A look at Kindred spirits: the story of Boya and Ziqi the Chinese myth

There lived a musician called Boya. He was renowned for his expertise in gǔ qín (古琴), a portable string instrument that befitted the life of a reclusive wanderer. A woodcutter named Ziqi passed through his realms. Upon hearing his tunes, Ziqi nodded contemplatively, “There are high mountains and flowing waters in these notes you play.” Boya paused right there: never had anyone understood his music so keenly before! The two remained companions, but Ziqi eventually fell ill and passed away. A swansong later, Boya tore the strings of the instrument, and swore to never play again. To this day, the expression ‘zhī yīn’ (知音), literally translated as ‘[he/she who] knows the tune’, is still used to describe close friendships.

This Is a Chinese myth about friendship and I think that this one doesn't have as much for me to talk about because friendship has been around forever and I think This is overall a very wholesome myth.  I like this myth because it is a good change of flow from the myths we are used to, we are used to myths about gods and goddesses doing superhuman things however this story could very much be real and that is why I think it is so wholesome. This reflects this society's values because it shows that they value a kinship and understanding. This is different from the other myths we have read because none of them seem like they could happen in real life but this story seems very possible in real life. I can connect to this because I have had some friendships which revolve around music or relationships where we met because we enjoyed similar music. The way I understood this myth was that these two people met because of music and when one passed away the other decided to never play again. This shows that this society valued music very highly, also I understood this as people being such good friends that they would give up something they love for one another.