Shang and Zhou bronze musical instruments are the most representative and significant historical relics of music culture in the Xia, Shang and Zhou. They can be divided into two general categories due to different applications: instruments for sacrifice, banquets, ceremony and ones used in the army.

Náo, one kind of cymbal, is one of the earliest of bronze percussion instruments and spread widely in the late Shang Dynasty and adopted by the early Zhou. This bronze sculpture is similar to a ling in appearance but much bigger. With a short and wide body, its mouth is broader than the base. The bronze sculpture also has a short handle for the convenience of holding. In old China, the nao could be used to withdraw the army. A set of five pieces of nao excavated in the grave of Fuhao proves that the nao can also be applied for sacrifice and conviviality. There was nao but not zhong (bell) in Shang but in Zhou there was zhong not nao, so nao is the prototype of zhong.

Zhōng is one of the bronze percussion instruments might stand in a tower and develops from the nao. It is not only a musical instrument in ancient times but also a symbol of status and power as a sacrificial bronze ware. They were widely used by the nobilities during the ceremonies like meeting the emperor and worshiping the God and normal activities like banquet. In accordance with the historical records and relics, we find that bian zhong showed up in the Western Zhou Dynasty were a combination of three zhong. Then numbers of bian zhong gradually increased to a set of 9 and a group of 13, etc. It consists of different sizes of oblate zongs in accordance with the order of the pitch hanging in a huge bell rack. When beat with a T-shaped wooden hammer or long rods, this bronze statue can send different tones. Because the tone of each bell is diverse, a wonderful music will come out as the sound spectrum beat. In ancient China, bian zhong were upper-specific instruments and signified social status and power.

Zheng is a sort of ancient musical instrument during the march of the army, also called “Ding ning”. It looks like a zhong but with long-handle. When knock the chinese bronze sculpture with a hammer, its mouth has to be turned up. This kind of zheng was widely used in the Spring and Autumn period and small countries in the South. It can be seen from the Archaeological that is rife among the guards of honor during the march in the Han, Wei, and Jin. Zheng resembles nao but more longer and narrower but heavier and thicker commonly known as the large nao by the archaeologists. A long handle can be used to run; with Dorian when the mouth up. Insert wooden handle in the handle to mallet percussion. There is a long handle for the convenience of holding. There are small pieces of zheng, weighing a few kilograms to more than ten kilograms. But there are also large ones. General patterns are made up of large beast faces and of deformation of dragon body surrounded by frames with carved inscriptions like fish, tiger, elephant, fire lines, whereas the edges of the mouth are often decorated with lines of tiger, elephant and two-tailed dragon. The basic shape of this kind of china bronze sculpture has not changed much but the handles may vary.

Líng: A small bell (as might be hung from ribbons). Ling is the original form and the earliest of the bronze musical instruments. They are often unearthed with the harness and weapons that they were hanging from the horse or carriages. Almost all the ancient musical instruments, such as nao, zheng and zhong can all be classified as the improvement of ling. The applications of ling itself have gradually changed and later the most common form is Aeolian bell hung from the large buildings.

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