JIA's Dream Tours China Blog

Hello China Tour Dreamers,

Today’s blog is about the fascinating discovery in 1977 of the tomb of the Marquis Yi, ruler of the small state of Zeng, in modern Hubei Province. The Marquis died in 433 BC, during what is known as the Warring States Period. This completely preserved 4-chamber tomb has yielded over 15,000 artifacts, including over 100 instruments and thousands of weapons. To give you an idea of the size of the find, the bronze objects alone weigh approximately 22,000lbs!

In the ancient tradition, the Marquis Yi was not alone in his burial tomb (serving a royal really was a job for life, unfortunately it was just limited to the royal’s  life, yikes!). Beside his lacquered coffin were the coffins of eight young females, ages 13 – 24. These were probably concubines and/or his musicians. Also in the same room was the body of a dog, also in its own coffin. In an adjacent room were another 13 servant girls. All the girls had been strangled so that they could continue to serve the Marquis in the after-life, we know this because it was documented in the tomb. The dog’s demise was not documented (I know eventually someone will ask that question).

The greatest discovery of this tomb is the massive set of 65 bells, which required five people to play. What makes these bells extraordinary is that they are perfectly tuned to the chromatic scale, exactly the same scale that we tune our pianos to today. Each bell is even denoted with the tone it renders (two actually, a high and low). This set of bells is by far the oldest chromatically-tuned instrument known anywhere; it is older by almost 2000 years than the earliest Western instruments tuned chromatically! Music theorists had to totally rethink the origin of the chromatic scale!

The bells and other artifacts are on display at the Hubei Provincial Museum, which is in Wuhan, a popular stop along the Yangtze River. The Hubei Provincial Museum was established in 1953 and is one of the best known museums in China. It is a not-to-be-missed place to see on a Yangtze River Cruise.

All the Best!

Jia

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