Bells and drums have existed in our country very early. For example, in "The Book of Songs·Guan Sui", there are verses about playing the ancient musical instruments of bells and drums: "A graceful lady, the music of bells and drums. In ancient times, it refers to the palace." Or music or dance in the palace. "Mozi. Three Bian": "In the past, all the people were tired of listening and treating, and they rested on the music of bells and drums." It can be seen that it is the music enjoyed by all the people, kings and above. " (16th century BC - 221 BC) This period of history lasted for about 1,300 years, spanning the Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period, and the unification of China by Qin Dynasty. It can be divided into two periods, the early period is the Shang Dynasty, and the later period after the Western Zhou Dynasty. These two periods have both the most similarities, that is, "the music of bells and drums" is the main focus, and there are also obvious differences. Shang Dynasty The area of ??activity of the Shang Dynasty was much larger than that of the Xia Dynasty, but the central area was still in the present-day Henan area, just like the Xia Dynasty. So Shang directly inherited Xia's music and continued to develop it, pushing it to remarkable heights. One of the most prominent features of Shang society was respect for ghosts and gods. Although it is said that "Yin was responsible for Xia Li" ("The Analects of Confucius? 6.1 Weizheng"), the complexity of witchcraft activities such as sacrifices greatly exceeded that of the Xia Dynasty, so historians call it "witchcraft culture". All "rituals" such as sacrifices must be accompanied by songs and dances. This has been a tradition since primitive times. The ancients said that "rituals cannot be performed without music accompaniment", which is a summary of this tradition. Even as late as the middle of the Western Han Dynasty (the second century BC), even in poor and barren places, when offering sacrifices to the local land gods, they still had to beat earthenware pots and basins to accompany them and sing in unison. Not to mention that as early as the Shang Dynasty, witchcraft activities such as sacrifices must be accompanied by grand music and dance. Another social characteristic of the Shang Dynasty was precisely the advocating for music and dance. Businessmen use music to talk to the gods and ghosts, and they sing to the gods and ghosts seriously. Music and dance have become an important means for people to contribute, serve, and entertain gods and ghosts, so as to communicate between humans and gods. Among the music and dances of the Shang Dynasty, some of which were popular in later generations and found in ancient history books include "Sanglin" and "Yi". "Mulberry Forest" is originally a large-scale, national-level sacrificial activity with the same nature as sacrificing "She" (the God of the Land). Until the Mozi era in the Spring and Autumn Period (about the 5th century BC), "mulberry forest" was still a grand sacrificial event that attracted thousands of people's attention. The music and dance used in the "mulberry forest" festival will also follow the name of the festival and be called "mulberry forest". "Zhuangzi 6.1 The Third Master of Health Preservation" once used a very smooth style to describe the movements, rhythm and sound of the cook Ding unwinding the cow. Unexpectedly, the music and dance of "Sanglin" are powerful, light and dexterous, and the music is shocking. "Yi" was used to worship Jiang, the ancestor of Zhou Dynasty, in the Zhou Dynasty, and its content should be related to the nature of this sacrifice. We know that Shang also had an ancestor named Jian Di. Legend has it that when Jian Di was bathing by the water, she encountered a black bird laying eggs. Jian Di swallowed the black bird eggs and gave birth to Shang's ancestral deity. Therefore, "The Book of Songs? 6? 1 Song of Shang" says: "The black bird is born and descends to give birth to Shang." It seems that the black bird is the totem of Shang. The shape of the oracle bone inscription "橿" is that of a short-tailed bird (falcon), with water droplets on both sides, which is consistent with the black bird flying on the water. It is inferred that the content of "婩" should be related to the story of Jian Di and Xuanniao. Only because of this, the Zhou Dynasty would use it to sacrifice their late mother Jiang. In addition to the documents handed down from ancient times, some sacrificial music and dances are also recorded in oracle bone inscriptions, but they are too brief and difficult to examine in detail. For example, "Yu", we only know that it is a sacrificial music and dance to pray for rain, and it can be inferred from the structural rules of ancient Chinese characters that it is a large-scale music and dance, because the pronunciation of "Yu" is usually expressed in ancient Chinese characters. The meaning of the word almost all contains the meaning of "big". The high level of music development in the Shang Dynasty can also be seen from the musical instruments. Although the music of the Xia Dynasty has significantly improved compared with the original period, the instruments of the Xia Dynasty, judging from the unearthed objects in the time and place