Although a type of musical notation called the gong chi pu was devised at some point during the Ming or Qing dynasty to help people understand ancient music, in China, where the music used in imperial rites has always been described in prose, little use has been made of musical notation systems.
就中國傳統音樂來說，到明清時代確已發展出工尺譜等記錄音律的方法，這是後代人能理解古老音樂的方法之一，但是禮樂傳承多半以文字記載的中國人，對記錄音律的描述，並不重視。