There Is a Gong from Wuhan, China

By He Sai, Bai Ning, Yi Wanru & Geng Yuanjun

The monsoon season in July has witnessed heavy downpours for weeks.Wuhan, which has just walked out of the coronavirus pandemic, was enveloped in thick humidity. On July 8, the sun finally came out,so we immediately took up the chance for an interview planned long ago, to unveil the mystery of the gongs in the Wuhan Haiping Musical Instruments Factory.

After driving 60 kilometers, we arrived at the factory, a somewhat old workshop, located in Gantang Town, Huangpi District.After we entered the factory, a spacious courtyard immediately appeared in front of us, with every corner of it drenched in bright sunlight. Behind the courtyard and another gate was a timehonored workshop, and all sorts of clanking noises could be heard from there.

Soon we saw a two-story building ahead of the courtyard on the right, and Wang Zhijun,general manager of the factory,led us to the showroom. In it,200 kinds of gongs were on display under two major brand names—“Eastsound” and “Fang Ou” respectively, together with all sorts of honors and trophies of the company since its establishment in 1984. Decorated by thousands of gongs of all shapes and sizes,with some as large as a tall man and some as small as our palms,the whole room glittered with a golden color, and we felt as if we were at a glorious music hall.

7月梅雨季節，一連十幾天的瓢潑大雨，把剛剛從新冠肺炎疫情中站起來的武漢籠罩在濃濃的潮濕之中。8日，好不容易逮著一個晴天，我們趕緊執行一次策劃良久的采訪——武漢海平樂器廠問鑼。

經過60公里的顛簸，我們來到黃陂區甘棠鎮上一處陳舊的廠房——武漢海平樂器廠。一進樂器廠大院，眼前豁然開朗。陽光灑滿院內各個角落。年份已久的生產車間被一道門和大院隔開，里面傳出各種各樣金屬撞擊的聲音。

大院右前方是一幢二層樓房，總經理王志軍帶著我們來到鑼廠陳列室。室內陳列著鑼廠“東聲”和“芳鷗”兩大系列200多個種類的鑼以及公司自1984年成立以來獲得的各項榮譽。大到一人多高、小到手掌大小，上千面各種形狀的鑼布滿了室內所有角落，把小屋映射得金碧輝煌，給人置身音樂殿堂的感覺。

迎面可見6面直徑1米的抄鑼，整齊地掛在支架上。對于世界音樂愛好者來說，這6面鑼并不陌生。著名音樂家譚盾于今年4月12日在上海以3D和5G技術形式，攜這6面鑼隔空對話遠在紐約的6面漢產抄鑼，共同為世界奏響名曲《武漢十二鑼》，全球7000多萬觀眾通過云平臺欣賞了漢鑼的風采和曼妙音響。

接著，我們艷羨的目光轉向一面直徑186厘米、重100千克的大抄鑼。王志軍自豪地介紹，這是世界上最大的鑼，是世界上唯一原始反映千軍萬馬奔騰和排山倒海之勢的樂器。沿著鑼心輕輕敲擊，聲音如聲聲悶雷，從遠方滾滾而來，有雷霆萬鈞之勢。

Workers pouring hot and red copper water into the mold in the facotry of Haiping Musical Instruments海平樂器熔煉車間內，老師傅們正在將滾燙發紅的銅水倒入模具中

Forging, the first step that turns a gong cake to the shape of a gong鍛造是將鑄好的鑼餅錘煉成鑼形狀的第一步

Right in front of the room were six chau gongs (aka tam-tams)with a diameter of one meter hanging neatly in the frames,which are familiar to many music lovers around the world. On April 12, Tan Dun, a renowned Chinese musician, brought them to Shanghai where he conducted his work, “Sound Pagoda—The 12 Sounds of Wuhan,” together with artists playing another six Wuhan-made chau gongs in New York. The performance relied on modern technological means such as 3D and 5G, and over 70 million audiences worldwide watched the concert via the cloud platform,and appreciated the charm of the Chinese gongs and the wonderful sounds they produced.

