The bell originated from the ling, a small type
of bell. At first, the ling was baked out of
pottery clay. In the 1950s, archaeologists discovered a red pottery
ling?from the remains of the Yangshao culture
at Miaodigou, the Sanmen Gorges, Henan
Province. With a height of 9.2 centimeters and a rim diameter
of 5 centimeters, the ling is hollow and a handle is
attached to its top. A small hole on each side of the shoulder
leads to the inside of the ling to fix the dapper. The
surface of the ling is polished without any decorative
patterns. The cross section is circular. It was made between
3900-3000 BC. Later, a bell - shaped utensil made out of fine gray
pottery clay was unearthed from the remains of the Longshan culture
(2800 - 2000 BC) at Doumen Town, Chang' an County, Shaanxi
Province. According to The History of Chinese Music by
Li Chunyi, "Similar to a bell of the Shang Dynasty, it is
rectangular in shape, hollow and fixed with a solid handle." "It
might have certain connections with such musical instruments as the
zhong and duo of the Shang and Zhou dynasties." It is l1.7
centimeters in height, 9.4 centimeters in horizontal rim diameter
and 5.6 centimeters in vertical rim diameter. On both sides of the
shoulder are holes for fixing the clapper. Most of the pottery
ling dating back to the period of the Longshan culture, now
collected by the Gansu Provincial Museum, were shaped like olives.
They have bridge - shaped handles and closed cavities. Small balls
in the hollow cavities produced the sound when the bells were
rocked. The pottery ling was used in different ways. One
could hold the handle and rock the ling to produce a
pleasant sound. The ling could also be attached to an
object, a human being or an animal to jingle.
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China entered the Bronze Age around the 16th century BC. In
1983, a bronze ling was unearthed from No. 3,296 tomb at the
remains of Taosi, Xiangfen, Shanxi
Province (dating back to around 2085 BC). Shaped like a pair of
combined tiles, it has no decorative patterns on the surface and is
2.65 centimeters in height. It was buried near the left side of the
skeleton. In 1981, another bronze ling shaped like a pair of
combined tiles with a decorative ear, 8.5 centimeters in height and
0.5 centimeter in thickness, was unearthed from the remains of
Erlitou, Yanshi, Henan
Province.?It was laid between the chest and the waist of
the skeleton. Some people believe it dates back to the early period
of the Shang Dynasty, while some others regard it as a bronze
ling of the Xia Dynasty.
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The ling produced a sound when the clapper was rocked to
strike the inner wall, so it was not so easy to control the rhythm
of sounding. During the Shang Dynasty, a musical instrument bigger
than the ling appeared in Henan, Hunan and other parts of
the country. Known as the nao, it was struck from outside
to control the rhythm of sounding. The nao was also called
the zhizhong. It was struck when it was held by the player
in his hand or put on a wooden stand.
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From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period
and the Warring States Period, musical bells shaped like combined
pairs of tiles appeared in many areas of the country. The mouth of
such a bell faced down. It was struck more easily when it was in a
suspending position. Yongzhong, niuzhong and
small bo bells shaped like combined pairs of tiles
appeared in chimes or groups. Many of them bore inscriptions on
events. The court of the Zhou Dynasty promulgated the ritual and
musical institutions embodied by bells and musical stones, suited
to the hierarchy. As a musical instrument of the aristocracy, the
bell deviated from its original nature and displayed a symbolic
function. The suspending pattern and number of bells and musical
stones demonstrated one's position and power. In the 26th year of
the reign of Shihuang (the First Emperor) of the Qin, weapons from
various parts of the country were destroyed in Xianyang and east
into six big court bells symbolizing the power and prestige of the
imperial court. They were demolished in the later period, but they
did mark the appearance of imperial court bells. From then on, the
institution and function of imperial court bells were manipulated
by rulers of the various dynasties. A section of the History of
the Jin Dynasty says, "The Han rites included the ritual of
the emperor giving audience to his senior officials on the New
Year' s Day. On the lunar New Year' s Day, when the clepsydra had
not shown the seventh mark for the night, the bell pealed for the
ceremony ... Officials above the rank of commandery governor
entered the court to greet the emperor." This refers to the
imperial court bell pealing when the emperor received greetings
from officials. The bo (a large bell similar to the Bo of
the Duke of Qin) was certainly the earliest form of the imperial
court bell. Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote in the Du
Duan, "When the flow of the clepsydra ends for the night, the
drum is beaten; when the flow of the clepsydra ends for the day,
the bell stops pealing." The bo bell or the
yongzhong bell was used at first to give the correct
time.
