Gufeng Cao praises the ancient way of doing things, suggesting that it is doing so in the manner of the 12th C. BCE prince Wen Wang, founder of the Zhou dynasty. The melody survives only in the four qin handbooks dated 1425, 1539, 1670 and 1876; none has lyrics.³ Although the attribution to Wen Wang⁴ is certainly fanciful, the fact that all four versions are virtually identical (except that the latter two divide the piece into seven untitled sections) reinforces the belief that the melody is indeed quite ancient.

SQMP and later handbooks include Gufeng Cao within the gong mode but, whereas the other standard tuning pieces in Folio I do fit the gong mode as used in Folio II (tonal center on 1 [do/gong/3rd string], secondarily on 5 [so/zhi/1st string]), Gufeng Cao fits better into the yu mode (tonal center on 6 [yu/la/2nd string], secondarily on 3 [jiao/mi/5th string] somewhat like the Western A minor mode). The two most likely reasons for including it with gong are, first, simply that all standard tuning pieces in Folio I are in gong mode; next, that in the last phrase of the main melody and then in the harmonic coda the tonal center changes suddenly from 6 (with 3) to 1 (with 5). There is no way to know if this was added to justify the mode. Zheyin has the same modulation from 6 to 1 at the end of its pieces in yu mode.

The yu mode is the one closest to the mode of the non-standard yellow bell tuning (huangzhong diao). In SQMP and elsewhere this tuning is used for pieces which have themes from Central Asia. Notes to the recordings of Gufeng Cao by Gong Yi (with the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra, adding harmonies) and Yao Gongbai (following his father Yao Bingyan's reconstruction⁵) both say the piece has the style of music of the non-Han peoples of western China. Yao Bingyan said that according to the title he originally thought the piece was boring old ritual music. Eventually, however, he decided Zhu Quan had probably changed the title and it was actually a dance from western China.

There are certainly some sounds here not typically heard in modern Chinese music. However, the tonality is not that unusual for Shen Qi Mi Pu, and the yellow bell mode in particular is also used for pieces with classical titles such as the present one as well as #48 Epic Virtue and #14 Amidst Mountains Thinking of Old Friends. In addition, the yu mode has no known non-Han connections.

There is a strong dissonance which results if a repeated-note figure in the third line of the tablature is played as written (5 and 4#). Gong Yi accentuates the dissonance by use of the orchestra; Yao Gongbai eliminates it by changing the finger position, giving an octave on 5; In my recording I eliminate it by changing the strings played from 1 and 2 to strings 2 and 3, making it an octave on 6 (I rarely change the tablature, but nowhere else have I found a dissonance such as this.⁶)

 
Original preface:⁷

The Emaciated Immortal says

this is a very old piece, composed by Wen Wang. Its intention is to follow the purest ancient style of doing things, which is not to control them, and yet not have disorder; not to say anything and yet be believed; not to give instruction and yet to get things done. How vast it is: people cannot describe it at all. As for the worldly aspect, it is like happily ascending a terrace in springtime. They used Dao to preserve life, and used virtue to control their actions; these people all ate whatever was available and lived contentedly, loving their land and respecting life. Their actions were done openly, and their hearts had no likes or dislikes. They could hear each other's chickens and dogs, and yet during their whole lives not visit each other. Not having likes or dislikes, and not having evil addictions, had been something commonly seen during the time of the Great Simplicity (Tai Pu⁸) and it was now seen again.

 
Music
Undivided; here arranged as seven sections based on Qinyuan Xinchuan Quanbian (1670)

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. The Ancient Style (古風操 Gufeng Cao)
The translation here comes from Zhu Quan's preface to the melody. Dictionaries have only gufeng, no cao. 3308.238 古風﹕古人之風尚也 : customs of the people of antiquity (nothing about music). 3/23 same but adds more references, but there do not seem to be any from the early classics. Gu feng is also the name of an old poetic style, used by Li Bai in his 59 poems under this title; see Cooper: Li Po and Tu Fu, p. 141, "poems based on classical sayings and stories". Sun Yu, Li Po, has several (pp. 54-64 and 324-29), translating Gu Feng as Atmosphere of Old. 古風光 ?). Note also that the biography of Chen Kangshi has him speak of melodies with a gu feng.

Note that the expression 古風表演 gufeng biaoyan (ancient style of performing) is a possible translation for Historically Informed Performance.
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2. Gong mode? See Shenpin Gong Yi. The melody actually seems to fit better in yu mode; see Shenpin Yu Yi as well as the comments in the above text. And for more on mode see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. See Zha Fuxi's Guide 2/20/-- . Details are in the appendix below.
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4. Attribution to Wen Wang
1670 says this attribution comes from Qin History, but the section on Wen Wang (Folio 1) doesn't mention Gufeng Cao. In Qin Shi and Qin Cao he is associated with the melodies 拘幽操 Ju You Cao (also called 離憂操 Li You Cao), and 文王思士 Wen Wang Si Shi (see Si Shun; this concerns Wen Wang persuading Lü　Shang to be his minister), but there is no mention of a Gufeng Cao. Perhaps the connection is Wen Wang's praise of ancient rulers such as Shun.
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5. Not included included in Bell Yung, Celestial Airs of Antiquity, but mentioned in his "Da Pu: The Recreative Process for the Music of the Seven-String Zither", in Music and Context: Essays in Honor of John Ward ed. Anne Dhu Shapiro, Music Department, Harvard University, 1985. See p.380.
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6. Fengxuan Xianpin also changes one of the strings to the third. Compare the dissonances in Yu Ge (Sec.14) and Da Ya (Sec. 9): those I interpret as notes leading to a unison, which follows.
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7. For the original Chinese text see 古風操.
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8. 5965.177 taipu 太朴 ancient simplicity; gives a reference to Wen Xuan, not to Wen Wang. Zhu Quan also uses this expression in his Preface to Shen Qi Mi Pu.
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Appendix: Chart Tracing Gufeng Cao;
based mainly on Zha Fuxi's Guide, 2/20/--.

琴譜     (year; QQJC Vol/page)	Further information (QQJC = 琴曲集成 Qinqu Jicheng; QF = 琴府 Qin Fu)
1.  神奇秘譜       (1425; I/107)	Not divided into sections; no phrasing; Discussed further above
2. 風宣玄品       (1539; II/82)	Same as 1425, including most of the apparent mistakes; no sections, but adds phrasing; no commentary
3. 琴苑新傳全編       (1670; XI/311)	7 sections, untitled, otherwise virtually same as 1425 Preface somewhat different, but still attributed to Wen Wang; afterword discusses playing the melody
4. 天聞閣琴譜       (1876)	Same as 1670

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