equivalent to the Xia Dynasty, have not been greatly improved on the basis of the original instruments in terms of variety and quality (I hope this It cannot be a misjudgment due to the fact that the unearthed objects so far are not representative). The musical instruments of the Shang Dynasty were already very impressive and could be considered "sounding and colorful". The musical instruments of the Shang Dynasty were both important at the time and had a profound impact on later generations, including bells and chimes. The Shang bell is cast in bronze (bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and the proportions are very particular). Its cross-section is not circular or oval, but olive-shaped (but the ends are more pointed). The shape of the shaped plate is a bit like a Chinese tile, so people call it "combined tile shape". This name is not easy to understand in the West because they do not use such tiles. It is this "tile-shaped" structure that constitutes a major feature of Chinese bells, and provides the best prerequisite for striking two notes of different pitches in different parts of the same bell. The "tile-shaped" structure has not yet been discovered in the ruins before the Shang Dynasty. It is probably a great invention of merchants. Shang bells are rarely used alone. They are basically in groups, mostly in groups of three, and their hollow handles are inserted into the vertical rods of the wooden (?) frame, that is, they are planted, which is similar to the bell hangings of later generations. Hanging on a rack is the opposite. If struck in the middle (1/2) and left or right (1/4) near the mouth of the bell, many Shang bells can produce two different tones. In earlier historical times, between the two tones Most of them are related by the major second degree, and later they are mostly related by the minor third degree. This tendency and regular phenomenon cannot be said to be an unconscious "accidental" phenomenon, but it should be acknowledged that the musical instrument makers and performers of the Shang Dynasty had begun to consciously cast and use another tone on these bells.
According to sound measurements, some Shang bells in groups of three already possess the five tones of the pentatonic scale. The chime is made of stone. Drill a hole, lift and strike. Chimes have been unearthed from Neolithic sites, and they usually exist alone and are relatively rough in craftsmanship. In the Stone Age, stone chimes were prominent instruments that sounded loud, had strong penetrating power (not easily drowned out by other sounds and could travel far), and were not easily damaged. Probably because of this, he enjoys a greater reputation in society. Therefore, the sound character of the sound in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty is represented by "drawing" a hanging chime and "drawing" an ear next to it (or adding "drawing" and hitting it with a mallet). This is equivalent to saying that the chime can be used as a representative of "sound". With the development of the times, the chimes of the Shang Dynasty were also made more and more exquisitely. For example, in the 1950 excavation of No. 1 Tomb in Wuguan Village, Anyang, Henan, a stone chime with a tiger pattern was unearthed, which is 84 cm long, 42 cm high, and 2.5 cm thick. It is made of white and green marble and is finely carved. , solemn and elegant appearance. One side of the chime is engraved with a tiger pattern with thin double lines. The posture is graceful, the design is clever, and it is integrated with the shape of the vessel. Even from a modern aesthetic perspective, the entire chime can be regarded as a fine craft. After testing, its pitch is slightly higher than #c1. The pronunciation is rich and resonant, the tone is similar to bronze, and it has a long sustained sound. This large stone chime with a tiger pattern is a single piece and not in a group. Such chimes are also called special chimes. When the special chime is added to the performance with a single note, it can only strengthen the rhythm and emphasize the stable sound. This is its shortcoming as an instrument that can produce a certain pitch. However, the grouping of chimes in the Shang Dynasty had not yet matured, and this topic had to be completed by the Zhou Dynasty. The drums of the Shang Dynasty are also very distinctive. There are only two existing examples, both of which are imitation wooden drums cast in bronze. One is handed down from generation to generation, and the leather pattern on the drum surface is very clear; the other was unearthed in Chongyang, Hubei Province in 1977. The drum surface is smooth and grainless, and it should be imitation cow (?) leather. These two drums are realistic imitations, but they are limited to bronze casting and are probably much smaller than their prototype wooden drums. However, we can still see from them the exquisite craftsmanship and painted decoration of wooden drums in the Shang Dynasty. It is gorgeous, especially its shape. The shape of its side (wooden cavity surface) is exactly the same as the shape of the drum character in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty. There are also some words in the oracle bone inscriptions. Experts have verified that they should be musical