fangxiang

musical instrument

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June 26, 2026

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The term "fangxiang" refers to a set of 16 iron slabs suspended in a wooden frame, used as a percussion instrument in ancient Chinese music. It is an accommodation between old Chinese and West Asian traditions. The fangxiang was used in conjunction with other instruments, particularly in court music and later in large Chinese orchestras. While its exact origins are debated, it emerged as part of the influx of foreign musical ideas into China during periods of cultural exchange.12

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Chinese music
Han dynasty (3rd century bce–3rd century ce): musical events and foreign influences
…West Asian tradition is the fangxiang, a set of 16 iron slabs suspended in a wooden frame in the manner of the old sets of tuned stones. Gongs related to the present-day Chinese luo, with its slightly convex face, seem to have entered the Chinese musical scene before the 6th…
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…West Asian tradition is the fangxiang, a set of 16 iron slabs suspended in a wooden frame in the manner of the old sets of tuned stones. Gongs related to the present-day Chinese luo, with its slightly convex face, seem to have entered the Chinese musical scene before the 6th…
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percussion instrument
Idiophones
But in China the fangxiang, with its 16 bars, is a metal imitation of the lithophone. Among important components of the gamelan are the saron, a trough metallophone depicted as early as about 800 ce on the Borobudur stupa (Buddhist monument), Java, and the frame metallophone gender, now usually…
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But in China the fangxiang, with its 16 bars, is a metal imitation of the lithophone. Among important components of the gamelan are the saron, a trough metallophone depicted as early as about 800 ce on the Borobudur stupa (Buddhist monument), Java, and the frame metallophone gender, now usually…
Read More