At the same time, musicians could also enjoy great status, like in the case of the emperor Hongzhi who was very well known for being a proponent of music.
[1] Most musicians however, were not part of imperial or gentry family and Ming music culture was characterized by four distinct but closely interrelated subcultures.
[2] The lives of these different types of musicians were incredibly different, but songs were a shared art form that demonstrated the ideals of both the elites and commoners.
Their music would be characterized by being very rhythmic and loud in order to show off the qualities of a strong man that they were expected to have.
[3] Unlike the Literati who played the qin, those who made their living off of performing aimed to make the audience feel the beauty, excitement, and emotion of the music.
[9] However, due to the prejudice towards those who used music to make a living these commoner musicians were not well respected by their employers, the literati.