"Music," Confucius writes, "produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without." Zeng Hou Yi, the Marquis Yi of Zeng, so loved music that when he died in 433BC, he was buried with bronze bells, stone chimes, string and reed instruments – and 21 strangled concubines to play them in the afterlife.
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The music plays on more than two millennia after the marquis' death, but not in the way he intended.
Australian audiences will be able to hear how the instruments found in the tomb sounded, when a top Chinese performing theatre group, the Hubei Song and Dance Ensemble and Bianzhong Ensemble, brings the Imperial Bells of China to Canberra on May 31 and June 1, with other performances in Sydney and Melbourne.
The show was first performed in 1983, five years after the People's Liberation Army happened upon the marquis' 2500-year-old tomb in the central province of Hubei, and almost 20 years after Mao's Cultural Revolution destroyed much of the world's oldest continuous civilisation, already ancient when Europe was in its infancy.
Although the tomb contained precious items in gold and jade, weapons, stone chimes, string instruments including the se, the gujin and the zhu, and reed instruments including the yu and the xiao, the most important find was the largest collection of bianzhong (bronze bells) so far excavated.
"This ancient music discovery is deemed a national pride and treasure," says Yang MiLin, vice-president of the Hubei Opera Theatre Group. "We were inspired by the idea that we can showcase such a beautiful ancient relic and at the same time represent Chinese culture, history and tradition in an artistic way."
Putting on the show was a three-year effort. With the help of the Hubei Museum and the region's musicians, dancers, artists and historians, the producers built replicas of the instruments, choreographed the performance and composed the music, drawing on a millennia-old tradition.
"We based everything you will see on stage from three main sources: ancient literature records; ancient replica evidence; ancient poems," says Mr Yang.
Those poems and songs, on such topics as hunting, war and imperial banqueting, come from the powerful Chu state, which controlled the Zeng region during the turbulent Warring States period (475BC-221 BC).
"We want to showcase and reflect the lives, culture, tradition and religion of people from Chu state," Mr Yang explains.
Chu, based on the Yangtze River valley, controlled more than 50 small states, and covered as large a territory as the earlier Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.
"Throughout 5000 years of Chinese history and civilisation, a unique style of music and dance developed, often incorporating folk elements," says Mr Yang.
The musicians play folk music passed down for thousands of years and sing traditional songs, including the Yue-Ren-Ge (song of the Yue boatmen).
Dancers perform genre scenes showing the Collecting of the Mulberry Leaves, Cultivation of the Land and Mountain Hunting. Armoured men brandish swords and leap like antelopes, while women as delicate as chrysanthemum blossom trail silk sleeves of orange and pink.
"The sleeves dance expresses the aesthetic ideas of classical Chinese dance: gentleness, grace and elegance," Mr Yang says. "The main characteristics of oriental music and dance are the emphasis on soft movement, reserve and subtleness."
All 63 musicians and dancers graduated from top Chinese art schools.
Bells have been used in Chinese ritual music since the Bronze Age. Five musicians are needed to play the bianzhong, striking the bells with wooden mallets. The 64 bells are hung from two perpendicular sets of wooden racks, and are arranged on three levels and divided into eight groups. Each bell can produce two distinct tones when struck at the centre or side, and are the earliest Chinese musical instrument that can produce all 12 tones.
"These bells are visually breathtaking not only because of their scale," Mr Yang says, "but also due to their elaborate cast technique and the impressive way in which they hang on their wooden frames."
The bells were made using a precision casting method known as "lost wax" or "investment casting", in which a bronze sculpture is formed from a disposable wax model.
"Such bells are hardly made anymore today," he says. "Only a few factories produce them for performances like ours and exhibitions overseas."
The bells in this performance were used in the 11th Asian Games in Beijing in 1990, and at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
"The bells show us the perception of beauty, perfection and spiritual achievement from 2400 years ago," Mr Yang explains. "Ancient Chinese culture emphasised harmony, peace and unity among all the society and people. Therefore, the bells are now a symbol of peace and became a ritual during outbound cultural exchange as we perform around the world."
Imperial Bells of China is playing at the Canberra Theatre Playhouse, May 31-June 1. Bookings and more information at canberratheatrecentre.com.au