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From the very beginning the bronze bells in China were endowed
with strong emotional coloring and cultural connotations. In his
Explanation and Study of Principles of Composition of
Characters, Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty said, "The
zhong (bell) is the sound of the Autumn Equinox. All crops
have been zhong (cultivated)." In Chinese, zhong
(bell) and zhong (cultivate) are pronounced similarly, but in
different tones. Harvests were the result of toil in our ancient
agricultural country with its yellow soil. The stroke of the bell
at a feast conveyed feelings of joy for the bumper harvest as well
as the emotion of a man with a heavy heart. A Chinese bell produces
a deep, cohesive sound, while a Western bell emits a loud,
extrovert sound, displaying the differences in their national
character probably caused by the environment. The Tone
Monitor, the Ministry of Rites, the Ritual of
Zhou summarizes the shapes and sounds of bells, saying: "If
the upper part of a bell is bigger than its lower part, the bell
produces a muffled sound; if a bell is vertical, it makes a slow
sound; if the mouth of a bell is wide open, the sound of the bell
is unbridled." The Artificers' Record, the Ritual of
Zhou says, "A big and short bell produces a quick sound that
can be heard within a short distance; a small and long bell makes a
mild sound that can be heard far away." The bigness or smallness of
a bell refers to its rim diameter. A Chinese bell produces a slow
sound that can be heard far away. This was a choice made carefully
and inevitably by our ancients in the light of the environmental
and social factors.
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With the collapse of the ritual and musical institutions
during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period,
the musical bell, which had served as a typical instrument of the
ritual and musical institutions, gradually stepped down from the
stage of history. Buddhism was propagated vigorously in China
during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Buddhist bell was
born on the basis of the ancient bell and served as a musical
instrument at a Buddhist mass.?The Taoist bell, the time bell
and the imperial court bell that appeared later also followed the
shape of the Buddhist bell. The designs of bells in the areas
inhabited by ethnic' groups had distinctive ethnic
features,
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such as bells of the ram's horns culture?and the square -
shaped culture. After the Tang Dynasty, Buddhist bells in China
conspicuously played the role of a dragon's head in the development
of ancient bells. The Yongle Bell of the Ming Dynasty was an
outstanding representative of Buddhist bells and ancient Chinese
bells. Known as the "King of Bells with Five Unique Features," it
possessed the richest historical and cultural connotations, the
largest number of inscribed characters, the first - rate acoustic
properties, scientific mechanical structure and superb casting
technology.
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So Chinese bells were no longer simple bells for practical uses.
They became a symbol of an idea, a culture and a spirit. In class
society, the symbol of idea and culture could naturally be utilized
by the dominators, resulting in a sharp contrast between the
brilliance of bells and the sorrow of society. Such a course of
history has provided for us a profound lesson of the "Admonish -
the - World Bell." It always admonishes people to pay attention to
historical lessons and experiences. On the one hand, they should
avoid following the track of the overturned cart. On the other
hand, they should realize that when civilization has advanced to
the level of today and society has developed to such a stage, the
cream of the bell culture may become a criterion governing
interpersonal relations and man - society relations.
???
On September 27, 1925, Dr. Sun Yat-sen' s funeral committee
unanimously decided to adopt the design made by Lü Yanzhi for the
Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and invited him to work as the
designer of the mausoleum. Earlier it had scrutinized all the
designs collected through public bidding. The plane figure of
LüYanzhi' s design presented the shape of an alarm bell?which
implied the need to "arouse the masses of the people." This
conformed to Dr. Sun Yat-sen' s mettle and spirit. At the age of
31, Lü Yanzhi became famous in China and abroad because of his
prize design of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum.
The historical mission of "arousing the masses of the people"
was assumed by the leaders and the political party leading the new-
democratic revolution and socialist revolution and construction.
The bell culture developed further. When the 11th Asian Games
opened in Beijing in 1990, the sponsors held an impressive bell -
and - drum beating ceremony to enhance the spirit of striving to
make the Chinese nation stronger and stronger and promoting virtue
by material means. The 11 strokes of the bell symbolized the
opening of the 11th Asian Games, a grand gathering of unity,
friendship and progress. This move was highly appraised by public
opinion in China and abroad. New "Admonish- the -World" bells, such
as motto bells and school motto bells, appeared in China in 1992.
These bells explored the resources of moral worship from ancient
Chinese bells and carried forward the ethical progress in the
course of the Chinese revolution over the past dozens of years,
turning the Chinese bell culture into a new culture of practical
importance that plays a guiding role. The core of the bell culture
is education; it is worship, worship of ethics, kind- heartedness
and justice. The Chinese bell culture has become an aspect of
progress in social belief and cultural and ethical progress.