instruments, including reed wind instruments, yun, multi-tube musical instruments, etc., which should be credible. However, because bamboo instruments are perishable, the actual objects from that time cannot be seen to this day. The highly developed music of the Shang Dynasty laid a good foundation for the Zhou Dynasty. Because the culture of the Zhou people was not as good as that of the Shang people, their culture and technology were all derived from the Shang people. After Zhou destroyed Shang, he enfeoffed Wei State in the central area of ??Shang instead of moving his political center to Shang. The music of Zhou Dynasty, that is, the local music of Qi Zhou (today's Guanzhong area of ??Shaanxi Province), is its original music. Probably for the purpose of winning over people's hearts and alleviating clan conflicts, Zhou people often called themselves "Xia people". Later, because the two words "Xia" and "Ya" had the same pronunciation at that time, it was customary to refer to the so-called "Xia people" of Zhou people. It is written as "Ya" (this is at least helpful in distinguishing the two "Xia" that are hundreds of years apart). Therefore, "Yayan" is the language (sound) of the Zhou Dynasty; "Ya Shi" (the major and minor "Ya" in the "Book of Songs") is the Zhou Dynasty's poetry; "Ya Yue" is actually the music of the Zhou Dynasty (Ya Yue). dance). Zhou Dynasty The Zhou Dynasty was the earliest era to stipulate "rituals" (ceremonies such as sacrifices and court meals) and "yue" (music and dance accompanying "rituals"). This is the so-called formulation of rituals and music. It is said that this major measure was promulgated by Duke Zhou, a great statesman in the early Zhou Dynasty. The influence of the ritual and music system lasted for thousands of years until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The specific content of each era was different, but in theory, it was consistent that the Zhou Dynasty was the law. If people in the Shang Dynasty respected ghosts and gods, then people in the Zhou Dynasty respected etiquette and respected ghosts and gods but "kept them at a distance". The ritual and music system of the Zhou Dynasty had two basic contents. One was to stipulate the levels, and the other was to stipulate that the music and dance accompanying the rituals were basically elegant music. Because ritual and music are completely limited to the activities of the upper class of society, in order to understand the ritual and music system of the Zhou Dynasty, it is necessary to first understand the structure of the upper class of society. From a historical perspective, the phenomenon of enfeoffing princes existed in the Shang Dynasty. Because the territory was large, enfeoffment made it easier to rule. But the Shang Dynasty did not grant people with the same surname to various places. The Zhou Dynasty also engaged in enfeoffment, which should be said to be based on the Shang method. However, most of the Zhou people enfeoffed people with the same surname. That is to say, the Zhou tribesmen were enfeoffed to various parts of the country to become local rulers. For example, in the early Zhou Dynasty, it was Zhou Gong's younger brother Shukang who was granted the title of Wei to the hometown of Shang. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, it was the concubine friend of King Xuan of Zhou who was granted the title of Zheng Kingdom in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, the enfeoffment of princes in the Zhou Dynasty was a method of combining "clan clan" with "feudalism (feuding feudal lords and founding a country)", thus forming a strict hierarchical relationship of "large and small clans" surrounding the clan surnamed Ji. The princes had a relationship between small sects and large sects to the emperor of Zhou; the princes in turn divided their territories to the ministers and ministers, and these lords and ministers had another level of relationship between small sects and large sects to the princes; the lords and ministers then divided their territories to the lower-ranking nobles. Scholars, these scholars formed another layer of relationship between the small sect and the large sect for the ministers. The ritual and music system emphasizes and fixes this strict patriarchal hierarchical network. Only people of a certain level can enjoy the rituals and music of this level. As far as music is concerned, the content of the level includes absolute restrictions on the types of music and dance, the types and quantities of musical instruments, the number of musicians, etc. Exceeding the specifications is a serious violation of law. Basically using the prescribed elegant music, that is, Qizhou music, in the activities of nobles of all levels and among themselves, will undoubtedly play a role in strengthening the clan's views and forming the idea of ????"one world, one family" within a certain period of time.