Welcometocontinueyourvisit.Nowweareinaspecialexhibitionhal
l,aHighlightoftheNationalTreasure.Thisisanexhibitionha
llspeciallysetupaftertheupgradingandrenovationofHenanM
useum.Itexhibitsonenationaltreasure–levelculturalreliceac
htimetoprovidetheaudiencewithanin-depthunderstandingof
therelicatamuchcloserdistanceandfromallangles.Thecult
uralrelicondisplaynowistheJiahuBoneFlute,whichhasahi
storyofover8,000years.Thisistheearliestandmostwellpre
servedwindinstrumentdiscoveredinChinasofarthatcanstill
beplayedthereforeitisregardedastheoriginofancientChine
semusiccivilization.Total8excavationswerecarriedoutatJi
ahusitefrom1983to2013andmorethan40bonefluteswereunea
rthed.Theproductionanduseofthebonefluteslastedmorethan
1,200years.Theflutesevidentlyfollowedthelineofdevelopme
ntfrombeingsimpleinshapeanddesigntogettingmorecomplica
tedandrefined.Theseboneflutescanberoughlydividedintoth
reephases:early,middleandlate.Intheearlyperiodfrom9000
to8500yearsB.P.,theboneflutesarefive-holedorsix-holed,
capableofplayingquaternaryscalesandcompletepentatonicsca
les;inthemiddleperiodfrom8500to8000yearsB.P,thebonef
lutesareall7-holed.Thisstageistheeraofhigh-qualitybone
flutesmaking.Theboneflutescanplaynotonlyacompletepent
atonicscale,butalsosix-toneandseven-tonescales.Inthelat
estage,from8000to7500yearsB.P,theeight-holedboneflute
emergedinadditiontotheseven-holedboneflute.Morethan10,0
00bonesofover60speciesofanimalshavebeenunearthedfromt
heJiahusite.Aftertesting,itisconcludedthattheJiahubone
flutesaremadefromtheulnaoflargebirdsfromthecranesfam
ily,mainlyred-crownedcranes.Theflutesaremadebycuttingof
fthebonejointsatbothendsoftheulna,determiningtheposit
ionsoftheholestobebored,drillingthesoundholes,andfina
llypolishingtheholesfortuning.Thecranebonesarehardand
brittlewithitshardness7timesthatofourhumanbones.Whati
smore,thebonetubeisnotstraightorregularindiameterand
thebonemarrowattachmentsontheinnerwallsalsohindertheai
rfrompassingthroughthetubesmoothlywhichundoubtedlyincrea
sesthedifficultyofensuringthepitch.Therefore,theproducti
onofthebonefluteisatime-demandingandhardwork.Eventoda
ywiththehelpofmoderncomputersanddrillingtools,theholes
designingandmakingworkofabonefluteisstillnotaneasyt
ask.ItreflectstheexquisitecraftsmanshipoftheancientJiahu
People.BeforeweintroduceyoutheJiahuboneflute,let''sfirst
gettoknowtheJiahusite.TheJiahuSiteisanearlyNeolithic
ruinfrom9000to7500yearsbeforepresent,beingmassiveinsc
ale,well-preserved,andrichinculture.LocatedinJiahuTown,
Wuyang,LuoheCityofHenanitistheearliestandrichestcultur
alrelicofclansettlementsdiscoveredintheCentralPlainsso
far.Thediscoveriesofboneflutes,cultivatedrice,livestock,
brewingresidues,engravedsymbols,andgroupsoftortoiseshells
fromJiahusiteareofgreatacademicsignificance.Thediscover
yoftheJiahusiteisoneofthetop100importantarchaeologica
ldiscoveriesinChinainthe20thcentury.Theexhibitnowinfro
ntofusisthebonefluteNo.20unearthedinthegraveofM282
duringthesixthexcavationin1987.Itisthebestpreservedone
withthemostaccuratepitchandthebestmusicalperformanceam
ongalltheboneflutesinJiahu.Itbelongstothemiddlestage
andrepresentsthehighestlevelofJiahuboneflutes.Thisflute
hasatotallengthof22.7cmandthewholebodyissmoothandd
elicateinlightbrowncolor.Thetwoendsareopenwiththebone
jointsslightlyvisible.Thetubebodyhassevenholesdrilledi
nonestraightline.Thedrillingspecificationsarethesamewit
hthediameterofeachholetobe0.36cm.Therearesmallcone-s
hapeddotsbesidethesecond,third,andseventhholesthathave
notbeendrilledthrough,whichshouldbetracesleftbytheprel
iminarydesignofthedrilling.Thereisasmallholenexttothe
seventhholewithadiameterofonly0.15cm.Expertsgenerally
believethatthisisreservedforadjustingthepitchoftheseve
nthhole.WhentheJiahuboneflutewasunearthed,thearchaeologi
