Fou
Fou (Chinese:缶）is an ancient Chinese percussion instrument derived from clay potteries and bronzeware. Its origin dates back to the Xia or Shang dynasties. The fou as an instrument was not confirmed until a discovery of nearly 500 musical instruments in the Tombs for Nobles of the Yue State, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Also found there were nine other varieties of instruments, including the yongzhong (a type of bell) and qing (chime stone) from the central plains, chunyu (a metal percussion instrument), dingning (a bell with a handle), duo (big bell) and ling (little bell).
It made its modern appearance during the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing. At the beginning of the ceremony, 2,008 fou drummers staged a synchronized presentation using this instrument. Those instruments had a white square LED array surrounding each drum, allowing them all to produce both music and a dazzling display, which included characters and shapes created in tandem.
The Chinese character fou is used to refer to containers. The character has fallen into disuse in Chinese. Since Xia and Shang dynasties, some types of those containers were used as musical instruments known as "percussion fou."