Hammering (Photo by Su Zhuolin)成型（蘇卓琳 攝）

Polishing cymbals 镲片拋光

王志軍介紹，當時海平樂器廠生產了五面同規格的鑼，兩面在加工過程中損壞。他說，這樣的龐然大物是純手工捶打，把一只上百千克重的銅餅一錘錘打成直徑近2米的鑼，再拋光定音。多一錘就得重來，少一分溫度可能就會出現裂痕，30多位經驗豐富的工匠需要半年協作才能完成。

抄鑼、虎音鑼、吊釵、镲片……出口歐美的、樂團專供的、樂隊定制的，王志軍一一介紹著。“在德國法蘭克福一次展覽會上，曾經有一位外國人雙膝跪地，耳朵貼著鑼面欣賞漢鑼的天籟之音，不難想象當時他們發現漢鑼這一中國藝術寶藏的虔誠與驚喜。”王志軍說，“由于鑼聲婉轉悠遠，像納斯達克這樣的證券交易所，以敲漢鑼作為開市的告白。”聽著他栩栩如生的描述，我們迫不及待想去領略鑼浴火重生的精彩。

按照制鑼的主要工序，我們首先參觀了熔煉車間和鑼餅存放倉庫。各種尺寸的鑼餅整齊碼放著，幾百克到幾十千克不等。“制鑼的秘密從這里也就開始了。各種金屬嚴格按一定比例配伍，秘方是公司的核心機密之一。”王志軍笑著說。

水汽夾雜著濃濃的金屬味道彌漫在鍛造車間，匠人王漢波正用鐵釬把一片片燒紅的毛片拖到水里淬火。

“鍛造是將鑄好的鑼餅錘煉成鑼形狀的第一步。這個過程不僅需要力氣，更需要技術和經驗，否則銅鑼不成型。”王漢波15歲跟隨師傅學藝。如今師傅已經過世，他得把師傅的手藝傳承下去。

Tuning 校音

Then, we turned to another amazing chau gong, with a diameter of 1.86 meters and a weight of 100 kilos. Wang Zhijun told us proudly that it was one of the biggest gongs in the world,the only musical instrument that can vividly produce the mighty force and stunning sound of a powerful cavalry on the attack or the momentum of a torrent. If you strike the center of the gong,you’ll hear a sound like thunder rumbling from afar with an irresistible force.

According to him, the factory produced five gongs of the same size at the very beginning, but two of them were damaged in the process. He also told us that gongs of such a large size were purely handmade. Before polishing and tuning, a copper cake weighing over one hundred kilos had to be carefully hammered to the shape of a gong with a 2-meter diameter.The number of hammerings and the temperature had to be precise and accurate, as one extra hammer would ruin the previous efforts, and one degree short on the temperature would lead to cracks on the final product.It might take more than 30 experienced craftsmen nearly six months to finish the work.

Workers with their new work, a 160cm-diameter wind gong 部分員工與剛剛出爐的直徑160厘米的風鑼合影

談話間，他看了一眼爐子里鍛燒著的紅彤彤的銅片：“溫度還不夠。”王漢波對火候的敏銳力是數十年如一日鍛造錘煉而成的。

王志軍介紹，海平樂器廠是以出口為主的外貿型企業。雖然受新冠肺炎疫情影響，但出口訂單已經排到了8月，目前年產量達300余噸，約七八萬面，遠銷亞、歐、美40多個國家和地區，并為全球多家知名樂器品牌代工。海平樂器廠是世界樂器展的必邀單位，是德國法蘭克福、美國NAMM等世界著名樂器展上的常客。

為了營造西洋打擊樂需要的爆破感，他們根據海外廠商的需求，不斷創新鑼面形狀，研制出符合镲片的特殊合金，備受國內外打擊樂愛好者喜愛。如架子鼓上的中高端镲片，都是海平出口的。

