The Legendary Tale of Drum-beating Mound

Ourstory of the chimebellsbegan in the year 1977—yet,it may have actually started some 2400 years ago,during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period in ancient China.At the end of the Warring States Period,in Suixian County—situated now in Hubei Province in the middle part of China—the Kingdom of Chu conquered the State of Sui (Zeng)and made it a county immediately afterwards.

Suixian County was originally the feudal tenure of Yang Jian,Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty(hereinafter called Emperor Wen),and the Sui Dynasty was named after the county.Yet,Emperor Wen regarded it as a taboo because a component of the character 隨 (Suí) had the meaning ‘go,' which might imply that his ruling would not last long.So he changed it into another character 隋 with the same sound.The later Tang Dynasty followed the practice.It was not until the Song Dynasty that the character was changed back to the former Sui in the name of the county.

Liu Yishan,born in Jiangxia,Wuhan,is a member of China Writers’ Association,vice chairman of Hubei Writers’Association,president and editor in chief of Changjiang Literature and Art magazine,and an Expert with Outstanding Contributions from Hubei Province.Now,he is the honorary president of Hubei Reportage Society and the resident writer of Wuhan Donghu University.He has publishedmore than 5 million words of novels,prose and poetry,and more than 30 reportage works of poetry,fiction and prose.劉益善，生于武漢江夏，中國作家協會會員，曾仼湖北省作家協會副主席、長江文藝雜志社社長、主編，湖北省有突出貢獻專家。現仼湖北省報告文學學會名譽會長、武漢東湖學院駐校作家。發表小說、散文、詩歌500余萬字，出版詩歌、小說、散文、報告文學作品30余部。

After the founding of the People's Republic of China,Suixian County was first subord in at et o Xiao ganPrefecture,and later to Xiangyang City.In 1994,it was upgraded to a city directly under the supervision of Hubei Province.In the year of 2000,with the approval of the State Council,it was further upgraded to a prefecture-level city named Suizhou,administering the neighboring Guangshui City.

The chime bells of Marquis Yi were unearthed曾侯乙編鐘出土

督陣的楚莊王親自擂起戰鼓，楚軍掩殺過去，擊潰叛軍。

這段傳說，《東周列國志》中有記載。楚莊王擂鼓督陣的山包，從此就叫作擂鼓墩。

The King of Chu Beat the Drum in Person and Defeated the Rebellious Troops

The Drum-beating Mound we see today is far from ordinary: A historic and legendary event took place here.

It is said that in 605 BC (the ninth year of King Zhuang of the State of Chu),Dou Yuejiao took up the post as premier of the land.He arrogated all authorities,acted arbitrarily,and dismissed all those who held different opinions from him.Worst of all,he desired the position of King of Chu.He killed Wei Gu,who was in charge of the military,and then lead the Ruo Ao clan to rebel while the King of Chu was leading his troops to fight against the State of Sui.

The King's troops arrived before the wall of Sui's capital and took the crucial commanding position of the southern part of the city.Dou Yuejiao led his army,closing in from behind.The King's army could hardly confront the enemy from both sides.In the battle,the King of Chu's army lost several of his generals in a row,and had to retreat back to their barracks.

Confronted with such a dangerous situation,the King felt extremely desperate.Just at that moment,an official recommended a young general named Yang Youji to him,saying that his archery was superb—he could shoot through a willow leaf with an arrow from a distance of a hundred steps.

Dubious of the official's words,the king called Yang Youji over for a performance on the spot.

It so happened that right at the moment a fiock of wild geese were fiying overhead.Yang Youji seized his bow and fitted an arrow to it.With a whoosh out fiew the arrow and the leading goose fell to the ground.

A soldier picked it up and reported that the arrow went right into the neck of the goose.

The king was overjoyed.

The following day the king of Chu led his army to confront Dou Yuejiao's troops again.The young general Yang Youji stepped out of the array.

Yang Youji said to Dou Yuejiao:“Let's try archery first.I'll let you shoot me three arrows first.If all of them fail,I'll just shoot you one arrow.”

