Shang and Zhou period bronze musical instruments from south China

Gao Zhixi

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00004614

Shang and Zhou period bronze musical instruments from south China

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009

Gao Zhixi

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Gao Zhixi: Affiliation:
Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha, Hunan Province

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A large number of bronze musical instruments of the Shang and Zhou periods (thirteenth–ninth centuries B.C.E.) which display pronounced regional characteristics have been unearthed in south China. As systematic research on these was relatively late in getting under way, their importance in terms of archaeology and the history of music has not yet been nearly sufficiently recognized. Many divisions remain among scholars on issues of typology, periodization and the origins of yongzhong bells, and on the question of the relationship of these artifacts to central plains culture. In this article I intend to discuss my own views on these questions.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 262 - 271

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00004614 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1992

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References

¹ Zhixi, Gao, ‘Zhongguo nanfang chutu Shang zhou long nao gailun’ . Hunan Kaogu Jikan , 1984. 2, 128Google Scholar. For an English version see Chang, K. C. (ed.). Studies of Shang archaeology (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1986). 275–99Google Scholar (‘An introduction to Shang and Zhou Bronze Nao excavated in South China’). Please refer to this text for additional footnotes.

² Yiyang Regional Museum, Dingguo, Sheng et al., ‘Ningxiang yueshanpu faxian Shangdai da tong nao’, , Wenwu 1986. 2, 44Google Scholar.

³ In the collection of Hunan Provincial Museum. Catalogue no. Yin (8)2:4.

⁴ Ecke, Gustav, Sammlung Lochow Chinesische Bronzen, 2 vols. (Peiping, 1943)Google Scholar.

⁵ BO, Xian ‘Hubeisheng yangxinxian chutu liangjian Qingtong nao’ , wenwu, 1981 1, 93Google Scholar.

⁶ Bagley, Robert. W., Shang ritual bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler collections (Cambridge. Mass., 1987), 119Google Scholar.

⁷ Zhixi, Gao, ‘Hunansheng bowuguan cang XiZhou Qingtong yueqi’ Hunan Kaogu Jikan, 1984. 2Google Scholar, Catalogue no. Yin (8) 4:87, 29. It is now clear that this nao was unearthed in Sanpuxiang, Zhuzhou County.

⁸ Material on the nao from Fugang provided by the director of Guanghou City Museum, Mr. Ming Yu and by Mr. Mai Yinghao .

⁹ In the collection of Hunan Provincial Musuem.

¹⁰ Peixin, Chen, ‘Lun Shanghai bowuguan suocang yuezu tongqi’ Shanghai Bowuguan Jikan . vol.4, 221Google Scholar.

¹¹ Geng, Rong, ‘The Ya X Fubing Square ding’, Shang zhou yiqi tongkao Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies, Monograph Series, no. 11, Harvard-Yenching Institute, 1941, fig. 129Google Scholar.

¹² Zhongguo Dabaike Quanshu—Kaoguxue (Beijing, 1986)Google Scholar, colour plate 20.

¹³ Yinxu fuhao mu , Wenwu Chubanshe , 1980, colour plate 13 and p. 106Google Scholar.

¹⁴ Baojun, Guo, ‘1950 man chun Yinxu fajue Baogao’, 1950 Kaogu Xuebao , 5, 1951, 1Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Bagley, Robert W., Shang ritual bronzes, 119Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Ming, Gao, ‘Zhongyuan diqu dong zhou shidai Qingtong liqi yanjiu’ Part II, Kaogu Yu Wenwu , 1981. 4, 82Google Scholar.

¹⁷ Changshou, Zhang, ‘Yin shang shidai de Qingtong rongqi’ Kaogu Xuebao, 1979. 3, 271Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Liancheng, Lu, Baoji yuguo mudi , vol.I, 265, Wenwu Chubanshe, 1988Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Jianjun, Fang, ‘Shaanxi chutu xi zhou he chunqiu shiqi yongzhong de chubu kaocha’ , Yinxiang , 3, 1988Google Scholar.

²⁰ ibid.

²¹ The hereditary house of Chu section of the Shiji .

²² ‘Shaanxi qishan fengchucun faxian zhou chu jiaguwen’ , Wenwu, 1979 10, 38Google Scholar.

²³ The old text Zhushujinian records that King Zhao attacked Chu 3 times: (1)‘In the 16th year of King Zhao we attacked Chu, crossed the Han River and encountered a huge rhinoceros.’ (2)‘In the 19th year of King Zhao, Xinbo Duke of Ji attacked Chu on the king's behalf, the heavens were overcast and the pheasants and rabbits trembled in fear, they buried 6 generals in the Han River.’ (3)‘In the last year of King Zhao, on a clear night when the 5 colours pierced the firmament, the king journeyed south and did not return.’