A chime bells orchestra from central China's Hubei Province will give five performances in the Netherlands and Belgium from September 25 to October 15.

The orchestra is founded in the 1980s by the Hubei Province Museum and they will give the performances with a set of ten-ton chime bells unearthed in 1978 in a tomb of Duke Zeng, a prince in the China's Warring States period (BC 475-221).

Wan Quanwen, vice curator of the museum, said the performances are an important part of the music festivals held in the two countries, during which more than 100 pieces of ancient musical instruments will be also displayed to the European visitors.

The orchestra will play the music edited or rewritten from ancient Chinese music and folk songs, which recorded the lives of different classes of a society, Wan said.

The orchestra has more than 20 members and they have given performances in Japan, Luxemburg, Singapore, the United States, Germany, France, Hong Kong and Taiwan, receiving warmest welcomes from the locals.   

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2005)