The most ancient Chinese bells were quadrate in form. Bells belonged originally to the Confucian religion, but the Buddhists also adopted their use, and they are commonly to be found in the temples of both. At the temple of Confucius is a great bell which the Chinese say is made to correspond with the very big drum; the one is not used without the other, for the drum had to give the signal to begin, and the bell had to announce the end of the hymn at the ceremonies. This bell is called the _Yung Chung_. There is another suspended upon a single frame, which has to give the note at the beginning of each verse in order “to manifest the sound” or give the pitch. This bell is called the _Po Chung_, and is here illustrated. The shape, as will be noticed, differs from that of modern bells. [Illustration: _The Chinese Po-Chung._ _Fig. 34._] All their bells are cast to produce a sound definite in pitch, and in their sets of smaller bells and gongs the primitive scale of sounds and its successive order was intended to be kept to so far as the means at command enabled them to secure accuracy, or as near as ceremonial usage required them to be—for with these people ceremonial is religion. The next illustration is of the _Yung-lo_ or “gong chimes,” composed of ten little gongs suspended upon a frame by silk cords. In making gongs the Chinese are marvellously expert, and specimens of the genuine ancient sort are highly prized here; the tone has a richness and endurance which moderns fail to equal. These little gongs are all of the same diameter, but differ in thickness. The _Yung-lo_ is used at court, mainly on joyful occasions. The larger sized gongs—sometimes they are two feet in diameter—are remarkably fine, and are very generally in use in processions and at various social functions, as well as in temples to waken the gods. He must be a rare sleeper who would be deaf to such a call. [Illustration: _The Yung-lo or Gong Chimes_. _Fig. 35._] CHAPTER XX. In Ancient China. THE FLUTES OF THE CHINESE. Flutes I hold to be without doubt the earliest of wind instruments. They are found all over the world; no race however ancient, no tribe however rude, but possesses some instrument of this class. And if we may credit some stated example in museums, they may belong to the prehistoric age, the bones of bird or beast being adapted by man to whistling or fluting. There are two distinct styles common to flutes: the one is blown at the end, and is of the sort we use and call pipes or whistles; and the other is blown across a side hole near a closed end, and is with us the flute proper, or _flûte traversière_. But in addition to these, the Chinese have a flute which is quite unique, being an open tube, blown across centrally.