The Image of an Instrument: The Perception of Bells During the Song Dynasty (original) (raw)

Musical instruments, although primarily known for their sounding properties, not seldom come to symbolise something else. This holds particularly true for bells, which, due to their high value and the refined technical skill that is required to cast them, became signifiers of the wealth and power of monarchs early in Chinese history, and later on became the sounding advertisement of Buddhist and Daoist temples. Tracing the history of the bell is therefore a way of exploring multiple histories: one of craft and music, but also one of power relations and religious culture. This paper discusses how bells were perceived during the Song dynasty (960-1279), a period in which an obsession with ancient music and archaeological findings heavily influenced the musical landscape. The paper is mostly based on approximately 70 texts from the Quan Song wen that deal explicitly with bells and bell inscriptions. It shows that there were several ways to engage with the instrument, apart from listening to it, such as composing bell inscriptions and collecting bells. It also examines how ancient bell culture was reconciled with the bell production during the Song dynasty and what role the instrument played in a Buddhist context.