Yuexuan (the Hanging System of Percussion Instruments) in Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–771 BC): The Glory of Ritual and Music Culture
摘要
This chapter presents the Yuexuan (the Hanging System of Percussion Instruments) in Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–771 BC). Inscriptions of “Marquis of Zeng”, “Marquis Jian of Zeng” and “Marquis Kang of Zeng” were found on the many bronzewares excavated from 3 tombs in 2011 at Suizhou (Sui County previously), Hubei province. These sets of bianzhong were approximately 500 years earlier than the bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng. Therefore, the tomb owners ought to be Marquis Yi’s ancestors. The four-tiger-designed bo excavated in the tombs of the Marquis Kang of Zeng was also given with great details as a starting point of the hanging instruments in Western Zhou dynasty. As the recreator, the author Prof. Wang Zichu took pride in illustrating specific parameters, statistics as well as techniques in the replicated bianzhong of the Marquis Kang of Zeng, as he believed that the great significance of replicating the five-piece bianzhong from the Tomb of Marquis Kang of Zeng is self-evident. At the end of the chapter, from a music archaeological point, the author offered his exclusive analysis of the ritual and music system in Western Zhou dynasty(1046 BC–771 BC).