stsdidnotknowthenatureandnameditas“perforatedbonepipe
”.Later,Mr.XiaoXinghuafromtheMusicResearchInstituteoft
heChinaAcademyofArtinitiallyjudgedittobeamusicalinstr
ument.LateroninNovember1987,Mr.XiaoXinghuaandsomeother
expertsmeasuredandauditionedtheboneflute,andplayedthet
uneofthetraditionalChinesefolksong"LittleCabbage"byobli
queblowing.Thefairlyaccuratepitchandthesolidandbrightt
oneshockedeveryonepresent.Thiswasthefirsttimeweheardth
emovingsoundofaboneflutemadeeightthousandyearsago.Thi
stestdeterminedthatthisboneflutecanplayacompletesix-to
nescaleandanincompleteseven-tonescale.Itisthesoundmeas
urementandauditionofthisbonefluteinourexhibitionhallco
nfirmedthenatureoftheJiahuboneflutesasmusicalinstrument
.Thisisofgreatsignificanceandservedasanimportantobject
thatfacilitatedourunderstandingandstudyofthedevelopment
oftheChinesemusiccivilizationanditsearlyform.Inrecentye
ars,earlyboneflutesandbonewhistleshavebeendiscoveredone
afteranotherathomeandabroad,andsomearemucholderthant
heJiahuBoneFlutes.Forexample,thefive-holeboneflutefound
inGermanyisinferredtobe35,000yearsago,butitcanonlyp
layonesound,notasequenceofsounds.Mostoftheforeignbone
flutesareisolatedcases.Thebonesusedarecavebearlegbone
s,vulturelegbones,deerbones,ivory,etc.Theyaregenerally
maderelativelycrudely,andshouldbethevoicetoolsusedbyea
rlyhumanstotransmitinformationandtrapprey.Comparativelyt
heJiahuBoneFlutesarealreadywell-madematureinstrumentsfro
mtheperforationtechnologytotherhythm.Thebonefluteinthe
showcaseisafineproductofJiahuboneflutes.Itshighperfor
manceandfineproductionallshowthattheancestorsofJiahuha
vemasteredthesuperblevelofrhythmandcalculation.Theroleo
fJiahuboneflutesmaynotbesimplyasmusicalinstruments.Bon
efluteshavebeenfoundinonlyabout20gravesamongthehundre
dsofgravesattheJiahusite.Thenumberofburialobjectsint
hesegravesisalsosignificantlygreaterthanthatofothergrav
es.Groupsoftortoiseshells,eventortoiseshellswithengraved
symbols,coexistinthesegraves,aswellastoolswithwitchcra
ftpropertiessuchasforksandbonehandles.Ownersofthebone
flutearemostlyadultmales.Itisspeculatedthattheyarewiza
rds,priests,orchiefswithspecialidentities,andenjoyaspec
ialstatusintheclan.Theboneflutesmayalsobetoolsusedto
communicatewiththegodsortheheaven,anditsfunctionisfar
beyondthegeneralmusicappreciation..TheancientsinChinaalw
aysregardedthered-crownedcraneasacelestialcrane,whichca
rriedimmortalstotheskyortraveledintheheaven.Wedon''tkn
owifthisbeliefcanbetracedbacktoJiahu,itisthechoicem
adebytheancestorsofJiahuamongallcreatures.InWesternlang
uages,thetwowordsmusicandmuseumhavethesameoriginandbo
thcomefromMousse,nameofthegoddesseswhoareinchargeofl
iteratureandart.Wearenotsurewhetheritissimplyacoincid
encethatthisexquisiteboneflutewasselectedbyHenanMuseum
asthefirstculturalrelicofthenationaltreasurespecialexhi
bition.Butwedobelievethatitistheuniversalunderstanding
thatmusicandmusicalinstrumentsplayanextraordinaryrolein
thedevelopmentofourhumancivilization.Thankyouallverymuch
forbeingwithusforunderstandingthisexquisitenationaltrea
sure.Besidesthisboneflute,therearealsomanyotherprecious
musicalrelicsinourmuseum,suchasthebronzebelloftheXia
DynastyandChina''searliestbonepanflutewhichplaysthe"Sou
ndofNature".Therearealsochimebellsandstonechimesusedtoplayinhallsandtemplesoronimportantoccasionsandservedascarriersoftheritualandmusicsystem.Youmaycontinueyourjourneyofmusiccivilizationbyvisitingtheseinstrumentsinourmuseum.YoucanalsogotothewestsidehallonthefirstfloortoenjoythewonderfulperformancesgivenbytheHuaxiaAncientMusicEnsembleoftheHenanMuseum,andlistentotheechoesoftheancienttimes,andenjoyanaudio-visualfeastwiththeperformancesbyinstrumentswhicharereplicasoftheactualunearthedrelics. |
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