Zeng Hou Yi chime.
Yangtze River Daily Greater Wuhan client, January 17 (reporter Wan Jianhui correspondent Sun Xia) learned from the Hubei Provincial Museum on the 17th that the National Archives Bureau recently announced the fifth batch of Chinese archival document heritage list, including Suizhou Zeng Marquis Yi chimes 55 pieces (groups) of archival documents selected nationwide.
The Zeng Marquis Yi chime was unearthed in 1978 in the tomb of Zeng Marquis Yi in Suizhou, Hubei Province, dating from about 2400 years ago, which is the world's largest and most complete bronze chimes unearthed so far, one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the world, and a first-class cultural relic banned from being exported by the State Council.
Zeng Marquis Yi's chimes are hung in three layers, divided into eight groups, a total of 65 pieces, with a total of 3755 words of inscription (including 2828 words of bell body inscription, 740 words of pendant inscription, and 187 words of bell beam inscription), the main content of which is music literature.
For more than 40 years, the international academic community has carried out continuous research on the discovery of Zeng Houyi's chimes and inscriptions, involving archaeology, history, metallurgical casting, physical acoustics, astronomy, paleography , chemistry, music, communication, education, etc. The study of Zeng Hou Yi's chimes and their inscriptions and sound is also one of the important topics in Chinese music archaeology, and more than 500 documents have been devoted to or related research on Zeng Hou Yi's chimes.
Zeng Marquis Yi chime part of the inscription.
Copies of Zeng Houyi's chimes frequently appear on the international stage, and have visited more than 20 countries and regions, becoming a "golden business card" for cultural exchanges. According to incomplete statistics, more than 600 million people around the world have experienced the visual feast of "Chime Music and Dance" through various channels.
Many "big coffees" in the fields of archaeology, music and art interpreted the important documentary value of Zeng Houyi's chimes in the form of expert opinions. The Zeng Marquis Yi chime inscription is the only Chinese pre-Qin court music law document seen so far, the inscription records the music system at that time and the relationship between its music, embodies a rich and rigorous knowledge system of music law, and is a systematic summary of pre-Qin court music theory and practice. These official pre-Qin music texts are only found in Jinwen excavated in China, and two-thirds of the 28 legal names recorded have been lost in the texts.
Zeng Hou Yi chimes are practical musical instruments, which can be played to this day, and the sound has preserved the musical information of that time, with stable pitch, wide vocal range and grand system. As a carrier of archival documents, its inscriptions and sound are mutually authenticated, recording the theory and practice of music in China about 2400 years ago. The coexistence of Zeng Hou Yi's chime inscription and musical information constitutes the only known audio document in the world in the 5th century BC, which is a miracle in the history of human music.
The inscriptions and musical information of Zeng Houyi's chimes contain rich musical mathematical relationships, which are the witnesses of the highly developed abstract thinking ability of human beings in the "Axis Age", and occupy an important position in the history of world music, science and technology, and culture.
Zeng Marquis Yi chime part of the inscription.
Fang Qin, director of the Hubei Provincial Museum and president of the Hubei Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the chimes of Zeng Hou Yi represent the pinnacle of China's pre-Qin Lile civilization and ancient bronze casting techniques. The land of Zeng Marquis Yi's chimes was Suizhou, Hubei, which was the "southern soil" of the Central Plains Dynasty during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The chime inscription records the legal names of Zeng, Zhou, Chu, Jin, Qi, Shen and other states, involving multiple princely states in the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins, covering a wide area, reflecting the integration of northern and southern cultures, and is an example of the diversity and unity of Chinese civilization.
The relevant person in charge of the Hubei Provincial Museum introduced that Zeng Houyi chimes were selected into the fifth batch of Chinese archival documentary heritage list, laying the foundation for the next application for the Memory of the World list. Projects with wide influence and world significance in the Chinese Archival Heritage List are expected to be selected by the Chinese National Committee of the Memory of the World Programme and nominated for nomination to the Memory of the World Asia-Pacific List or the International List. The Memory of the World Programme (MoW) was launched by UNESCO in 1992 to protect the world's cultural heritage, promote its access and raise awareness of the importance of documentary heritage.
Since 2000, the National Archives Bureau has established a list of China's archival documentary heritage and organized the application and selection work. Up to now, a total of 5 batches of applications and selections have been organized, and 198 precious archival documents (groups) have been selected into the list of Chinese archival documentary heritage. These precious archival documents are released to the public in the form of a directory, which has a great role in promoting the protection and publicity of precious archival documents. The establishment of the Chinese Archival Documentary Heritage List has provided a resource reserve for the mainland to apply for the Memory of the World Register and the Memory of the World Asia-Pacific List. At present, 13 archival documents have been selected for the Memory of the World Register and 14 archival documents have been selected into the Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Register.
[Editor: Ding Yi]