The ''fou'' (

缶 Radical 121 or radical jar () meaning " jar" is one of the 29 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 6 strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 77 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. is also the 133 ...

or 缻; pinyin: fǒu) is an ancient Chinese

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

consisting of a

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

or bronzeware crock, jar, pot, or similar vessel, which was struck with a stick. Its origin dates back to the Xia or

Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dyn ...

dynasties, where it was used in ritual music. It later became a standard instrument in

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

ritual ensembles. It was first confirmed in 2004 that the is an instrument, with the discovery of nearly 500 musical instruments in the Tombs for Nobles of the Yue State,

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

City,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

Province. Also found there were nine other varieties of instruments, including the (a type of bell) and (chime stone) from the Central Plain, (a metal percussion instrument), (a bell with a handle), ''duo'' (big bell) and (little bell). It made its modern appearance during the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Towards the beginning of the ceremony, 2,008 dancer/percussionists staged a synchronized presentation, striking large square with glowing red sticks.photo
/sup> Those instruments had a white square LED array surrounding each drum, allowing them all to produce both music and a dazzling display, which included

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s and shapes created in tandem. The Chinese character (

or 缻) is used to refer to containers. The character has fallen into disuse in Chinese; however, it is still used to refer to cans in Japanese. Since the Xia and

dynasties, some types of those containers were used as musical instruments known as "percussion fou" ( 击

). Since its publicity, there has been some scholarly disputes on whether the used during the Olympics were actually musical instruments, as they could simply have been containers. In the Confucian ritual music of Korea, a musical instrument made from a clay pot, called the (hangul: 부; hanja: 缶), which is derived from the , is used.

References

External links

Instrumental in spreading the word
China Daily
The Square Drum Used in the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic GamePhoto of used in 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
{{Traditional Chinese musical instruments Chinese musical instruments