Thelusheng (simplified Chinese:芦笙;traditional Chinese:蘆笙;pinyin:lú shēng,pronounced[lǔʂə́ŋ];Vietnamese:Khèn Mông; also spelledlu sheng; spelledghengx in standardHmong andqeej in Laotian RPA Hmong) is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to theTang Dynasty. It is amouth organ with multiplebamboo pipes, each fitted with afree reed, which are fitted into a long blowing tube made of hardwood. It most often has five or six pipes of different pitches and is thus apolyphonic instrument. Its construction includes six parts (mouthpiece, air feed pipe,sheng dou (笙斗, body),sheng guan (笙管, pipes), reed, and resonator tube). It comes in sizes ranging from very small to several meters in length.

Thelusheng is used primarily in the rural regions of southwestern China (e.g.Guizhou,Guangxi, andYunnan) and in nearby countries such as Laos and Vietnam, where it is played by such ethnic groups as the Miao (Hmong-Hmyo-Hmao-Hmu-Xong) andDong. Thelusheng has special cultural significance in the Miao regions due to its role in marriage and religious ceremonies. At thelusheng festival (September 27–29), performers often dance or swing the instrument from side to side while playing. Since the late 20th century, a modernized version of the instrument has been used in compositions, often as a solo instrument. Thelusheng production technique has been recorded in China'sState-Level Non-Material Cultural Heritage List since May 20, 2006.

Thelusheng can be traced back to theTang Dynasty with a history of 3000 years in China. It is originated from theCentral Plains Region of China. After spreading to the rural regions of southwestern China,lusheng became one of the favorite traditional instruments in several Chinese minority ethnic groups (in particular, theMiao, Yao, Dong, and Yi).^[1] It is believed to have evolved from theYu (wind instrument), which is a free-reed wind instrument originated inthe Han nationality.^[2]

In theMiao region, there is a folk legend about the origin of thelusheng. According to the legend, the world had nine suns in ancient times that caused heavy drought. People struggled to survive and built huge bows and arrows, shooting down eight of the nine suns. This scared the last sun, which kept itself hidden in the clouds. Without the sunshine, there was always night and crops failed to grow. To induce the last sun to come out, people produced thelusheng and played music. The beautiful melody from thelusheng successfully attracted the sun to come out again. After that, playinglusheng became a tradition and cultural expression of the Miao people.

On May 20, 2006, the production techniques onlusheng of theMiao nationality group was approved byChina State Council and listed in the State-Level Non-Material Cultural Heritage List.^[3] The production techniques used to produce thelusheng advanced techniques of reed musical instruments production in ancient China, connecting ChineseMiao and other Miao ethnic groups around the world.^[2]

A traditionallusheng consists of six parts:mouthpiece, air feed pipe,sheng dou (笙斗, body),sheng guan (笙管, pipes), reed, and resonator tube.^[4] The mouthpiece is thin bamboo, which is connected to the air feed pipe and thesheng dou (笙斗, body);^[5] six bamboo-madesheng guan (笙管, pipes) of different lengths and with reeds at the bottom are inserted into thesheng dou (笙斗, body), each of which has a press hole and is equipped with a bamboo resonator tube at the upper or lower end of the different bamboo pipes.^[5]

Sheng dou (笙斗), which is also called a gas box, is the body of thelusheng. It is mostly made of cedar, pine orwu tong (梧桐) wood.^[3] It has a spindle shape, with 46~56 cm in length, 4 ~ 9 cm in width, and 3.5 ~ 8 cm in height.^[3] During the production, a whole piece of blank material is split into two halves, and each inner chamber will be hollowed out respectively.^[6] Then two halves will be glued after loading into thesheng guan (笙管, pipes) with seven turns of thin gabions around the outer part.^[6] Thesheng dou (笙斗) often has the color of light yellow, decorated with tung oil on the outside. Its beautiful appearance madelusheng has the reputation of "golden sheng".^[7][3]

Sheng guan (笙管, pipes) is mostly made out of white bamboo, which has a thin diameter (1.2 cm), long joints (40~50 cm), uniform thickness, and thin walls.^[3] They are inserted longitudinally at an angle of 75° to 90° into thesheng dou (笙斗).^[6] The height ofsheng guan (笙管) varied based on a different level of tones:sopranolusheng is 14.5 cm ~ 30 cm high,altolusheng is 30 cm ~ 58 cm high, basslusheng is 58 cm ~ 105 cm high, times basslusheng is 105 cm ~ 210 cm high.^[3]

Reed is the soundbox oflusheng, mostly is made from ringing copper.^[7] Its size varies depending on the pitch: The pitch of c, c1, c2 has the length of 4 cm, 3.5 cm, 2.5 cm, and the width of 0.25 cm, 0.2 cm, 0.15 cm, respectively.^[3] Thelusheng reed can also be made of brass, while it is not as crisp as the sound of copper.^[7]

The resonator tube acts as the "microphone" of thelusheng. It is a bamboo tube set on the upper end of thesheng guan (笙管) and is mostly made of Moso bamboo.^[6] Two types of resonator tube are used in the production, which is movable and fixed.^[7] Its length varied with different pitches: c, c1, c2 have length of 60 cm, 30 cm, 15 cm, respectively.^[3]

Thelusheng plays an important role in pursuing love in Miao culture. Among traditionalMiao (Hmong), intermarriage is prohibited between people of the same surname.^[2] Instead, Miao people usually choose their mates through collective activities.^[2] During annual spring farming periods, Miao people will buildlusheng fields in Hmong villages as places for people to choose their spouses.^[2] In thelusheng fields, young men and women from different villages gather together, playinglusheng and dance to get to know each other.^[2] When a Miao man picks his mate, he will playlusheng songs like"asking for a flower belt" and ask for a love token from the woman.^[2]

In the Miaoreligion, they believelusheng is a spiritual instrument (ananimism belief) and has a certain effect on the gods.^[2] Between the beginning of spring and autumn harvest,lusheng playing is prohibited.^[2] During that period, Miao people will wipe thelusheng clean and tie it with red cloth, plugging thesheng guan with cotton flowers and placing it in the reed-pipe hall.^[2] Otherwise, it is believed that the sound oflusheng during harvest season will offend the gods. Violators are subject to reprimand by the elders of the tribe.^[2]

Lusheng can be used infunerals, as its sound signifies death.^[8] In the funeral ceremony, Miao people will playlusheng to release the souls of dead people from suffering.^[8] They believelusheng symbolizes a strong blood tie between the Miao people and theirancestors.^[8]

Miaolusheng festival (also calledlusheng fair) occurs on September 27 and lasts for three days.^[1] It has become a traditional festival with hundreds of thousands of Miao people participating.^[9] During the festival, alusheng competition takes place among individuals and among teams composed of five people.^[1] They playlusheng music and dance in ritualized forms (lusheng dance).^[1] The players with more tunes and brighter sounds will win and theirlusheng will be hung with red ribbons, as a symbol of honor in the village.^[9] Other activities also take place duringlusheng festival to increase the jubilant atmosphere, including horse racing, bird-fighting, and cock fighting.^[1]

• Sheng (instrument)
• Khene
• Yu (wind instrument)
• Hulusheng
• Mangtong
• Music of China
• Traditional Chinese musical instruments

• Lusheng page (Chinese)
• Lusheng and Qeej

• Traditional Hmonglusheng performance in Guizhou
• Traditional Hmonglusheng performance in Guizhou
• Traditional Hmonglusheng performance in Rongshui, Liuzhou, Guangxi
• Modernizedlusheng performance