Pan J., Li X., Tian J.

The history of Chinese music bells can be traced back to the Shang dynasty (1600–1100 B.C.). In addition to their significances in history and metallurgy, Chinese music bells also have important contribution to acoustics due to their unique acoustical properties and rich physical mechanisms in-volved. They differ from carillon/church bells and oriental temple bells by their almond-shaped cross sections, which acoustically result in two distinct tones, and short decay time. The interval between the two strike notes is often found to be minor third (sometimes major third). Whilst the short decay time of the bells allow performance of music with fast tempo. In this paper we discuss those acoustical properties and illustrate beauty of the design and physical mechanisms which result in the properties.