Racks Of Bell of Marquis Yi of Zeng

Racks of bell of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Zeng Hou Yi Bianzhong 曾侯乙编钟, in the Warring States period are a set of large-scale ritual and musical objects of the Marquis Yi of Zeng. They were excavated in Hubei Province in 1978, currently stored in the Hubei Provincial Museum.

The size of the racks of bell is 748 cm long and 265 cm high. There are 65 bells in total, which are hung on the copper wood structure bell rack in the shape of a curved ruler in three layers and eight groups. The maximum bell is 152.3 cm high and weighs 203.6 kg. It is cast by muddy casting and separate casting, using brazing, casting and inlaying, gold inlaying and other technologies. Each bell can play two tones in a third scale. The whole set of bells has 12 semitones, which can be transferred in the palace.

Racks of bell is mostly used in playing in the court for the elite class and rarely spread among common people. The racks of bell was played in every war, court meeting, and sacrificial activities. In Chu culture, sacrificial rituals are where people express their respects to gods by entertaining gods using dance and music. Music is a very important component of the sacrifice. A whole set of bells can create wonderful music, and is perfectly used to generate beautiful melodies for people to sing with and dance to in the sacrificial ceremony.