Drums'story

Wei Wanyi paid for his first drum in the 1970s with the most valuable thing he owned: cattle. It was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with the ancient musical instruments, and over the next thirty years, Wei has managed to collect 24 of the ancient musical instruments.

Wei Wanyi and his drum

Cast from bronze and often over 700 years old, the drums were mainly used by the Zhuang people in Guangxi, in southern China near Vietnam. They were a part of harvest celebrations, marriages, funerals, and other cultural rituals, and were also used to give orders to the army.

“Bronze drums have been a significant part of Zhuang people's daily life for generations,” Wei said, explaining his interest in them. “I am willing to carry on Chinese culture by collecting ancient bronze drums because they are historic treasures and I love them.”

Drums are important to Zhuang people.

His hometown, Donglan County in Guangxi, has one of the largest collections of bronze drums in the world; there are nearly 2,400 ancient bronze drums preserved in museums across the globe, and 612 of them are at Donglan County, according to the Guangxi Museum.

Unsurprisingly, Wei – who has earned the nickname “king of the bronze drums” in Donglan – is also somewhat of a bronze drum expert. Three elements make a good bronze drum, he eagerly explains: tone，texture, and pattern. High quality drums are generally crimson and can play seven different notes. Different patterns on the drums represent different groups of people’s beliefs.

Others in the area have also begun to take an interest in the bronze drums.

Luo Mingjin shows his drum.

Luo Mingjin, for instance, owns a small drum workshop in Jixiang village, about 40 kilometers away from Donglan. He has begun making the drums again, reviving an ancient metalworking process from the Qing Dynasty. After spending two years studying and experimenting with drum making techniques, Luo and his four employees have now sold over 100 new bronze drums, each valued at between three and four thousand Yuan.

The 74 year old Luo Kaixian, the oldest of Luo’s employees, learned to make bronze drums from his father when he was eight year sold. He and other three workers make the drums by first carving a mold, fusing bronze to polishing.

“We [once] made a drum for a travel agency. They paid us fifty thousand Yuan. It was the largest drum we ever made, about 1.2 meters in diameter,” Luo Mingjin said with pride.

According to the local government, there are plans to make a larger drum factory at the Donglan County. Luo Kaixian will be invited to be the instructor. And soon Wei will have even more drums to collect.