A visual and aural trip to the Han Dynasty of Ancient China

BEIJING, March 17 -- My friends asked me if I would like to go to a concert in Xi'an and I said yes. I love music in almost all of its forms. They told me to meet them at the 321 bus stop and we would go together. Bus 321 - doesn't it take us out of the city? Perhaps it was a friend's band we were going to see.

We caught the 321 bus out to Chang'an Guang Chang Shang Ye Jie and caught an elevator to the fourth floor. I assumed we were walking into a small bar with live music, which meant we would see a new young band. I love discovering new bands!

However, as soon as we opened the door, instead of being in the 21st century, we stepped back 2,000 years to the Han Dynasty! We were in a lovely tea house - probably with more comfortable seating than what people in the Han Dynasty had - but with the same relaxing atmosphere.

Performers dressed in Han Dynasty clothing greeted us, and we were shown to our table near the stage area. There were many beautiful traditional Chinese instruments on stage and I went over to take a closer look. There were gloriously decorated gongs and drums, exotic and beautiful sounding tuned bells and chimes, a wonderful Phoenix-headed harp-konghou (箜篌), erhu (二胡), guqin (古琴), and guzheng (古筝)… I could tell I was in for a wonderful evening of traditional music. The Xi'an Traditional Music Society had joined forces with the Han Costume group to transport the audience back to the past.

Our fragrant tea arrived and we settled in to listen to the beautiful music. I was entranced with the Phoenix-headed harp, played beautifully by a woman dressed in Han costume. The ripple of music from the double-stringed harp gave the feeling of a breeze drifting through spring leaves or a small creek running over rocks.

My other favorite instrument was the bianzhong (编钟) or tuned bells. These lovely bells, with an oval shape with a cut-away section, were first used between 2,000 and 3,600 years ago. The knobs on them that look like decoration but actually make them two-toned, so each bell has two different voices, depending on where it is hit. The large bells on the bottom are hit with a mallet, and the smaller ones on the top are hit, from the opposite side of the rack, with a smaller drumstick. Beside the tuned bells was a rack of stone, L-shaped tuned chimes producing a lighter note than the bianqing (编磬).

Along with these unfamiliar instruments was a lovely painted gong, with a smooth warm tone that reverberated around the room when it was struck. I listened with delight to the guqin (古琴) and guzheng (古筝) players, who were accompanied by the taiping drum mounted high on a stand. The guqin has seven strings but still produces a splendid range of notes and melodies. The guzheng has 21 strings, and so has a wider range, and is more like a flat western-stringed instrument, in that it has bridges for the strings. The se (瑟) is a 25-stringed instrument, looks similar to the guzheng.

There are only two of the se being played in China at the moment. The music master, Professor Li Yanming made this instrument after seeing the one in the Beijing Museum. It was painted in the traditional style by a student from the Xi'an Art University. Most of the instruments played here were made either by Professor Li or the students themselves.

A little later the wind players took their turn, and the bamboo flute and the clay ocarina joined in creating a wonderful listening festival for me.

Although the concert was over, the evening wasn't finished yet. There was a Han fashion parade, with beautiful Han costumes loaned by Zhang Xisong from the Han Costume Company. These clothes are colorful and elegant. I can see why this style of clothing so clearly influenced Japanese, Korean and Thai traditional wardrobes.

Han-style clothing were said to be worn by the Yellow Emperor (黃帝) and there is a painting of Confucius (孔子) wearing these garments from the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Han clothing have loose sleeves that flow as the wearer moves, and the long elegant skirts or coats give the illusion of gliding across the floor rather than walking. The cross-over collars have different edgings and colors, making the outfits more beautiful and elegant. Scholars wear plain black, long, closed coats, with the sleeves edged in white or other colors, to show their status.

The beauty and elegance of the clothes was heightened by the lovely hair ornaments the girls wore. Dangling gold and beaded combs, small flowers and chains made their hair glitter and shine. The men weren't left out either, with their hair covered with an intricately folded piece of fabric to create caps in various styles. I envied the models their chance to wear these beautiful clothes, especially when they came out in the wedding or court dresses, each with a flowing train. To attend a Han Imperial Court function and see all of these beautiful clothes must have been really wonderful.

Too soon the fashion show finished and we needed to catch our bus back to the city. As we closed the door on the Han Dynasty and headed back to the 21st century, I mourned a little for the elegance and beauty we've lost. Jeans and t-shirts may be comfortable and hard wearing, but they are not beautiful!

By Deborah Howard and Li Ming