世界樂壇中有一面鑼來自中國武漢，這里每一面鑼都是匠人們追求卓越、匠心獨具的創造，它承載著中華文化，在不斷創新中走向世界，成為世界文化藝術中不可或缺的一部分。

The six chau gongs Tan Dun borrowed in performing his “Sound Pagoda—The 12 Sounds of Wuhan” (Photo by Su Zhuolin)譚盾《武漢十二鑼》演奏曾借用的6面抄鑼 （蘇卓琳 攝）

Chau gongs, tiger gongs,suspended cymbals, and hand cymbals... Wang Zhijun introduced his products one by one to us, and told us that some of them were exported to European and North American countries,some exclusive for orchestras,and some tailor-made for bands.“At a musical instrument fair in Frankfurt, Germany, a foreign musician even knelt down on the ground, and pressed his ear closely on the surface of one of our gongs to appreciate its heavenly sound. It’s no wonder why Westerners still marvel at this Chinese art treasure.”

Opera cymbals 京鈸

Bao gongs 包鑼

“The sound of a gong is peculiarly sonorous and can reach far and wide,” he added. “Many stock exchange centers, like NASDAQ, announces their trading day by striking a Chinese gong.”

Hearing it, we were tempted to witness the production process of a gong.

Wind gongs 風鑼

Two gongenthusiasts checking the sound played by the gongs of Haiping兩位銅鑼愛好者正在試音

A father and son in America are feeling the voice from the East美國一對父子正在感受來自東方的聲音

A customer showing her favorite gong atHaiping’s booth in the NAMM(National Association of Music Merchants) Show in America in 20192019 年海平樂器參加美國NAMM展時，一位客戶表示非常喜愛自己手中的鑼

A German merchant selecting large chau gongs in Haiping’s factory德國客戶在海平樂器廠挑選大抄鑼

According to the welding process, the first stop we visited was the melt-shop and storage warehouse of gongs. The gong cakes weighing from a few hundred grams to dozens of kilos were placed in order. “The secret of making a gong begins from here,” Wang Zhijun smiled. “The composition of different metals is strictly controlled according to a fixed formula, which is one of our top secrets.”

A strong smell of metal, plus the lingering vapor, filled the air in the workshop. Wang Hanbo, a craftsman, was busy in clamping a piece of red-hot metal into water for tempering.

“Forging is the first step that turns a gong cake to the shape of a gong,” said Wang Hanbo. “It requires strength, craftsmanship and experience—otherwise, the copper gong can’t be formed.” He became an apprentice when he was 15. Now that his mentor has passed away, the responsibility of passing on this craftsmanship rests on his shoulder.

During our conversation,he took a glimpse of the redhot copper sheet that was firing in the stove, and said, “It’s not heated enough yet.” His sense of temperature was perfected through years of painstaking effort.

The chau gong Wang Zhijun, general manager of Haiping Musical Instruments, plays is one of the largest in the world (Photo by Su Zhuolin)海平樂器廠總經理王志軍在全世界最大的一面抄鑼前演示 （蘇卓琳 攝）

Wang Zhijun told us that his factory was export-oriented, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic,the export orders had been fully booked until August. At present, the annual production of the factory has surpassed 300 tons, with around 7000-8000 gongs being exported to over 40 countries and regions including Asia, Europe, and America every year. Besides, it also provides OEM service for many renowned musical instrument brands.This factory has been regularly invited to many international musical instrument fairs, such as Musikmesse Frankfurt in Germany and the NAMM(National Association of Music Merchants) Show in America.

In order to produce an overwhelming blasting effect the Western percussion music demands, they have made continuous innovations to the surface and shape of their gongs.They developed a special alloy for cymbals, which is highly favored by music lovers around the world.Moreover, many of the mid-tohigh-end cymbals employed in drum kits of overseas orchestras were produced and exported by the company.

In today’s music world,gongs from Wuhan, China play an important position. Every single piece of the Haiping gongs symbolizes the unique craftsmanship as well as their mission of pursuing excellence.Through repeated innovation,these gongs, immersed in the profound Chinese culture,will eventually become an indispensable part of the world’s art and culture.