The production process of the bronze drum is exquisite, and it is cast with copper, tin, aluminum alloy, etc. as the main component. The five parts of face, chest, waist, feet and ears are integrated. The upper part of the drum is the chest, the middle part is the waist, the lower part is the foot, and there are two pairs of drum ears on the waist. Bronze drums vary in size and weight, and the drum surface is mostly cast with patterns such as sun pattern, feather eye pattern, cloud pattern, milk nail pattern, comb pattern, and flag pattern.

According to the article "New Exploration of Bronze Drums and Their Patterns" written by the famous historian Huang Xianfan, the patterns of bronze drums reflect the following meanings:

nature worship

People engaged in agricultural production know that the changes of yin, yang, rain and snow are closely related to the sun, but they do not understand the reasons for the occurrence of this natural phenomenon, resulting in the concept of "animity". Therefore, the sun must be drawn in the center of the drum surface, reflecting the necessity of sunlight for agricultural production.

rain craving

The continuous convoluted structure on the bronze drum. The square ones are called thunder patterns, and the round ones are called cloud patterns. It has already appeared on the pottery unearthed in the Neolithic Age, and its evolution can be seen in the oracle bone inscriptions, and it was developed in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Decorated on bronze wares, bronze drums use it as a pattern, reflecting that the ancestors have always been engaged in agricultural production. Among them, the thunder pattern has the greatest influence, and more thunder temples are built for the sake of rain.

totem worship

As a reflection of totem worship, the drum surface is decorated with four to eight frogs, some large frogs with small frogs, and some large frogs with several small frogs. This is the ancient worship of frogs. Because "the sound of frogs is the essence of bronze drums (drums)" and "those with loud drum sounds are the best", turtles and frogs can know the time of the sky, so they are regarded as gods. As for the dragon pattern, the zodiac, the money pattern, etc., they are all related to natural phenomena and organisms that are closely related to the production of agricultural people.