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ritual and music system could still be maintained normally, which is not difficult to see from the unearthed regulations of the Western Zhou bells. The chimes of the Western Zhou Dynasty were inherited from the chimes of the Shang Dynasty, but they were hung upside down instead of being placed upright. (According to the actual bell performance before the Shang Dynasty, the bell mouth is facing upward.) After the bell body is enlarged, this arrangement is undoubtedly much more secure, and the bell body can be lengthened (so after the Western Zhou Dynasty, the bell body is longer than the Shang bell). However, the chimes of the early Zhou Dynasty were still in groups of three like the chimes of the Shang Dynasty. The musical scale was different from the various forms of the chimes of the Shang Dynasty. They were all: Yu (la) - Gong (do) - Jiao (mi) - Zheng (sol). Even though the chime bells were later increased to a group of eight, the scales were still the same as the above, which was also the same as the scale form of the typical elegant music described in the ancient book "Zhou Li". It can be seen that all the bells in this long period were used to play Zhou Ya music. In Zhou Yayue, instrumental music, dance and singing are often performed separately and are not completely combined. The dance is coordinated by the flute, which is similar to the flute, and the singing is accompanied by the harp instrument or the reed instrument sheng. The instrumental music is the so-called "golden instrument". , is an ensemble of bells, drums and chimes. The "Golden Memorial" was of very high standard and could only be used by the emperor and princes. Doctors and scholars could only use drums. The bells and chimes, with their huge volume and unique timbre, interweave into a solemn and majestic sound. Together with the cooperation of drums, they can indeed create the "supreme" and "majestic" effect of the emperor and the princes. The rapid development of this type of musical instrument should be recognized as an accurate choice made by aristocratic society. A comprehensive analysis of many ancient literature materials tells us that the singing parts of the elegant music used in the Western Zhou Dynasty all belong to the "Zhou Song", "Daya" and "Xiaoya" in the "Book of Songs", and these are all Qizhou music songs. As for "Guofeng", only the earlier "Zhou Nan" and "Zhao Nan" can be used for lower-level "rituals", and this is a phenomenon that only appeared in later times, because the second "Nan" is basically Works from the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The Western Zhou Dynasty lasted for three hundred years. In fact, within such a long time, the original meaning of Yale's Qizhou music was gradually forgotten. What's more, Qizhou is the political center of the country, so "Ya" naturally means "righteousness". The meaning of "Yayan" has been equated with "standard language" ("Mandarin" at that time), and the meaning of "Yayue" has been equated with "formal music" and "ceremonial music". Zhou Yale's role in using Qizhou music to arouse and unify people's clan ideas has been unable to play its role, because music that cannot be changed according to the rules of the ritual music system, as time goes by, even the nobles have become increasingly alienated from it, and gradually regard it as They are regarded as just "ancient music"; the political role of Western Zhou Dynasty music will shrink and die together with its tasteless "ancient music", which is an inevitable historical fate. Spring and Autumn Period During the Spring and Autumn Period (8th century BC - 5th century BC), a situation of "collapse of rites and music" began to appear. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the patriarchal system gradually disintegrated. People with different surnames could form alliances, but those with the same surname could attack each other. The concepts of clan and blood kinship were gradually replaced by regional feudal concepts. Local music in each region that was originally only popular among the lower classes of society gained its own identity. deserved status. The "Guo Feng" in the "Book of Songs" are the national songs and poems of each vassal state. Most of the "Guo Feng" are works from the Spring and Autumn Period. It was the gradual revival of music in various places during the Spring and Autumn Period that emerged. Later, local music could even replace elegant music and be used in rituals. Zheng Guo music (Zheng Sheng) was the first to create it. It is precisely because of this that Confucius, who took it as his own duty to maintain the ritual and music system, "hated Zheng Sheng for disrupting elegant music", said "Zheng Sheng was immersed in elegant music" (Zheng Sheng was immersed in elegant music), and proposed to "release Zheng Sheng" ( Drive Zheng Sheng out of the Yale field). But Confucius could not change the course of history. After the death of Confucius, the influence of local music expanded even more, and it was called "new music" in society. The famous ones include music from Zheng, Wei, Song, Qi and other regions. "Xinle" is named in the sense of "new rise". If we look at history, many "new music" are actually older than the Western Zhou Dynasty music, which is known as "ancient music". For example, Zheng, Wei, Song and other countries, Zheng is an area of ??early Shang activity, Wei is the seat of the Shang royal family, and Song is a feudal state of the descendants of the Shang after the death of the Shang. Their music is inherited from the Shang, and in terms of origin, it is older than the music of Qizhou , and the level of development is also relatively high. More importantly, all "new music" is not blocked by the ritual and music system like "ancient music", but develops according to the laws of music itself. Therefore, "new music" is fresh and lively, with various styles, beautiful and touching. Even the nobles who theoretically understand the importance of "ancient music" have to admit that they really like "new music" and do not feel tired when listening to "new music". The chime bells unearthed from the Spring and Autumn Period no longer adhere to the musical scale pattern of "Gong-Jiao-Zheng-Yu" of Yale. They vividly preserve for future generations the different styles of musical scales from various places at that time. For example, the chimes of Xinzheng in the state of Zheng (Xinzheng is the capital of Zheng) can not only form the raised fourth-level heptatonic scale regarded as the "orthodox" in history, but also can form the natural heptatonic scale; and can form three raised pentatonic scales. . The scale of the Houma chimes of the Jin Dynasty has six missing corners (mi), which even have the same scale characteristics as the folk songs in this area today. After the rise of "Xinle" in various places, it not only developed locally, but also gained unprecedented exchanges with political and economic exchanges and wars between countries. The Chu State in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period had a set of thirteen chimes with a complete set of twelve rhythms, covering the possibility of playing music from various places; they should be a reflection of the great exchange of music from various places. The large set of chimes of Zeng State in the early Warring States Period, namely the most famous chimes of Marquis Yi of Zeng, not only tell us the true existence of the great musical exchange at that time from the bell's sound series, but also the inscriptions on the bells.
Warring States Period During the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC), various vassal states had been in dispute for hundreds of years. The Zhou royal family declined and perished, and small vassal states were also annexed by several big powers. The "new music" of this period attracted the attention of the State of Zhao, but in fact, more attention should be paid to the State of Chu. However, because the first people to write about this period of history were the Han Dynasty, and "new music" was recorded in history as "bad music" that was opposed to "ancient music", Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, loved Chu music, so historians I dare not include the sudden rise of Chu Sheng into the category of "new music". Chu is remote in the south. It accepted Zhou culture, but it was less ideologically bound by rituals and music than other countries in the Central Plains. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu actors played local music. The style of Chu music is also very different from that of other countries in the Central Plains. This is not difficult to see from the differences between "Chu Ci" and "The Book of Songs". Chu State is also a place where music from all over the north and south meet. The songs and dances of Zheng, Wu, Cai and Yue all appeared in Chu State. But generally speaking, the Warring States Period valued knowledge and talents in war and state governance. Moreover, due to the continuous wars, the cruelty of the wars was far greater than that in the Spring and Autumn Period. The result was often mass killings and looting, which caused great damage to the economy and culture. serious. Therefore, although elegant music has basically disappeared, the development of "new music" has also been hindered. Most of the chimes in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period are in groups of nine. On the basis of the Western Zhou bell, the low-pitched Zhengyin and Shangyin were added. When these two tones are main drum tones, the side drum tones become Bian Gong and Bian Zheng in the major third. As a result, the drum sounds of the entire set of chimes form a complete pentatonic scale, and the entire tone sequence can form a six-tone or seven-tone scale. For example, a group of button bells unearthed from Tomb No. 1 of Xiasi Temple in Xichuan, Henan Province (Chun Tomb in the Spring and Autumn Period). During this period, chime bells each produced two tones, and bird patterns were generally no longer cast on the side drums. During the Warring States Period, in addition to the nine-piece chime bells that still appeared in groups, there were also combinations of thirteen and fourteen pieces. