Gong

“ The gong will sound in less than half-an-hour.'
'Oh, those gongs, they always fill me with despair!' cried Bess. 'I am never ready when ours begins to buzz through the house, like a gigantic, melancholy-mad bumble bee. ”

“ Of the innumerable gongs beating, one struck at intervals attracts your attention. The fellow who strikes it is walking the street in front of a bare-backed malefactor, whose queue is wrapped around his head, and whose hands are tied behind him. As he walks, at each tap of the gong from the man in front, a following attendant lashes him with split ratan. It would take too long to enumerate the scenes witnessed in a Chinese street. During the day the bonzes marched through the streets attired in their yellow robes, stopping at intervals to chin-chin joss, by beating on gongs. ”

“ The effect produced upon a stranger at these times by the wild and occasionally plaintive strains of Chinese music, the noisy gong, the close and sultry air, the strange people,—full of peculiarities and conceit,—is such as he can never forget, and leaves upon his mind a mixed impression of pleasure, pity, admiration, and contempt. ”

“ GONG (Chinese, gong-gong or tam-tam) , a sonorous or musical instrument of Chinese origin and manufacture, made in the form of a broad thin disk with a deep rim. Gongs vary in diameter from about 20 to 40 in., and they are made of bronze containing a maximum of 22 parts of tin to 78 of copper; but in many cases the proportion of tin is considerably less. Such an alloy, when cast and allowed to cool slowly, is excessively brittle, but it can be tempered and annealed in a peculiar manner. ”

“ At the striking of the fourth gong the day is done. What lies between rests with your discriminating wit."
"You are deep in the subtler kind of wisdom, such as the weak possess," confessed Kai Lung. "Yet how will this avail to any length?"
"That which is put off from to-day is put off from to-morrow," was the confident reply. "For the rest—at a corresponding gong-stroke of each day it is this person's custom to gather fruit. ”

“ Those which are made of wood, such as castanets for instance, are also to be classed under the group 'Ghana', because they too mark time (see plate III) . It seems that several instruments which play the melody are developed from those used for marking time. For instance, the 'Khong Vong', or a set of gongs, seems to have been evolved from a single gong: first the single gong became a pair of gongs of different notes called 'Khong Khū' (which figures in the Norā orchestra) ”

“ There is another sort of Coire cables ... that are black, and more strong and lasting, and are made of Strings that grow like Horse-hair at the Heads of certain Trees, almost like the Coco-trees. This sort comes mostly from the Island of Timor."—i. 295.
GONG, s. This word appears to be Malay (or, according to Crawfurd, originally Javanese) , gong or agong. ["The word gong is often said to be Chinese. Clifford and Swettenham so mark it; but no one seems to be able to point out the Chinese original" (Scott, Malayan Words in English, 53) .] ”

“ The meaner sort of People have little Devotion: I did never see any of them at their Prayers, or go into a Mosque.
In the Sultan’s Mosque there is a great Drum with but one Head called a Gong; which is instead of a Clock. This Gong is beaten at 12 a Clock, at 3, 6, and 9; a Man being appointed for that Service. He has a Stick as big as a Man’s Arm, with a great knob at the end, bigger than a Man’s Fist, made with Cotton, bound fast with small Cords: with this he strikes the Gong as hard as he can, about 20 strokes ”

“ For example, the Burmese have a drum organ made of twenty-one drums of different sizes, hung inside of a great hoop; they also have a gong organ in which fifteen or more gongs of different sizes and tones are strung inside a hoop. The player sits or stands inside the hoop and plays the surrounding gongs. Sometimes it looks very funny to see a procession in which this instrument is carried by two men while a third walks along inside a hoop, striking the gongs not only at the side and in front of him but also behind him. ”

“ Following their upward gaze the Major saw that the fallen stone had formed the platform beneath the Agong, which now pivoted on its granite bracket over a cliff which fell sheer for hundreds of feet before curving into the stiff slope where crag fused into tableland. The great black gong hung directly over them. [Pg 240] Looking closely, Bronner saw that it swung slowly in the evening breeze, and moved by the same impulse that had impelled him the first time he stood beneath it, he shouldered their way through the crowd to a safer position. ”

