Hubei Provincial Museum

National First Grade Museum In Wuhan Holding The Zenghouyi Bell Set From The 433 BC Tomb Of Marquis Yi Of Zeng, And The Sword Of Goujian · Wuhan, Hubei

In 1978 an army unit levelling a hill near Suizhou found the tomb of a minor ruler called Marquis Yi of Zeng, sealed since 433 BC and never robbed, and what came out of it rewrote what anyone thought they knew about early Chinese music. The centrepiece is a set of sixty-five bronze bells hung on a three-tier timber frame, weighing about five tonnes, each bell producing two distinct pitches depending on where it is struck, tuned across five octaves with inscriptions on every one setting out the pitch names and the relationships between the musical systems of different states. It is a functioning theoretical treatise made of bronze, and it works. The museum in Wuhan was built around it and around the rest of the tomb - lacquered coffins, a wine vessel with a cooling chamber, the earliest known Chinese instrument ensemble - and it also holds the Sword of Goujian, a bronze sword found in 1965 that came out of a waterlogged tomb after two thousand four hundred years still sharp enough to cut paper.

156 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Generally open 9:00-17:00 with last entry around 16:00, and CLOSED ON MONDAYS except public holidays. ADMISSION IS FREE but real-name booking through the official WeChat account is required, with ID scanned at the door. THE REPLICA BELL CONCERTS RUN TO SET TIMES, several a day, and carry a small separate charge - check the schedule on arrival and plan around it. Security screening on entry; no flash photography.

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