Seeing such a boasting youngster,Dou Yuejiao uttered a cold laugh,utterly ignoring the challenge.Wishing to break the Chu army early and seize the king of Chu,he agreed to a duel.

Dou Yuejiao shot three arrows in succession.The first one was grabbed by Yang Youji with his left hand,the second with his right.The third arrow flew directly towards the throat of Yang Youji.In the blink of an eye,Yang Youji leaned to one side and bit the arrow with his mouth.

Yang Youji dropped down the two arrows,took the one from his mouth,fitted the arrow,and drew the bow.Quick as the lightening,the arrow darted right into the throat of Dou Yuejiao.

It was too fast to dodge,and Dou Yuejiao was shot by the arrow and died,and the rebels fied in disorder.

The king of Chu,leading the soldiers at the front,started to beat the drum himself,and then the Chu army pounced on the enemy and crushed the rebellious forces.

After King Zhuang defeated the rebels,the monarch of the Sui State sent an emissary to seek peace.King Zhuang was afraid of a further rebellion in his own state,so he agreed to the proposal for peace.

This legendary tale was kept inThe Records of the States in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

The mound on which King Zhuang beat the drum to excite his soldiers was named “Drumbeating Mound” thereafter.

Although there is such a legend about the Drum-beating Mound,what happened after the King of Chu beat the drum wasn't entirely clear.According to the recollection of the elders living nearby,various groups of warlords sprang up during the Republic of China,and the place turned into an area haunted by stragglers,disbanded soldiers,bandits and thieves.Numerous cases of kidnaps and the slaughtering of hostages,as well as burglary took place here.

For quite some time locals living in the vicinity would remain silent whenever the name of the Drum-beating Mound was mentioned.

擂鼓墩像一個閱盡歲月滄桑的老人，看到過2600多年前的那場冷兵器的廝殺，也看到過70多年前中國軍人的英勇抗戰。

它記載著歷史，它保存了歷史。終歸有一天，它會向世界展示歷史，展示歷史的壯觀與輝煌。

Japanese Troops Encamped Here During Sui-Zao Battle

In 1938,the Japanese army captured Wuhan City after a violent defense by the Chinese army.In the following year the Japanese invaders marched westward along the Yangtze River,intending to capture Yichang and then Chongqing,to achieve their military goal of complete occupation of China.

In the Han River basin,the Chinese troops,led by General Li Zongren,commander of the Chinese army of the area,waged a battle against Nimura Okamura,the Japanese commander of the 11th Army.

The Japanese army first occupied Zaoyang County and Suixian County,and then a team of Japanese soldiers were sent to dig trenches and build blockhouses and other military installations in an attempt for long-term encampment at the Drum-beating Mound.

The terrain of the Drumbeating Mound was comparatively high,taking up a corner which was easy to defend and difficult to attack.After a life-and-death fighting,the Chinese army staged a fierce comeback,and ultimately recaptured both Suixian and Zaoyang.

The Sui-Zao Battle came to an end then—the Chinese troops killed over 13,000 Japanese soldiers,while over 20,000 Chinese soldiers lost their lives.Many soldiers of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army,led by Li Xiannian,lost their lives in the battle too.

The Drum-beating Mound was once a military fort of the Japanese army.When the Japanese army retreated,there were only collapsed houses and broken walls.The local folks have had a taboo about this place ever since,and they never climbed up the mound unless absolutely necessary.

A duplicate set of the chime bells of Marquis Yi was used to perform music during the Event of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Presenting Hubei Province in 20182018年外交部湖北全球推介活動現場，曾侯乙編鐘復制品奏響古樂

The Drum-beating Mound became a barren mountain and waste field.Locust trees,pine trees,and low shrubs grew all over the hill in disorder and graves piled in heaps here and there.The hooting of owls deep in the night sounded scary,and the place was gloomy and forlorn,seemly haunted with ghosts.Locals reported lights hovering around high and low,and ghosts of wrongly-slayed men sneaking about.Even children dared not make any sound when the name of Drum-beating Mound was ever mentioned.