“ Musical Instruments.—The commonest are gongs and drums, but a kind of mouth-organ known as “rotchem” and a fiddle made out of a piece of bamboo are sometimes used. The gongs are mostly imported from Burma, as much as Rs. 150/- being paid for large ones, but the most prized are sets of three small gongs, each with a separate note, on which three skilled performers can produce something resembling a tune. The drums are sections of trees hollowed out, the ends being covered with metna hide caps laced together. ”

“ Fig. 10 shows the ordinary form of gong. Fig. 11, a tea gong; Fig. 12, a cow gong; and Fig. 13, a sleigh bell.
Fig. 10 Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Fig. 13
A coil of steel wire is also used, as in Fig. 14, which on being struck by the hammer gives a pleasant but not loud tone.
Fig. 14 The Buzzer.
The buzzer is the mechanism of a vibrating bell less the hammer and gong. As the armature vibrates it makes a buzzing noise which does not carry as far as the sound from a struck gong. ”

“ And as the Chinese differ in their ideas from all other nations, these [314] women play generally upon wind instruments, such as small pipes and flutes; whilst the favourite instrument of the men is the guittar or something not very unlike it, some of which have two strings, some four, and others seven. Eunuchs, and the lowest class of persons, are hired to play; and the merit of a performance should seem to consist in the intenseness of the noise brought out of the different instruments. The gong or, as they call it, the loo is admirably adapted for this purpose. ”

“ If any one would wish to purchase a cheap dog, we would sell this beast.
.... A religious journal published in the Far West says that Brothers Dong, Gong, and Tong are Chinese converts to its church. There is a fine religious nasality about these names that is strongly suggestive of the pulpit in the palmy days of the Puritans.
By the way, we should dearly love to know how to baptize a Chinaman. We have a shrewd suspicion that it is done as the Mongolian laundryman dampens our linen: by taking the mouth full of water and spouting it over the convert’s head in a fine spray. ”

“ There are four special commandments for Buddhists, both priests and people: not to destroy animal life, not to steal, not to speak falsely, and not to drink wine. In monasteries the refectories of the priests are very large, and they have all to sit at dinner, so that the abbot, who is at their head, can see their faces. They are called to breakfast and dinner by a gong, where they have to appear in their cowls. Gongs are very much used in China, and are to be seen at all the temples. When the priest, who presides, comes in, they all rise, and putting their hands together, say grace. ”

“ In consequence of the warmth of our climate, girls, being naturally rather luxurious, are not inclined to rise early. They are, however, all required to rise at the same hour, and this is the mode adopted for rousing them. At the end of each room, opposite to the sleeping-couch, is a kind of gong made of metal and formed like a pair of cymbals, united at the base by a hinge, and kept together by a bolt at the top. ”

“ Watchmen in China, when on their nightly rounds, keep up an incessant beating on what, for want of a better term, we have called a wooden gong. The object is to let thieves know they are awake and on the look-out.
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[73] This is a characteristic touch. Only the most intimate of friends ever see each other’s wives.
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[74] Where the women of the family live, and into which no stranger ever penetrates. Among other names by which a Chinese husband speaks of his wife, a very common one is “the inner [wo] man.” ”

“ Plate I. Stringed instruments played by twanging the strings:— i. Gourd lute. 2. "Krachappi" lute. 3. "Cha Khe" lute. Plate II. Stringed instruments played by drawing the bow across the strings:— 1. "Saw Ū" fiddle. 2. Three-stringed fiddle. 3. "Saw Duang" fiddle. Plate III. Instruments of percussion:— Top row: 1. "Bandoh" drum. 2. Multiplo castanets (Krap Puang) . 3. Single gong ("Khong Mong") . Second row: 1. Alto cymbals ("Ching") . 2. Basso cymbals ("Chap") . 3. Two pairs of castanets. Plate IV. Instruments of percussion which have evolved from the single gong:— Above: Single gong. ”

“ Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) pp. 360 sqq. The use in classical antiquity of bells, gongs, and the clash of bronze generally to ban the demon host has been learnedly illustrated by Mr. A. B. Cook in his article, “The Gong at Dodona,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxii. (1902) pp. 14 sqq. 588. Rev. A. L. Kitching, On the Backwaters of the Nile (London, 1912) , p. 264. As to the country of the Teso people, who do not belong to the Bantu stock, see id., pp. 26 sq. ”

“ On one side are the musicians, two, four, six, or eight young fellows, armed with drums of bamboo and deer-skin, and cymbals and gongs, bought from the Chinese, which are kept with the greatest care, in cases specially made for them, among the most precious heirlooms of the family. ”

“ CEREMONIAL INSTRUMENTS.
Bells, Chimes and Gongs are held in high esteem by the Chinese, they are indispensable in their Ceremonies and Ritual, in their Festivities, national and social. So ancient is their use that the order of their coming into existence, or the date of origin are mythical, each kind of instrument seems equally old, still they had to be accounted for in Chinese logic of history.
One of the most curious traits in the character of the human animal is an unfeigned delight in super-exaggerated noise. ”

“ So he called to him six wild monkeys from his woods, and gave into their care six magic gongs, telling them to go beat them in the rice fields where the husband toiled.
The husband heard the monkeys and the clanging of the gongs, but, at last, unable to endure the noise, finally caught the monkeys and secured 138 the gongs. He then threatened to kill the monkeys, but they plead that they were sent, by the god who looks to men’s deeds, with the gongs as a reward for his merit. “Having seen your efforts to provide for your wife, who loves not you, he sends you these gongs. ”

“ The player takes his place in the middle of the hoop and strikes the drums or gongs with a kind of stick. These instruments are largely used in processions, being carried by two men, just as a sedan chair is borne; the player, in order to strike all the gongs and bells, must often walk backwards, or strike them behind his back.
In Javanese and Burmese music these sets of gongs and drums are used incessantly, and form a kind of high-pitched, sustained tone beneath which the music is played or sung.
In Siamese music the wind instruments have a prominent place. ”

“ The outer walls are usually whitewashed, and red, yellow, and brown wooden buildings, broad bands of red and blue on the whitewash, tridents, prayer-mills, yaks' tails, and flags on poles give colour and movement, while the jangle of cymbals, the ringing of bells, the incessant beating of big drums and gongs, and the braying at intervals of six-foot silver horns, attest the ritualistic activities of the communities within. ”

“ During the winter months they are more frequently met with at sea, or outside the large bays. Their feeding grounds vary from four to ten feet at high water.
"Harpooning is at present the only mode of procuring the Dugong. The aborigines are very expert in the use of the instrument, and the quickness of their sight renders them superior to Europeans for such service ”

“ He extended a slip of plain paper to the hunter.
"‘The Wisdom of the East. ... What is lost is lost. A fool will lose what he has in seeking that which he has not.’"
"Clear as mud," grunted the hunter. "No Mongol ever wrote that."
"And yet, the Chinese around here fear Mo Yan. Witness their flight from this house, and the fact that they refuse to talk in the villages about him."
"Add to Mo Yan's pedigree," nodded Gordon, "that he beats a drum."
Recalling the Mongol shaman that he had befriended, Gordon paused, but only for an instant. ”

“ The Wise Men being called in consultation, this is the advice they gave: 'Let Dong be strapped to the back of a hen and the bird perched on the corner of the roof at too great a height to fly down: place a row of fierce beasts in her rear to prevent her from climbing up; she will thus be fixed for eternity and Dong will share her fate.' The advice of the sages was taken, and all over China to-day you can see the hapless Wong perched up on the roof on the back of his feathered steed. ”

“ The Indians went there and came where the Gans were living.
125A small mountain stood at the east and on it Black Gan stood every dawn and talked as a chief. When he had spoken as chief four mornings, they asked why Black Gan was talking that way. All the Gans came together and he talked to them. “May one of your children remain here?” he asked. All the Gans said, “No. Our children are all going with us.” Then Black Gan decided that one of his should stay. He left the youngest little girl, putting a turquoise water jar by her pillow. He covered this with earth. ”