Previously, we introduced the treasure of the Hubei Provincial Museum------ the Yue King's Gou Jian Sword.
In addition to the Yue Wang Sword, the Hubei Provincial Museum also has another town museum, which is not only the first batch of cultural relics prohibited from going abroad (border) for exhibition, but also the Chimes of Zeng Houyi of the Warring States, which is known as the "Eighth Wonder ----- of the World".
Why did this set of chimes become the eighth wonder of the world?
First, the artistic masterpieces at the peak of China's Bronze Age
The set of 65 chimes is arguably the most complete and large bronze chimes to date, measuring 273 cm high, 335 cm wide and 748 cm long.
The largest pass height is 153.4 cm and weighs 203.6 kg, and the youngest pass height is 20.4 cm and weighs 2.4 kg. The total weight of the whole bell body is 2567 kg, plus the copper part of the bell frame (including the hook), a total of 4421.48 kg.
As a representative work of lilly culture at that time, the whole set of chimes reflects the cultural splendor of the pre-Qin culture at that time.
The process technology of brazing, casting and setting, and staggering gold of chimes, as well as decorative techniques such as circular carving and relief, reflect the high level of metallurgical casting technology in the pre-Qin period.
(When the chimes of Zeng Houyi were unearthed and transported into the warehouse)
Second, the musical masterpiece of China's pre-Qin culture
At the time of the chime excavation, archaeologists also found 6 T-shaped painted mallets and 2 painted wooden sticks nearby, and archaeologists deduced that these mallets and sticks were mainly used to ring bells and strike bells.
This set can be hailed as the most majestic instrument in the world, even if it has been sleeping for more than two thousand years, it can still have a wide range, accurate tone, and also has "one bell double tone", a bell strikes on the front, and a side strike has two completely different musical tones.
Since its excavation in 1978, the original chimes of Zeng Houyi have been played three times.
The first time was on August 1, 1978, when a two-hour concert was held with "Dongfang Hong" as the opening chapter.
(Scene of the original concert of Zeng Houyi chimes on August 1, 1978)
Third, the historical achievements in Chinese music law
This set of chimes was excavated intact, and the bell shoots, bell hooks, and bell bodies have a total of 3755 inscriptions, and each bell body is engraved with a wrong gold seal inscription, and the wrong gold inscription can reach 2828 words.
In addition to marking the names of various pronunciation rhythms, these inscriptions also clearly marked the correspondence between these order names and the rhythms of Chu, Zhou, Qi, Shen and other countries.
(Bell inscription)
Before the chimes were unearthed, the term "changing palace" had not appeared in the known pre-Qin historical sources in the past, leading to a long-term widespread belief that the seven-tone scale of music was introduced from abroad with Buddhism.
However, in the inscription, the names of "Changing Palace" and "Changing Signs" and their actual performance can be found, which also confirms that in the pre-Qin era, the ancients had already adopted a seven-tone scale in musical rhythms.
(Chimes partial map, image source network)
In addition, the chime inscriptions, as well as subsequent excavations in Jiangling Yutai Mountain, Hubei Province, chu state law pipe inscriptions confirm:
During the Chu period, it already had its own twelve-law name system, which was mainly composed of the four order names of gong, shang, zheng and yu in the traditional five tones except for the horn, plus the changing names of gongjiao, shangjiao, zhengjiao, yujiao, gongzeng, shangzeng, zhengzeng and yuzeng.
This also proves that during the Warring States period, the ancients already had a complete twelve-tone system, breaking the previous academic belief that the twelve-tone rhythm was imported from ancient Greece.
The whole set of Zenghou Yi chimes reflects the peak of China's pre-Qin Lile civilization and bronze casting technology.
Unfortunately, Li Bang also reached a chaotic point in the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and people wanted to run rampant. And with the passage of the era of the main love of the country, even if the Duke of Qi Huan and the Duke of Jin Wen put forward the slogan of "Honoring the King", Zhou Li was revived again.
However, the large instruments with chimes were not as brilliant as before, and eventually disappeared into the stage of history.
The chimes, which have been sleeping for more than 2,400 years, are also quietly sitting in the museum, waiting for modern people to feel the national music enjoyed by the nobility.