Story: Chongqing Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor of Liangping Gong Forging Craft

“Clank, clank, clank” ... The sounds of striking from the forging workshop of Xu Guoxiang seem to announce that a brand new gong is to be finished.

The 62-year-old Xu Guoxiang is the Chongqing municipal intangible cultural heritage (ICH) inheritor of Liangping Gong Forging Craft. The forging tools inherited from his ancestors, furnace, tongs, stools, lathe, mold, etc., have accompanied him since childhood. 

Perennial coal-burning blackens the walls of the workshop, but Xu enjoys himself.

Xu is the fourth generation inheritor of his family gong-forging heritage, which witnesses a history of nearly 150 years. Under the family influence, he always helped his father forge the gongs together with his older brother when he was young. Then he mastered the gong forging processes at the age of 20. In 1987, he chose to work in the transportation industry to make a living, so this heritage was handed over to his brother.

“Indeed, the transportation industry is more profitable than gong forging. But money can be earned back, the lost ancestral heritage will be lost forever. I will never let this craft become extinct because of me.” Then he made up his mind and reopened the Xu’s Gong Forging Workshop.

“The gong is a kind of instrument that seems simple but requires an extremely complicated producing process, which is never too exaggerated to be described as over and over again,” Xu said. According to information, the material of gongs should be bell metal, which can be acquired by recycling broken gongs. Only gongs made of this can be resistant to striking and produce amazing musical sounds. Scrap copper pieces and other materials should be smelted in the smelting furnace according to strict proportion, and the copper plate should be repeatedly struck to gradually form the shape of gong before being put into the furnace, then the calcination, trimming, and shaping can be carried out. Finally, multiple processes such as tone-setting, tone tuning, and hand polishing should be followed.

In 2014, Liangping Gong Forging Craft was listed as one of Chongqing municipal intangible cultural heritage and Xu became the inheritor. However, there is still a long way to go for the inheritance of this craft.

Each process of the gong forging should be carried out carefully enough and the heat control is most crucial during the copper smelting. If the smelting temperature is not high enough or the dust enters into the furnace, the gong will be broken, unable to resist the impact of striking. Once the temperature is out of control, the purity, tenacity, quality, etc., of gongs will be greatly affected. “The best gong should be beef-colored, neither black nor red,” Xu said.

Another important process for gong forging is tone-setting, which should be adept with appropriate force. The final stroke is most crucial and delicate, determining the tone quality of the gongs.

Gong forging is completely handmade and can only be mastered after three to five years, so its inheritance faces enormous obstacles. Despite of their small size, the gongs are produced in a time-consuming and low-output way. Only two gongs can be produced by one person every day and about 500 gongs can be produced each year.

“I am going to register a trademark and increase the sales by e-commerce with my son,” Xu said. Based on the manufacturing of gongs with a traditional style, Xu is actively promoting the development and innovation of gongs with new styles. He tries to develop Liangping Gongs into tourism products, artworks and souvenirs, create more exquisite products, and make this traditional craft popular among more people, so as to produce the most impressive sound of gongs.