Stories of the Chime-bells—Unearthed from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng State

Text by Liu Yishan Photos by Su Zhuolin Edited by Joseph Ma & Jessie Ning

When a group of soldiers in the PLA army,stationed in Suixian County,Hubei Province,was leveling some land for their workshop in the autumn of 1977,they found some ancient bronze wares and bankette.They immediately reported this finding to the local government.

Early the next year,a provincial archaeological team was dispatched to the site,and the ancient tomb,“No.1 Drum-beating Mound Tomb,” started its excavation.The coffin appeared when the water receded,full of treasures—a large set of musical instruments with 65 chime bells was unearthed.

As the tomb was later found to be Marquis Yi’s,a local lord in a small state called Zeng some 2400 years ago,the set of bells,got its name as the chime bells of Marquis Yi.For its brilliant music tones and scales,exquisite handiwork,and grandness,it was dubbed “the eighth wonder of the world.”

Each bell produces two tones when struck at the respective sound points as marked.The entire set of chime bells is able to produce almost all the tones of a modern piano.The finding of the bells,which once played music in the ancient royal court,was deemed to have changed the history of world music.Hereby,weselect part of the stories in Stories of the Chime-bells written by Hubei writer Liu Yishan,to unveil the myth behind the chime bells.And here comes the first one...

The chime bells of Marquis Yi have a history of around 2,400 years曾侯乙編鐘距今約2400年