Between the sixth and ninth centuries, a massive importation of exotira in general and of music in particular into China occurred, as the cultural defenses of the Chinese fell before the rising popularity of Buddhism, among the population at large as well as in high places. This invasion of foreign cultural elements was conspicuous already in the Sui period, and it became even more marked during the T'ang dynasty (618-905). The title: 'Waves of Kokonor' (Chinese Ch'ing-hai po; Sino-Japanese Seigaiha) occurs (perhaps for the first time) in a Japanese list of entertainment-music from the T'ang Court, in the Wamym ruijish6, completed before 983. This title does not occur in any of the Chinese lists of tunetitles (all of late T'ang date), but a tune of this name is known2to have been a favorite with the T'ang poet Li Po (701762).2 The evidence suggests that it was a folk-dance tune from a Turkic-speaking area in what today is Sinkiang Province. According tq accepted tradition, Li Po's grandfather was deported in 609 to the region between the lakes Kokonor (Ch'ing-hai) and Lopnor, and Li Po might understandably have been attached to a tune linked with the home of his family for a century. Chinese ch'ing-hai (= blue sea) is a para-phrase of kokonor = sky-blue lake (in a Turkic language). Li Po's contemporary, Wei Hao, reports that Cinnabar (Li Po's page) would play 'Waves of the Blue Sea' when Li Po was in his cups,4 and the poet's works include at least one poem in which he refers expressly to such an occasion. In an unpublished translation by Arthur Waley the reference is rendered: 'When well drunk I invent for myself a Blue Waves Dance.' A further piece of evidence that this tune comes from Sinkiang is the title of the prelude which precedes it in Chinese the hs8l; in Sino-Japanese, jo namely, Lun-t'ai (Sino-Japanese Rindai). This name has been identified as that of the town known today as Bfigdir, in Eastern Turkestan.5 An entertainment at the Japanese Court at which this tune was played, and the piece danced, is mentioned in the novel 'The Tale of Genji' (Chapter VIII), where Prince Genji himself is the dancer.0 Lady Murasaki's novel was completed about the year 1000, and it may be assumed that this piece was wellknown at the Heian Court,