The ancient Chinese were technologically and culturally advanced. Between 3950 and 1700 B.C.E, the people of the Yang-shao culture farmed pigs, grew wheat and millet, made highly specialized tools, and produced painted pottery. They also produced pottery instruments called lings, which became the first tuned bells. One of the earliest examples of these clay bells is a small red ling uncovered at an excavation site in the Henan Province of central China.
Later, during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Chinese made bells from metal and decorated them with intricate designs. Bells came to play an important part in culture by the fifth century B.C.E., when sets of bronze bells were used in ritual ceremonies for musical accompaniment.- Large, clapperless bells known as zhong were sometimes struck with mallets. It is said that these represented the sound of the Autumn Equinox, when all the crops had been harvested—in Chinese, the word zhong means "bell," but also "cultivated" when pronounced slightly differently.
During the Qin Dynasty, in the second century B.C.E., the bell became a symbol of power and authority following the installation of six large bells at the imperial court. In modern China, the bell has a different meaning: education and worship.
Today in the western world, the bell is used both functionally and symbolically. Bell chimes tell us of the time of day, but are also associated with the church and traditional celebrations such as Christmas and weddings. Hand belts are still played by members of the church community and in schools as part of music education. There are even examples of bells being used in music therapy in retirement homes and hospitals.
