Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-124Traditional CraftsmanshipZhangzi, ShanxiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

The origin of gong-making in Zhangzi can be traced to the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty, since when this area has been a production center for all kinds of gongs and drums. In northern folk life, loud percussion instruments are used for every festival, wedding or funeral, joyous occasion, and deity-inviting fair, and this demand has carried the local craft down through the generations. The crux of "resonant bronze" lies in the ratio of the copper-tin alloy: too much copper and the tone is muffled; too much tin and the material is brittle and cracks easily; once the ratio is set wrong, no amount of later hammering can recover the sound. The entire process—annealing forging, quenching, cold forging, secondary tuning, and polishing—is interlocked step by step, and among them secondary tuning most demands craftsmanship.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Chinese ethnic musical instruments have a long and distant history, are closely tied to the cultural life of all ethnic groups, and are an important component of traditional Chinese culture. These instruments have a concise and graceful form, a rational structure, exquisite workmanship, and a pure tone, and have been loved by music lovers of every era. Since ancient times, ethnic musical instruments have been played at folk festivals, weddings and funerals, joyous occasions, and deity-inviting fairs, as well as at the major political, military, and religious ceremonies held by court and government. The craft of making ethnic musical instruments has become an important traditional manual skill of our country, transmitted to the present day with far-reaching influence. Chinese ethnic musical instruments come in a great variety, with superb craftsmanship, renowned at home and abroad. Among them, the making of Zhangzi resonant bronze instruments, Korean ethnic instruments, Suzhou ethnic instruments, the Caifumei drums, and Uyghur ethnic instruments are particularly distinctive. Zhangzi County in Shanxi Province began manufacturing instruments around the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty, and is one of China's earliest production centers for resonant bronze instruments, enjoying the reputation of being the "home of bronze instruments." The forging craft of resonant bronze instruments here is a typical traditional manual skill, comprising steps such as annealing forging, quenching, cold forging, secondary tuning, and polishing. Nearly thirty kinds of instrument products—such as the pingdiao large gong, the Pu opera gong, and the kaitao gong—are all produced by this method. The Zhangzi resonant bronze instrument craft is mainly transmitted orally and through personal demonstration within families and between masters and apprentices; an inheritor must undergo long-term practice to truly master the skill. Many steps in the entire resonant bronze instrument making process (such as the tuning technique of "a thousand hammer-strikes to forge the gong, one hammer-strike to set the pitch") are completed entirely by hand, and are difficult for modern technology to replace.

Archival Records of the Production Process

Many steps in the entire resonant bronze instrument making process (such as the tuning technique of "a thousand hammer-strikes to forge the gong, one hammer-strike to set the pitch") are completed entirely by hand, and are difficult for modern technology to replace.

Choosing and alloying the metal

The tin proportion in the bronze decides hardness and tone; revised ratios improved both workability and durability.

Full annealing

The metal is repeatedly heated and worked until the grain is uniform, judged by eye.

Quenching

The hot blank is cooled fast, tightening and hardening the metal for a bright tone.

Cold forging

Final hammering while half-cold thins the plate and lightens its pitch.

A thousand blows, and one blow sets the tone

The final blow has no gauge to follow, only the smith's judgement of the whole plate's weight and tone.

Polishing

Polishing follows the tuning, and every stage is checked by striking the plate.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

In the past, Zhangzi's resonant bronze workshops were mostly set up as shops with the store in front and the workshop behind—one room sold gongs in its front half and had a furnace in its back half; fathers and sons, brothers each guarded one link, from melting copper and forging blanks to tuning, and none overstepped their role. The output of nearly thirty kinds—pingdiao large gongs, Pu opera gongs, kaitao gongs—is divided within the county into high, medium, and low registers, each with a dedicated person in charge, and the shops each have their own regular sales channels.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Yan Gaihao (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1959, a native of Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the craft of making ethnic musical instruments (Zhangzi resonant bronze instrument craft), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the third batch. Zhangzi resonant bronze instrument-making technician. Born into a farmer's family, he entered the resonant bronze instrument trade at age 18 and learned the craft under the guidance of his uncle Cui Yinde, becoming a "jack-of-all-trades" who has thoroughly mastered every step of the technique. Through repeated practice, he adjusted the raw-material ratio (copper-tin alloy) for making resonant bronze instruments, greatly improving their ductility and durability; at the same time he re-standardized the manual procedures, especially the tuning technique of "a thousand hammer-strikes to forge the gong, one hammer-strike to set the pitch," which requires the apprentice's own aptitude and long-term hands-on practice, and even more the craftsman's complete mastery of the overall process before it can be precisely grasped. Building on tradition, he also introduced modern equipment and carried out technical innovation to raise the precision of the instruments.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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