The Largest Musical Instrument in the World:
Wuhan to Guangzhou
July 28, 2015
By Taylor
This morning we went to the Hubei Provincial Museum. We were
excited to see the largest musical instrument in the world there – and we were
excited for some air conditioning too. While we were at the museum, there were
two girls secretly taking pictures of Sarah Ann. They would follow her around
and snap a picture when she wasn’t looking. My dad went up to the girls and
said, “My daughter would like to take a picture with you. Is that okay?” They
said sure. They didn’t get the joke and looked a little confused. We all
laughed a lot though. Some teenage boys wanted to take a picture with me and a
group of teenage girls came up to Rachel and said, “You are so beautiful. Can
we take a picture with you?”
Here we are with our host and a graduate student in front of
the museum
After looking around a little, we went to see the largest
musical instrument in the world. They found it in a tomb of an emperor who was
buried in the 5th century BC. (They didn’t play the real instrument
– they played a replica. But we saw the real instrument in the museum.) We sat
down in a concert hall to hear a little concert. The instrument had tons of
bells and was really interesting to listen to. They played other traditional
Chinese instruments with it. For one of the songs, a dancer came out.
A dancer in front of the bells – the largest instrument in
the world
We headed to the train station next. There, we got on
another bullet train to Guangzhou, a city in the southern part of China. China
has lots of really big cities. Guangzhou is the largest city in China and the
third largest city in the world (next to Tokyo and Seoul). Our host told us
that everyone wants to move to the cities now because there are more
opportunities there. Some of the people in China who live in the countryside in
the mountains are still very poor and don’t even have electricity or running
water.
It’s a four and a half hour train ride to Guangzhou going
almost 200 miles an hour. The scenery has tons of mountains and trees. It’s
fascinating.
Do they have a name for the largest instrument in the world? Which "modern" instrument does it most resemble? You said there were lots of bells! It certainly seems like your hosts want you to have an incredible tour of China. You have seen so many things. What an incredible experience. Love Grandma Albrecht
ReplyDeleteRachel - I agree that you are very beautiful. Grandpa.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese people have excellent taste taking photos of you guys. I look forward to hearing correct pronunciations of all of these cities. The instrument reminded me a little of an organ.
ReplyDeleteYou are celebrities everywhere you go! When is your movie coming out
ReplyDelete