Pyeonjong

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Pyeonjong
Hangul:
편종
Hanja:
Revised Romanization: pyeonjong
McCune-Reischauer: p'yŏnjong

The pyeonjong is an ancient Korean musical instrument consisting of a set of 16 bronze bells, played melodically. The bells are hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the stone chimes called pyeongyeong, they were an important instrument in Korea's ritual and court music going back to ancient times.

Although all the bells have the same shape they vary in pitch according to thickness; the thinner bells are lower in pitch and the thicker bells produce higher pitches.

Several sets of Chinese bianzhong were imported to the Korean court from China during the Song Dynasty. The instrument is still used in Korean court music.

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