Zeng Houyi's chime is a cultural relic in the early Warring States period. The unearthed chimes are huge musical instruments composed of sixty-five bronze chimes, with a range of five and a half octaves and twelve semitones. Ceng Houyi's chimes are huge and complete. According to the order of size and pitch, they are woven into 8 groups and hung on a 3-layer clock rack.
The last three groups 19 are button clocks, which are small in size and have square buttons and seal cutting, but the characters are cylindrical, and there are few columnar characters, only the sound names are marked. There are five groups of 45 Yong bells in the middle and lower floors, with long handles, and the bells are decorated with embossed plain patterns, which are fine and exquisite, plus 65 Yi bells given by King Hui of Chu. There are gold inscriptions on the clock, all about music, except "Written by Ceng Houyi".
The middle and left side of the drum are marked with 22 names with different pitches, such as Gong, Yu and Gong Zeng, and the other side is cast with the names of rhythm, mode and treble, as well as the corresponding relationship between Zeng Guo and Chu, Zhou, Qi and Jin laws and scales.
There is also a clock, which is located in the middle of the next clock. Huge shape, double dragon snake-shaped button, dragon body curled. Looking back, the snake is located above the faucet, coiled and opposite, with a sudden momentum.
Important value: The discovery of bells chimed by Zeng Houyi in the Warring States Period rewrote the history of world music. It is a set of chimes with the largest number, the best preservation, the most complete melody and the most magnificent momentum found in China so far. It represents the highest achievement of China's pre-Qin ritual and music civilization and bronze casting technology, and has exerted great influence in the fields of archaeology, history, musicology, history of science and technology, etc.
Extended data:
Zeng Houyi's chime is 273 cm high, 335 cm wide and 748 cm long. The largest chime is 153.4 cm high and weighs 203.6 kg, while the smallest chime is 20.4 cm high and weighs 2.4 kg. The total weight of the bell body is 2567 kg, and the copper part of the bell frame (including the hook) is 442 1.48 kg.
The bell stand of Zeng Houyi's chime is tall, and it is vertically intersected by two facades with different lengths, showing a curved ruler shape. Seven painted wooden beams are reinforced by copper sleeves with dragon patterns at both ends, and supported by six bronze columns and eight columns of swordsmen, forming three layers. There are 246 clock stands and hooks (including detachable parts).
Baidu Encyclopedia —— Bell chimes of Zeng Houyi in Warring States Period