Since ancient times, Chinese traditional music has relied on programmatic associations for its emotional affect. One of its most persistent themes can be described as “the beauty of natural scenery.” In my performance-lecture, I will perform four pieces on the on the Yangqin, or hammered dulcimer, each composed during a different historical epoch and each representative of this prevalent theme. My goal is to examine the multilayers of emblematic meanings related to the topic of natural beauty. After a brief introduction to the yangqin’s cultural history, I will perform four pieces ranging from 900 A. D. to 1990. I will detail the cultural and natural images represented both implicitly and explicitly in each piece and compare the ancient compositional skills with modern Westernized ones utilized in delineating these natural images. Finally, I will expound on the societal and political contexts from which the pieces were derived. The four pieces I will demonstrate include “Bright Spring and White Snow,” “Autumn Moon on Clam Lake,” “Spring Coming to the Xiang River,” and “Pilgrimage to Lhasa.” Engaging with the current debates on music, culture, and ecology, I argue that music portrays the non-human life forms such as plants, flowers, mountains, and waters in association with Chinese cultural and political ideologies of different periods of time. My live performance-lecture provides sensory experiences and analytical interpretation on the multifaceted meanings of natural subjects represented in Chinese traditional music—meanings which are not static but are interweaved within multi-dimensional social realities, hierarchies, and power-relations.