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Each kind of cultural relics is a cultural imprint of an era, through the cultural relics to touch the temperature and thickness of history, Zeng Houyi chimes are famous, admired in his heart for a long time, but I don't know how many secrets are hidden waiting for us to explore, who does it belong to? What country does it belong to? What is the role besides playing music? What is so magical about this set of chimes that the ancients attached so much importance to it? Lifting the fog of history lets us find out.
The Spring and Autumn Warring States Period was an era of collapse and happiness, and the princes fell in love with each other, and it was also an era of a hundred schools of thought and unprecedented cultural prosperity; an era of the collection of sages: in the world, Shakyamuni, Pythagoras, Socrates, etc. came out of nowhere; in China, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mo Zhai, Zhuang Zhou, etc. appeared one after another, however, there is a person, the cultural heritage he left us, is a rare treasure of that era, which can be called a shocking work, he is Zeng Houyi.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty gradually declined, the princes rose together, and the foreign princely states adjacent to the Zeng Kingdom also rose rapidly in this period From 706 BC, the Chu State was ambitious, and successively annexed several small surrounding countries, only the northern Zeng State existed alone, the monarch Zeng Hou Yi was born orthodox, proficient in ceremonial music, good at diplomacy, quite prestigious, one day Zeng Hou Yi received a gift from the King of Chu - bronze bell, this bell was first hung in the Zeng Kingdom, and after the death of Zeng Hou Yi, It also replaced a large set of bells in the middle of the funeral, and buried underground with Zeng Houyi, a series of actions that are quite political, and this set of chimes is also the ZengHouyi chimes that are famous in the sea today.
Warring States Zeng Hou Yi chimes are the early Warring States large-scale ceremonial music heavy instrument, national first-class cultural relics, in 1978 in Sui County, Hubei Province (now Suizhou) drum dun Zeng Hou Yi tomb excavated, now in the Hubei Provincial Museum, for the museum "treasure of the town hall", is our current excavation, the best preserved, the most exquisite cast of a set of chimes. The bell stand of the Warring States Zenghou Yi is 748 cm long and 265 cm high, and the complete set of chimes is a total of 65 pieces, which are hung in three layers and eight groups on a bronze and wood structure bell frame in the shape of a curved ruler, and the largest bell is 152.3 cm high and weighs 203.6 kg. It is cast by hun casting and sub-casting methods, using copper welding, casting inlay, wrong gold and other process technologies, as well as decorative techniques such as circular carving, relief, inscription, and paint painting. 2400 years ago, the productivity was not high, Zeng Houyi chimes were so exquisitely crafted, the volume of such a large instrument, the wisdom of the ancestors made us deeply shocked, standing in front of it as if penetrating time and space to engage in dialogue with Zeng Houyi, the king of Zeng Guoguo.
In the Warring States period, the princes were full of extravagant pleasures, they were no longer satisfied with the solemn and solemn Western Zhou music, more changed musical styles, richer types of musical instruments, on the stage, the golden stone and singing, silk and bamboo in the feast of staggering, guests and hosts were happy, for the Warring States princes, the palace banquet was so frequent, and its pomp was so luxurious.
Chimes are a kind of combined instrument in the pre-Qin era, usually according to the size, rhythm and pitch of the bell, and multiple bronze bells are arranged into groups, which can play melodious and pleasant music. In the pre-Qin period, chimes and chimes were important musical instruments used in noble sacrifices, banquets, ceremonies and other occasions, and played a leading role in ancient ceremonial music ceremonies. Chimes are usually bronze bells, and chimes are mainly made of stone, and the two are matched, which is called "the sound of gold and stone" in ancient times.
The Zenghou Yi chimes are the largest combination of chimes ever seen in archaeological discoveries. A total of sixty-five chimes, divided into eight groups, are hung on a three-tier bell frame made of copper and wood. Among them, the upper three groups of nineteen pieces are button clocks; the middle three groups of thirty-three pieces are Yong bells, divided into three styles: short, no and long; the lower layer is two groups of large long Yong bells, twelve pieces; and another palladium (bó) clock. The largest chime is 152.3 centimeters high and weighs 203.6 kilograms; the smallest one is 20.2 centimeters high and weighs 2.4 kilograms; and what is even more surprising than the size of the chimes is the "one bell and two tones": a bell can strike two sounds, the front of the drum is called the positive drum sound, and the side drum sound is called the side drum sound. There are 3700-word inscriptions on the bell body, bell frame and wall clock components, which are memorandums about musical culture at that time, and these inscriptions not only mark the pronunciation of each bell, but also clearly indicate the correspondence between these names and the rhythms of Chu, Zhou, Qi, Shen and other countries.