The Drum-beating Mound,like an old man who has lived through the ages,has witnessed fierce battles beginning over 2600 years ago when King Zhuang suppressed the rebellious troops to the war of resistance against the Japanese invasion 70 years ago in modern times.It saw the courage of the Chinese soldiers and General Zhang Zizhong's death for his motherland,and the retreat of the Japanese invaders.

The Drum-beating Mound is a historical site that has recorded and preserved the long history of China.There will be a day when it can relate its historical tales to people outside,exhibiting its magnificence and splendor to the world.

Yet,for a long time,the Drumbeating Mound has been lifeless and deserted,silently watching the trees withering and flourishing,the crops in the fields below being harvested one season after another,and the Yunshui River and Jueshui River fiowing away.

However,the mysterious mask of the Drum-beating Mound,worn for more than 2000 years,is waiting to be unveiled by its offspring.

Treasure Under the Barracks

In 1965,the Air Force Radar Troops in Wuhan needed to set up a radar ordnance repair workshop.They went to several nearby counties and cities for a site,but none was satisfactory.

After General Liu Feng,then the deputy commander of the Wuhan Air Force,learned about it,he asked Mr.Zhang Tixue,his old comrade in arms and the governor of Hubei Province,which place would be a desirable one for the new radar repair workshop.

Governor Zhang was then working in the Dahong Mountains in Suixian County for a period of time,and was very familiar with the topography,customs,and history of Suixian.He recommended to Liu Feng the Drum-beating Mound without hesitation.

The Wuhan Air Force immediately sent its officers to the Drum-beating Mound for a pre-examination.Wang Jiagui,who later held the post as the deputy director of the radar repair workshop,was the technician in charge of the pre-examination and design of the facility.He had studied engineering architecture at the Beijing University of Construction and Architecture.

Escorted by the involved parties from Suixian,Wang Jiagui and his colleagues arrived at the bank of Jueshui River soon after their westward journey.A moist air blew against their faces,brisk and invigorating.In front of them,the hills rolled into a haze of mist that curled upward from the valleys,and the Drum-beating Mound,towering above the ground,looked very much like a lying beast.They could hear the rustling sound of wind blowing through the leaves of the trees on the earthen pier.

There also squatted two lower hills called the Eastern Slope and Western Slope on both sides of the Drum-beating Mound.

As Wang Jiagui once studied architecture and had some knowledge about the theory of geomancy,he regarded the place a perfect location for setting up a radar repair workshop.

He expressed his idea of setting up his base camp there to the local companions.

The accompanying locals told him the truth that the place was a barren and wild mountain with unmarked burial-mounds that nobody dared to tread on,and the local people viewed it as an ominous piece of land.

They advised Wang Jiagui to give his decision some serious thought.

Wang Jiagui said with a smile: “We are the advocates of materialism.The barren and wild mountain and unmarked burialmounds that nobody dares to tread are not necessarily a piece of ferocious land.In my eyes,the place is embraced in mountains and rivers,seemingly a doubly propitious land which is especially suitable for our soldiers to be stationed.If we come here and bring with us human breath,the hills will no longer be barren,and the mountain ridges no longer wild.There may possibly be emperors' mausoleums and a large number of treasures somewhere underneath this Drum-beating Mound!”

Wang Jiagui might have just said it casually at the time,and certainly he didn't expect that what he said would magically hit the mark.

“沒人敢來的荒山野嶺并不一定就是兇地。我看這里山環水抱，倒像一塊風水寶地。我們到了這里，就有了人氣，山就不荒、嶺就不野了。擂鼓墩，這里說不定埋葬著帝王陵墓和大批珍寶呢！”王家貴當時只是隨口說說，卻沒有想到，居然一語中的。

Very soon afterwards,after the approval from the superiors and the land acquisition,the radar repair workshop started construction at the Drum-beating Mound in Suixian County.