J. A. van Aalst was a Belgian customs and postal officer in China, known for chronicling the history of Chinese music and dance.

Van Aalst was a government administrator for the Chinese Imperial Government of the Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

, who served in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 during the late 19th century. While providing service as a government official, he chronicled the history of Chinese music and dance, serving as the primary source in the western world of Chinese music until other sources emerged in the 1950s. His most famous text is Chinese Music which was published in 1884 in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 by the Statistical Dept of the Inspectorate General. Van Aalst was an official in the employ of what later came to be called the Chinese Maritime Customs Service

Chinese Maritime Customs Service

The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until its bifurcation in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republic of China...

 and was during his tenure called the Imperial Maritime Customs Service. He was appointed to Postal Secretary in 1899. His boss, Sir Robert Hart

Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, GCMG , was a British consular official in China, who served as the second Inspector General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service from 1863 to 1911.-Early life:...

, was also a music lover, creator of one of the first brass bands in China.

The Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...

, used Van Aalst's text as a primary source for the Chinese musical portion of his opera, Turandot

Turandot

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...

, which was first performed in 1912 and set to Carlo Gozzi

Carlo Gozzi

Carlo, Count Gozzi was an Italian playwright.Born in Venice, he came from an old Venetian family from the Republic of Ragusa...

's play of the same name.