The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (曾侯乙墓) is a an important archaeological site in Suizhou, Hubei, China, dated sometime after 433 BC. The tomb contained the remains of Marquis Yi of Zeng. Zeng was a minor state subordinate to its powerful neighbor, Chu, during the Warring States Period. Not to be confused with the unrelated province of Hebei Hubei (Chinese: 湖北; pinyin: Húběi; Wade-Giles: Hu-pei, also seen as Hupeh), abbreviated to 鄂 (pinyin: È, WG: O), a province of the Peoples Republic of China, lies to the north of the Dongting Lake, giving it the... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC - 430s BC - 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC Years: 438 BC 437 BC 436 BC 435 BC 434 BC - 433 BC - 432 BC 431 BC... State of Chu (small seal script, 220 BC) Chu (楚) was a kingdom in what is now southern China during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BCE) and Warring States (481-212 BCE) period. ... Alternative meaning: Warring States Period (Japan) The Warring States Period (traditional Chinese: 戰國時代, simplified Chinese: 战国时代 pinyin Zhànguó Shídài) takes place from sometime in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by Qin in 221 BC. It is nominally considered to be the second part of the...

The People's Liberation Army accidentally discovered the tomb in 1977 while destroying a hill to build a factory at Leigudun. The tomb was constructed of large wooden timbers and covers an area of 220 square meters. The tomb is divided into four separate chambers. The northern chamber is the smallest and contained military artifacts. The eastern chamber contained the tomb of Marquis Yi, who was buried in a wooden lacquer coffin nested inside a larger lacquer coffin. This chamber also contained eight other coffins that held the remains of eight women. The western chamber contained thirteeen coffins that held the remains of thirteen other women. The central chamber is the largest, and contained a large ensemble of ritual musical instruments. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... In a general sense, lacquer is a a clear or colored coating, that dries by solvent evaporation only and that produces a hard, durable finish that can be polished to a very high gloss, and gives the illusion of depth. ...

In 1981, a less well-preserved and smaller tomb was discovered about 100 meters away, containing the remains of a woman related the Marquis Yi. This tomb contained a less extravagant set of thirty-six bronze bells and other musical instruments. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The most famous discovery at the tomb is the set of sixty-five bronze bells. The bells required a cast of five members to be played, and were struck with wooden mallets to produce music. The bells are two-toned, producing two distinct tones when struck at the center or the side; this property is enabled because the bells have an almond-shaped cross-section. The bells cover a range of five octaves. The set contains a non-matching bell, a gift to Marquis Yi from the king of Chu; the inscription on the bell dates the event to 433 BC. The bells were inscribed with music notations that detailed the relationship among the pitch standards of Zeng, Chu and Zhou. Bronze figurine, found at Öland Bronze is the traditional name for a broad range of alloys of copper. ... Bell has a range of meanings: A bell is a simple sound_making device, including Tubular bells and cowbells. ... For the numerical computation software, see GNU Octave. ... The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC to late 9th century BC - 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ...

Other musical instruments in the ensemble include stone chimes. Various string instruments were also discovered in the tombs. The twenty-five stringed se, ten-stringed qin and five-stringed zhu were the three types of string instruments found in the tomb. Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. ... The guqin (古琴), also traditionally referred to simply as qin (qin is a generic term for stringed instruments, but by the 20th century, with many instruments using the word qin in their names, gu meaning ancient was added to distinguish it from others), is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. ...

The tomb also contained panpipes (paixiao or xiao), flutes and one piece sheng. The one piece sheng were made through a time-consuming procedure; a gourd would be placed inside a mold that held the desired shape of the instrument. Once the gourd matured, it would take the shape of the mold that conformed to the desired musical properties of the instrument. This article pertains to the musical instrument. ... The Chinese sheng (Chinese: 笙, Pinyin shēng) is a mouth-blown free reed instrument (the first) consisting essentially of vertical tubes, in the Chinese orchestra. ...

References

• So, Jenny F., Music in the Age of Confucius, ISBN 0295979534