until they were adopted in the court orchestras of northern proto-Chinese states, so I always thought it was appropriate that they'd assign this person a name like this. Perhaps some Chinese scholars have more information (or educated guesses) about this esoteric aspect of Chinese musical history. 24.29.238.60 03:33, 31 December 2008 (UTC)