Help with possible origin

yuanzhumin · 1st April 2006, 08:03 AM

Hello
Living in a country of chinese culture, it is easy for me to recognize the chinese style and influence in this drum. Everything is chinese in the shape, the colors (red) and the traditional motives (dragon and phoenix, symbol for the emperor and the empress). But the way the drawing is made is different, something confirmed by the fact that the caracters drawn on it are not chinese, nor corean or japanese. So I guessed it was from a country very much influenced by China or even a minority inside China. The most obvious choice is Mongolia or the chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
I checked the few caracters diplayed on the drums and they are definitly from the old mongolian writing. You can check by yourself through the following link:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mongolian.htm
One more thing, this traditional alphabet is not used anymore. It has been replaced in the 30's by latin and cyrillic alphabet. So I guess this drum has been made before the 30's.
Hope this will help.
Yuanzhumin

1st April 2006, 08:03 AM	#5
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	For me, mongolian Hello Living in a country of chinese culture, it is easy for me to recognize the chinese style and influence in this drum. Everything is chinese in the shape, the colors (red) and the traditional motives (dragon and phoenix, symbol for the emperor and the empress). But the way the drawing is made is different, something confirmed by the fact that the caracters drawn on it are not chinese, nor corean or japanese. So I guessed it was from a country very much influenced by China or even a minority inside China. The most obvious choice is Mongolia or the chinese region of Inner Mongolia. I checked the few caracters diplayed on the drums and they are definitly from the old mongolian writing. You can check by yourself through the following link: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mongolian.htm One more thing, this traditional alphabet is not used anymore. It has been replaced in the 30's by latin and cyrillic alphabet. So I guess this drum has been made before the 30's. Hope this will help. Yuanzhumin