See the cultural relics | this is the earliest surviving stone chime in the world

Shi Zhen (石磬), abbreviated as "磬", is an ancient Chinese Han stone percussion instrument and ceremonial instrument.

In the ancient matriarchal clan society, when people made a living from fishing and hunting, knocking on stones after labor, and dancing in the image of various beasts. This percussion stone was gradually evolved into a later percussion instrument, for example.

In the Jiagu text, the left half of the character resembles a hanging stone, and the right half resembles a hammer tapping in the hand. The chime originated from a certain flaky stone labor tool, and its shape changed in many ways later, and the texture was further changed from the original stone system to the jade and copper chimes.

The shape system of stone chimes is divided into four types (14 small types) of straight back (horizontal bar, vertical bar), folded back (convex pentagonal, trapezoidal), arc back (whale head shape, sea bream shape) and back (blunt angle, convex four, convex five convex six).

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Excavated in 1974 at the Dongxiafeng site in Xia County, Shanxi Province, this stone chime is 69.0 cm long, 27.0 cm high and 9.5 cm thick. Outside the hole, diameter 5.7 cm, hole inside diameter 1.6 cm. Archaeologically determined, this is likely to be the earliest surviving stone chime on the mainland.

The dongxiafeng ruins are located on the terraces on both sides of the North Qinglong River in Dongxiafeng Village, Xia County, southwest Shanxi, and are within the range of the legendary "Xia Ruins". In order to explore the Xia culture, formal excavations were carried out from 1974 to 1979.

The stone chime was excavated from the Erlitou culture, the east of the Feng type cultural layer, and its age is equivalent to the end of summer and the beginning of the Shang Dynasty. The stone is made of fine sandstone, unpolished, rough surface, uneven and uneven, leaving large stone scars. The body is flat and long, with a suspension hole in the middle that is drilled through from both sides. The left side of the hole is slightly oblique upwards, and the right side of the hole is gradually inclined downwards, which has been roughly different from the stock and drum. The bottom edge curves slightly upwards and the right end is slightly warped.

Editor-in-charge: Jia Tingyi