本文在分析兩本有關中國早期樂鐘的專著的類型學作業的基礎上， 利用寶雞竹園溝墓地出土的西周鐃的形制特點，提出青銅編鐘的產生是流行於長江流域的南 方鐃進入關中地區，為中原地區的禮樂制度所接納的過程。青銅編鐘的產生反映了商周時期 長江流域與關中地區的文化交流，並為解釋商周時期禮樂制度的變化提供了一種思路。

　　　　　Reviewing two monographs on Chinese bronze bells, by Lothar von Falkenhausen, and Chu Wen-wei and Lu Ch'i-chang, the author rethinks the typology of early Chinese bronze bells before the Middle Western Chou, and points out the significance of a single nao bell from the Chu- yuan-kou site, at Pao-chi. The birth of chime bells is regarded as a result of adopting imported objects in the local ritual system. Moreover, the author suggests that the transition from southern nao to late chime bells should be understood as an aspect of cultural exchanges between the Middle and Lower Yangtze River regions and the Kuan-chung area during the Shang-Chou period. In other words, early bronze bells might suggest the source and process of the ritual change from the Shang to the Western Chou dynasties.