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The archaeological excavation of the tomb of Zeng Houyi has caused a sensation in the country and overseas, this rare cultural relics have entered the field of vision of researchers and the public in an open attitude, and researchers who have been working for decades have unanimously agreed that zenghou yi chimes are the only major discoveries in the world, occupying an important position in the history of human culture, music history, history of science and technology, and showing the height created by human wisdom in the "axis era".
Only to see its shape, not to hear its sound, not to know the chimes, to make this unique instrument "alive". The musical performance of the tried chimes is perfect, and it can be used to play famous songs from ancient and modern China and abroad. Three months after the excavation of the Founding Day, an unprecedented concert of the original ZengHouyi chimes was held in an auditorium in Suizhou, and the opening song "Dongfang Hong" was slowly played, and the solemn and quiet, familiar melody in the auditorium was particularly wonderful by the chimes of Zeng Houyi, who had been sleeping for more than 2400 years. Then "Chu Shang", "All the Way to Peace", "Ode to Joy", "International Song", the small bell is ethereal, the Yong bell is round and full, the big bell is majestic, and the applause at the scene of Qu bi is thunderous and the atmosphere is very warm.
From excavation to music theory excavation to performance dissemination, the Zeng Houyi chimes that have been sleeping for more than 2400 years have been "alive". On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong's sovereignty was returned to China, and Tan Dun composed the symphony "1997: Heaven and Earth People" to celebrate the return of Hong Kong, the national shame of the snow for a hundred years, and the national spirit, composing a new song for the chimes in the form of modern percussion music combined with traditional playing methods, which appeared magnificent, and the Chinese Chimes Orchestra used (using the zenghou yi chimes from more than 2,400 years ago) to express the most fashionable theme.
"The vessel carries the Tao, and the national artificial object does not stay at the practical level, but conveys a certain aesthetic taste and spiritual realm through the utensils." Study the music theory of Zeng Houyi chimes and crack the "one bell and two tones" principle of Zeng Houyi chimes, which comes from its unique bell type - "shaped like a tile". Like two tiles clasped together, there are two different vibration patterns on the chime, and then the thickness of the bell wall is used to control the level of the sound. Researchers have restored and developed chimes, strived for excellence, and made unremitting efforts, so that more chime reproductions can be made to the whole country and even internationally.
In recent years, the Wuhan Conservatory of Music Youth Chimes Orchestra, together with the Hubei Provincial Museum Chimes Orchestra, the Wuhan Conservatory of Music Youth Chimes Orchestra, and the Hubei Opera and Dance Theater, three chimes playing groups, due to different research emphases, are carrying out similar work nature - spreading the "living" chime culture around the world. In 2017, together with a musical instrument company in Yantai, Shandong Province, a new type of chime was released - the traditional percussion instrument chime "transformed" into an ordinary instrument through the keyboard interface, which can be played by piano and electronic keyboard players. Some people believe that due to the pianoization of chimes, it is completely possible for Chinese chimes to enter concert halls, churches, and conservatories in major cities around the world, and it is possible for chimes to enter ordinary families like pianos.
And Zeng Houyi chimes have become a cultural symbol, deeply imprinted in the trajectory of China's development, on the original site of the excavation site of Zeng Houyi's tomb, a beautiful museum stands majestically, showing the world the leisurely history of the land under the feet, the Zenghou Yi chimes unearthed for more than 40 years are still very young, and the Zenghou Yi chimes that have gone through the years have finally glowed with new brilliance.
In recent years, the mainland archaeology has achieved fruitful results, and there have been new discoveries and new progress in field excavation work in various periods such as Paleolithic archaeology, Neolithic archaeology, and archaeology in the historical period, which provide rich and detailed information for exploring major topics such as the origin of Chinese civilization, the process of civilization, and cultural exchanges.
So who are the archaeological excavations for? Not only for experts, for research, but more importantly, for the masses, taking the mass line, which precisely reflects the new attitude of treating cultural relics protection in sync with reform and opening up, if you want to make the exhibition and cultural relics "alive", you must get out of the expert's perspective, stand in the audience's perspective to think about problems and conceive stories. The real protection should rely on today's scientific and technological means and the efforts of people in the industry to achieve more far-reaching inheritance and dissemination among the masses, enhance the people's sense of cultural acquisition, and enrich people's spiritual world. We must strengthen archaeological work and historical research, but also let the cultural relics collected in museums, the heritage displayed on the vast land, and the words written in ancient books be "alive" to enrich the historical and cultural nourishment of the whole society, and the exhibition of cultural relics is changing from a fine exhibition to a narrative exhibition, not only to take out good things for everyone to see, but also to tell the story behind the cultural relics, to promote the historical value, cultural value, aesthetic value, scientific and technological value and era value contained in the cultural relics.
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