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Southeast Asian in origin and used before the twelfth century b.c., the sheng played an important role in Confucian music. Now it accompanies folk songs and is occasionally used in the Beijing opera to add harmony. The arrangement of its bamboo pipes symbolizes the folded wings of the mythical phoenix, whose cry the sheng’s sound is said to represent.
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Title: Sheng ( 笙 )
Date: ca. 1850–89
Geography: China
Culture: Chinese
Dimensions: 16 1/2 × 2 1/2 in. (41.9 × 6.4 cm)
Classification: Aerophone-Free Reed-mouth organ
Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
Accession Number: 89.4.2894
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