Skip to content
bianzhong
EntityQ133722· pop 16· linked from 322 articles

Also known as pien-chung, pyeonjong, biên chung, henshō, chime bells

Bianzhong (; ) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. China is the earliest country to manufacture and use musical chimes. They are also called chime bells. These sets of chime bells were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some of these bells have been dated at between 2,000 and 3,600 years old. They were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Using a wooden hammer and a rod to beat the bronze bell can make different pitch. Along with the stone chimes called , they were an important instrument in China's ritual and co

Key facts

Chinese.title
Bianzhong
Chinese.pic
Bianzhong.jpg
Chinese.piccap
Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, dated 433 BC
Chinese.p
biānzhōng
Chinese.w
pian1-chung1
Chinese.j
pin1-zung1
Chinese.y
pīn jūng
Chinese.poj
pian-tsing
Chinese.hangul
편종
Chinese.rr
pyeonjong
Chinese.mr
p'yŏnjong
Chinese.myr
byān-jūng

via Wikipedia infobox

~9 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Structure
  • Archaeology
  • See also
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Bianzhong (; ) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. China is the earliest country to manufacture and use musical chimes. They are also called chime bells. These sets of chime bells were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some of these bells have been dated at between 2,000 and 3,600 years old. They were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Using a wooden hammer and a rod to beat the bronze bell can make different pitch. Along with the stone chimes called , they were an important instrument in China's ritual and court music going back to ancient times.

Several sets of were imported to the Korean court during the Song dynasty. Pronounced in Korean as , the instrument became an important part in Korea's ritual and court music and is still in use. In Vietnam, the instrument, which was used in ceremonies in the court at Huế, is called . The instrument's name is pronounced in Japanese.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “bianzhong” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (8)