In an effort to make this information more accessible, this document contains resources related to the Chinese musical instrument called yúnluó (雲鑼, literally "cloud gongs" or "cloud of gongs"), a percussion instrument consisting of between 10 and 14 (but usually 10, and sometimes as few as 5) small tuned brass gongs of equal diameter, suspended in a vertical frame and struck with a single curved beater. It first achieved wide popularity during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and is today used primarily in Daoist and Buddhist ceremonial ensemble music, as well as occasionally in Kunqu accompaniment or shifan ensemble music. In some traditions (including, most notably, shengguan ensemble music from Hebei province and Xi'an guyue), a yunluo player may play two yunluo simultaneously (using one beater in each hand), and a yunluo may also be played while standing or in procession. In the 20th century expanded (chromatic) modernized yunluo with 29 or more gongs of varying diameter were invented for use in modern traditional Chinese orchestras.
According to the ethnomusicologist Du Yaxiong (2002), a yunluo used by the ceremonial music association in Beixinzhuang Village (北辛庄村), Beijing had the following arrangement of pitches (A being the usual tonal center for shengguan ensemble music of the Central Hebei Plain, which is bounded to the north by Beijing, to the east by Tianjin, and to the south by Cangzhou and Dingzhou, Hebei, and including nearly 30 cities and counties of Hebei province):
C♯3
C♯2 B1 A1
《太平廣記 • 漢武帝》：「於坐上酒觴數遍，王母乃命諸侍女王子登彈八琅之璈，又命侍女董雙成吹雲和之笙，石公子擊昆庭之金，許飛瓊鼓震靈之簧。婉淩華拊五靈之石。范成君擊湘陰之磬，段安香作九天之鈞。於是衆聲澈朗。靈音駭空。又命法嬰歌玄靈之曲。」
http://www.guoxue123.com/zhibu/0401/01tpgj/005.htm
Based on an illustration in the book Eishi Gakki Tu《魏氏樂器圖》(Illustrations of Musical Instruments of the Wei Family) by Wei Hao (魏浩, courtesy name Wei Ziming, 魏子明), a music scholar of Chinese heritage, which was published in Nagasaki, Japan in 1780, during the Edo (Tokugawa) period, the yunluo may have been used to a limited extent in Japan, as part of that country's tradition of mingaku and shingaku (imported Chinese music of Ming and Qing origin).
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Chinese historical reference works discussing the yunluo
● Yunji Qiqian《云笈七签》
Yunji Qiqian is a Daoist work compiled by the Daoist priest Zhang Junfang (张君房) during the Tianxi era (1017-1021) of the reign of Emperor Zhenzong (r. 997-1022) of the Northern Song Dynasty. Volume 98 describes an instrument called a yu ao (玉璈), though it isn't clear if the instrument being described matches the yunluo in construction and playing technique:
「九音郎紫空，玉璈洞太無。」
Nine sounds [ring?] through the Purple Void,
As a jade ao [is played] in the Cave of Great Non-Existence.
In this passage, "郎" (lang, meaning "man") may be a misprint for "锒" (lang, meaning "clank").
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%9B%B2%E7%AC%88%E4%B8%83%E7%B1%A4/98
https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=323379
● Yuan Shi《元史》(The History of Yuan)
The official history of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Yuan Shi was completed in 1370 (actually during the early Ming Dynasty). It is one of the Twenty-Four Histories (二十四史). The yun'ao (雲璈, sometimes misspelled 雲敖) is mentioned briefly in both Yuan Shi and Xin Yuan Shi (this latter work being the revised version of Yuan Shi completed in the Republic period).
http://www.guoxue123.com/shibu/0101/00ysf/067.htm
http://www.guoxue123.com/shibu/0101/00xys/093.htm
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Chinese poems mentioning the yunluo
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Bibliography
Additional Web resources
● Information about the book Eishi Gakki Tu《魏氏樂器圖》(Illustrations of Musical Instruments of the Wei Family) by Wei Hao (魏浩, courtesy name Wei Ziming, 魏子明), a music scholar of Chinese heritage, which was published in Nagasaki, Japan in 1780, during the Edo (Tokugawa) period
