Xun

Xun may refer to:

China

Note: in Wade–Giles, Xun is romanized Hsün

Other

See also

ǃKung people

The ǃKung, also spelled ǃXun, are a San people living in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, Botswana and in Angola. They speak the ǃKung language, noted for its extensive use of click consonants. The "!K" in the name "ǃKung" is a click that sounds something like a cork pulled from a bottle. However, the click is generally ignored in English, where the name is pronounced "Kung".

Historically, the ǃKung lived in semi-permanent camps of about 10–30 people usually located around a water body. Once the water and resources around the village were depleted, the band would relocate to a more resource-rich area. They lived a hunting and gathering lifestyle with the men responsible for providing meat, making tools, and maintaining a supply of poison-tipped arrows and spears. The women provided most of the food by spending between two and three days per week foraging for roots, nuts and berries in the Kalahari Desert. As a hunter-gatherer society, they were highly dependent on each other for survival. Hoarding and stinginess were frowned upon, and the ǃKung's emphasis was on collective wealth for the tribe, rather than on individual wealth.

Xun (instrument)

The xun (simplified Chinese: 埙; traditional Chinese: 塤; pinyin: xūn; Cantonese= hyun1) is a globular, vessel flute from China. It is one of the oldest musical instruments in China and has been in use for approximately seven thousand years. The xun was initially made of baked clay or bone, and later of clay or ceramic. It is the only surviving example of an Earth(also called "Clay") instrument from the traditional "eight-tone" (bayin) classifications of musical instruments (based on whether the instrument is made from metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, earth, hide, or wood).

Components

The xun is an egg-shaped aerophone, containing at least three finger holes in front and two thumb holes in back. It has a blowing hole on top and can have up to ten smaller finger holes, one for each finger. It is similar to an ocarina but does not contain a fipple mouthpiece, unlike other Chinese flute-like instruments, such as the Wudu and Taodi. The xun can come in a variety of sizes.

The entry for the Xun in the oldest surviving Chinese encyclopedia, Erya (Refined Definitions, c. 3rd century BC), describes it as being of two types: