Towards an Ancient Chinese-Inspired Theory of Music Education Abstract In this philosophical paper, I propose a theory of music education inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy. In particular, I draw on five classical Chinese philosophical texts: the Analects (lunyu 論語), the Mencius (Mengzi 孟子), the Zhuangzi (庄子), the Xunzi (荀子) and the Yue Ji (樂記). Given that music education was an integral part of the social fabric in ancient China, it is potentially illuminating to uncover the theoretical underpinning of this enterprise, and to examine the implications of such a theory for contemporary music education. Based on the texts, I posit an ancient Chinese-inspired theory of music education that comprises four facets: society, teacher-model, effortful training and effortless action. I conclude this paper with implications for contemporary music education. Keywords: Chinese philosophy; Confucianism; transcultural; grit; flow, philosophy of music education Music education philosophy has drawn largely from Western philosophical literature, such as the ancient Greeks, Susanne Langer, John Dewey and Paolo Freire. Relatively few philosophical writings in music education have drawn on Asian literature, such as ancient Chinese philosophy (e.g., Fung, 1994; Tan, 2012, 2014, 2015a, 2015b). As an alternative species of philosophical theorising, Chinese philosophy may provide fresh ideas and perspectives on extant thinking in music education. In this paper, I propose a theory of music education inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy. Given that music education was an integral part of the social fabric in ancient China, it is potentially illuminating to uncover the theoretical underpinning of this enterprise. To this end, I examine five ancient Chinese philosophical texts and develop my argument with reference 1