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, bands with chime bells and drums as their main instruments were popular, and were known as "the music of bells and drums" in history. There is also a popular form of musical instrument performance in which silk and bamboo instruments such as Sheng and Se are combined together. Various musical instruments used by these two types of bands were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. This batch of musical instruments is truly rare for its variety, exquisite craftsmanship, and well-preserved condition. Many of these musical instruments have been discovered for the first time and are important materials for studying the development of music in the early Warring States Period. In 1978, the chimes, chimes and other musical instruments from the tomb of Zeng Houyi in the early Warring States Period were unearthed in Suixian County, Hubei Province (now Suizhou City). It is the largest orchestra arrangement of bells and drums ever seen. The owner of the tomb is a monarch of Zeng State, named Yi; Marquis is the title. The coffin is in the east chamber, and there are eight female teenagers buried in the room. The instruments in this room include ten-stringed qin, five-stringed qin, harp, sheng, snare drum, etc., which can form a small silk and bamboo orchestra. The victims may have been female musicians who played these instruments or performed songs and dances. In the middle room, there is a band used by the tomb owner to hold grand banquets, that is, the musical instruments of the "bell and drum" band. Such as chimes, chimes, drums, panpipes, flutes, flutes, shengs, drums, zithers, etc. Thirteen more female teenagers were buried in the west room. This set of chimes attracts the most attention. It consists of sixty-four bells suspended on three levels on a rectangular bell frame. There are three groups of button bells on the upper floor, with a total of 19 pieces; there are three groups of Yong bells on the middle and lower floors, with a total of 45 pieces. The sound range of the chimes spans up to five groups, and about three of the middle groups have complete twelve tones. All the musical instruments unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng are all exquisitely crafted and have good performance, reaching astonishing heights. Some of them are even beyond the reach of modern people. From the Warring States Period to the Western Han Dynasty, various double-horned button-shaped bells and barrel-shaped bells with unique local characteristics were found in ruins in southwest my country, such as Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan and other places. They were musical instruments used by ethnic minorities in the southwest. So far, the number of chime bells discovered in the Pre-Qin Dynasty has been considerable. According to incomplete statistics in 1988, there were 116 batches, 174 groups, and 903 pieces (the type, group, and piece are unknown) not included). About 400 of them have inscriptions. Qin and Han Dynasties During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ritual and music system since the Zhou Dynasty completely collapsed. The prosperity of the pre-Qin Zhongpan music also ended, and the production of double-tone chimes disappeared. According to historical records, Qin Shihuang cast the "Twelve Golden Figures" as the pillars for the bell frame in Xianyang, and also built the "Bell of Thousand Stones". This huge bell should be referred to as Chao Zhong. It is a symbol of imperial power in the past dynasties. With the rise of Buddhism and Taoism, after the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhist bells (also known as Buddhist bells) and Taoist bells were used in temples and Taoist temples. The earliest extant Buddhist bell was cast in the seventh year of Chen Taijian (575) during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and is now in the house of Gentaro Inoue in Tokyo, Japan. After the Tang Dynasty, giant Buddha and Taoist bells were often cast by emperors, such as the "Jingyun Bell" in Jinglong Temple in Chang'an City (now Xi'an) in the Tang Dynasty, and the "Yongle Bell" in the Dazhong Temple in Beijing during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1403-1424). Big bell". Their practical use is to tell time. The Yongle Bell is 6.94 meters high and has a diameter of 3.3 meters. The weight is 46.5 tons. To this day, the sound is mellow and loud, and can be transmitted dozens of miles away. Seventeen kinds of Buddhist scriptures, totaling more than 227,000 words, are cast in neat regular script inside and outside the bell. This bell is famous both at home and abroad for its loud sound, exquisite casting technology and calligraphy art. It is known as the "King of Bells" in ancient times. After the Qin and Han dynasties, emperors of all dynasties after the Qin and Han Dynasties also cast bells for elegant music in order to restore the ancient system of Zhou rites. For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Emperor Wu of the Southern Liang Dynasty used 26 bells and 504 pieces to play elegant music, all with twelve rhythms. Prepare. The trend of retro style was particularly strong in the Song Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty (1101-1125), the Dasheng Mansion, an institution in charge of music, was established, and twelve sets of chimes were cast, totaling more than 300 pieces. To this day, there are still some that have been recorded and circulated in the world. There are more than ten pieces, and their shapes are imitated from the Song Gongxu bell of the Song Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period that was unearthed in Yingtianfu (now Shangqiu, Henan).
The chimes used in the palace of the Qing Dynasty were in sets of sixteen pieces. Suspended on two levels of bell frames, eight pieces are suspended on each level.
From Bei Yi Ze to Ying Zhong, ***Twelve Rhythms plus Four Times Rhythm