Zhuang Tonggu Customs
01 · Historical Records
Around the 7th century BCE, the Pu people living in the Pearl River basin of China created the percussion instrument bronze drum from the cooking vessel bronze cauldron. Thereafter the bronze drum spread north to Qiongdu in Sichuan, east to Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong, south to northern Vietnam, and west to Myanmar and Thailand. To this day the bronze drum has circulated for more than two thousand years; in most regions and among numerous ethnic groups it has successively withdrawn from the historical stage, leaving only certain traces and historical memories, but some regions and ethnic groups still preserve the ancient custom of using bronze drums, leaving a "living fossil" for the millennia-old bronze drum culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Some ethnic minorities in Guangxi have long had the custom of striking bronze drums at festivals, celebrations, or sacrifices, a custom that has continued to this day. Now the Zhuang people of Donglan, Tian'e, and other places celebrate the third day of the third lunar month and the Spring Festival every year; the Yao people of Du'an, Bama, and Dahua celebrate the Zhuzhu Festival; the Yao of Nandan hold funeral sacrifices; and the Miao of Zhongbao in Nandan strike bronze drums to express celebration or mourning during the Spring Festival or on other happy occasions. After losing its function as a symbol of power, the bronze drum returned to the people and is still used among them today, having become a living cultural relic.
Beating the drum at the third of March and at New Year
Zhuang people in Donglan and Tian'e beat the drum at the March festival and the spring new year.
Drumming at the Zhuzhu festival
Yao people in Du'an, Bama and Dahua drum at the Zhuzhu festival, sharing the rhythm with neighbouring Zhuang.
Drums at funerals and Miao festive gatherings
Drums mark both mourning rites and festive gatherings among Yao and Miao of Nandan.
Mafestival hosting and the drum troupe
The inheritor leads a drum troupe and also presides over the local Ma festival.
Villages protected as copper-drum art habitats
Over half the villagers can beat the drum, and the settlement is recognised as a drum-art habitat.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Hongshui River basin, bordering southern Guizhou and northwestern Guangxi, is the region where bronze drum culture is most richly preserved; the ethnic groups still using bronze drums are mainly the Zhuang, Bouyei, Dai, Dong, and Shui of the Zhuang-Dong (Tai-Kadai) language branch, the Miao and Yao of the Miao-Yao (Hmong-Mien) language branch, and the Yi of the Tibeto-Burman language branch. All the traditional cultural activities of the ethnic groups of the Hongshui River basin use bronze drums; the bronze drum has become a living witness to these peoples' existing cultural traditions, reflecting from different sides the economic conditions, cultural features, and psychological qualities of the bronze-drum-using peoples of the Hongshui River basin, as well as the unique creativity they developed over the long historical process of adapting to the natural environment. The present distribution of Zhuang bronze drum customs has contracted from the routes of spread of former times to the Hongshui River basin. After the bronze drum was created by the Pu people of the Pearl River basin, it went north into Qiongdu, east to Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong, south across northern Vietnam, and west to Myanmar and Thailand; today those still able to use bronze drums on a considerable scale are mainly gathered in the valleys bordering southern Guizhou and northwestern Guangxi. The ethnic composition within the valleys is also quite complex: of the Zhuang-Dong (Tai-Kadai) branch there are the Zhuang, Bouyei, Dai, Dong, and Shui; of the Miao-Yao (Hmong-Mien) branch there are the Miao and Yao; and of the Tibeto-Burman branch there is the Yi. The festivals of the ethnic groups differ, but the bronze drum is common to all, so the same drum on this river often must change several ways of striking and several rhythmic patterns. The bronze drum also concerns more than music alone: from mining and smelting and casting to acoustics, history, and art, as well as the related history of science and technology, archaeology, ethnology, and anthropology, all leave verifiable clues. Having lost its meaning as a symbol of power, the bronze drum returned to the people's hands and continued in use, so after most regions successively withdrew it from the historical stage, the Hongshui River basin became the living sample preserving this ancient instrument and its manner of playing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The bronze drum concerns mining and smelting, casting, acoustics, history, and art, as well as the related history of science and technology, archaeology, ethnology, and anthropology, and has important cultural value. Wei Zhenli (record of the associated inheritor's official file): Male, Zhuang ethnicity, born in October 1957, from Donglan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. His manner and methods of playing are rich and varied, his performance technique exquisite, his movements forceful and changeable, and he is proficient in every rhythmic pattern. He actively teaches apprentices and has organized bronze drum teams to transmit the art of striking bronze drums. At the same time he also serves as the host of the local Ma festival, and is deeply loved by the masses. He is a representative inheritor of Zhuang bronze drum customs, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. Under his influence, more than half of the local people can strike bronze drums and are familiar with bronze drum customs, and his village has thereby become a protected village for the bronze drum art ecosystem.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wei Zhenli 05-2999
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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