Zhong (Chinese bell)

The Zhou (Chou) dynasty is the longest-ruling Chinese dynasty in the country's history, that ruled between 1122 and 256 BC. At that time in the empire the Iron Age began and writing was developed. The presented zhong type bell was most likely made in the late period of the reign of this dynasty, around 600–256 BCE. At that time, they were used for ritual and entertainment purposes – they were a luxury reserved for Chinese rulers and the elite.

The zhong bell did not have a clapper, but when properly hit with a special baton it made two sounds. Early bells of this type were held in the hands or hung on a wooden frame when they were played. Bells were categorized according to the way that they were hung – yongzhong horizontally and niuzhong vertically. A decorative detail of many of them is the motif of nine conical beads called mei as well as another, depicting the face of a monster referred to as taotie, whose image was supposed to deter thieves and people who wish to disturb rituals. Mei were grouped in three rows of three. Their number is not accidental as it has a symbolic meaning. The number nine in Chinese cosmology is referred to as a lucky number. Experts say that mei also play an important role in the acoustics of the instrument, as they affect the vibrations and help stabilize the two base notes of a bell without a clapper.

Although the mei motif appears on the relief-decorated mantle of the bell in question in the form of spikes or bumps, the taotie was replaced by an inscription in Chinese small-seal script and a representation of serpentine creatures – perhaps dragons – on the background of a meandering ornament. On the flat headstock there are also depictions of birds. The canon in the form of a pin ended with a small bar at the top and another fixed on the side with a round clamp suggest that it is the diagonally hung yongzhong.

Katarzyna Findlik-Gawron