From the Analects (《
论语·
卫灵公》):
放郑声，
远佞人。
郑声淫，
佞人殆 — 'banish the music of Zheng and keep flatterers far away. The music of Zheng is licentious; flatterers are dangerous.' Confucius set
郑声 (popular folk songs) against
雅乐 (yǎyuè, the proper ritual music of Zhou), and the contrast became China's earliest 'high culture vs. pop culture' debate.
