Bronze drums get new lease of life in S China's Guangxi

Photo shows Chen Zhenyang, curator of the Donglan Folk Bronze Drum Collection Museum in Donglan county, Hechi city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Jiang Xuelin)

150 bronze drums made during different historical periods since the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) are being exhibited at the Donglan Folk Bronze Drum Collection Museum in Donglan county, Hechi city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The county boasts a collection of 612 such bronze drums, which account for one quarter of the world's preserved bronze drums.

Chen Zhenyang, the museum's curator, said the museum was built by his father, who is also a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, and some of the collections were donated by local villagers after he treated them.

Chen took over the museum in 2011, but running it was not easy. "Since the beginning of this year, ticket revenues have reached about 20,000 yuan (about $2,733), but it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the funds needed for daily maintenance," Chen said.

To ease the financial pressure, Chen partnered with local bronze drum factories and was commissioned to sell bronze drums.

"People always beat bronze drums on festive occasions in Donglan. Now there are more and more bronze drum buyers," Chen said, adding that some locally produced bronze drums are sold to places including southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

In recent years, several bronze drum factories have emerged in the county. Luo Mingjin, founder of a bronze drum factory in Donglan, said the factory sold over 2,000 bronze drums last year, including 500 to customers in the county.

Meanwhile, the county government has attached great importance to the protection and inheritance of local bronze drum culture in recent years.

Performers put on a bronze drum dance in the Donglan Folk Bronze Drum Collection Museum in Donglan county, Hechi city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Zhai Liqiang)

Since the beginning of this year, the county has held 18 bronze drum activities in villages, attracting over 400,000 visitors, and other bronze drum performances, according to Wei Wanzi, deputy head of the culture, sports, radio, television and tourism bureau of Donglan county.

The county has also integrated bronze drums with tourism, injecting new vitality into local bronze drum culture.

Wei added that the county is striving to manufacture higher-quality musical bronze drums and cultivate talents who can play them.

Chinese bronze drums and those in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries have many similarities in shape, style and pattern, explained Chen, adding that bronze drums have been unearthed in nine out of ten ASEAN countries.

The Zhuang bronze drum custom was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages in 2006.

"Some ASEAN countries also have intangible cultural heritages related to bronze drums, and scholars from these countries visited my museum," Chen said.

According to Wei, Donglan county plans to hold a forum on bronze drum culture in late December this year and will invite experts and scholars from Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and ASEAN countries to attend the forum.

Jiang Tingyu, former curator of the Museum of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, advised China and ASEAN to hold a bronze drum culture forum during the China-ASEAN Expo so as to promote cultural exchanges between the two sides.