The chime consists of several "bells" of different sizes. Each bell is decorated with a simple animal face, and the inner cavity is empty. There are many kinds of chimes, and in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, nine bells were used as a group. The larger compilation is represented by the bells of Zeng Houyi (bells unearthed from Zeng Houyi's tomb), with a total of 64 pieces hanging in three layers.

The history of chimes can be traced back to the late Neolithic Age, when most chimes were made of pottery. After Shang Dynasty, bells were mostly made of copper.

With the development of history, bells have developed from a set of three to nine, twelve or even more. Different chimes can form a complete pentatonic scale, hexatonic scale and heptatonic scale. A set of nine bronze chimes in this series is a tile chime, and its pitch depends on the size of the chime body. This set of chimes can form a complete pentatonic scale.

The chime belongs to the family of percussion instruments with variable sound, and its sound is like a bell, crisp and pleasant, and its tone is lasting. With oriental color, it is suitable for playing oriental pentatonic music.