Ancient Chinese culture elements in Minority Tribes

[DavidNguyen]

So I thought I should share a few elements of Ancient Chinese culture that I found preserved in small Minority Tribes in China and Vietnam and other parts of South east Asia. Feel free to share your thoughts and post your findings:

Bronze Drums - 
Bronze drums have been used in the Shang Dynasty. They look similar to modern day Chinese Skin drums. Similar drums can be found by some highland tribes in Vietnam, that resemble that of Shang Dynasty drums.

Sheng -
The Sheng used to be made out of a gourd. It also dates back to the Shang Dynasty. Gourd Mouth Organs can be found in tribes in the Yunnan Province, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand

String instruments - 
The Se was one of the earliest Chinese instruments. It's origins are believed to be of Tube Zithers. In Vietnam, there is a type of Zither called "Goong", and in Indonesia, there is an instrument called Sasando, which is a tube zither with bridges on the strings, like that of a Guzheng or a Se. 

Feel free to post any additional information

[davidmdahl]

I don't know much of anything about Asian minority music, but Chinese style spread around Asia and in some cases persisted while China continued to evolve. The Vietnamese dan tranh is much like an old style guzheng, although it is not necessary to go very far back. The erhu before Liu Tian Hua was probably much like the Vietnamese dan nhi. Going back a lot further, Chinese court music from the Tang era has apparently been preserved in Japanese Gagaku music. There are some interesting videos of this on Youtube, and there are books by Laurence Picken in his series "Music from the Tang Court".

[DavidNguyen]

I remember once reading something about the relation between the Chu state and the Miao people. Also, if you look at the Dan Tranh, you notice it's generally in a more tube like shape, probably suggesting it's closer to that of Ancient Bamboo tube zithers