Traditional Handmade Chinese Gongs by Master Wu
Meet The Gong Master
Master Wu was born in Wulai,
Taiwan. He started making gongs at the age of 23, and has been making gongs for almost 30
years. In Taiwan
he is one of only 2 people left that can hand-tune and hand-make Chinese Gongs.
Master Wu has a reputation in Taiwan for high quality gongs: His gongs have a deeper and longer lasting resonance than others. His gongs often get the most attention. Every strike on one of his gongs is an art.
In Taiwan, Master Wu has been the subject of numerous newspaper
and magazine stories, as well as numerous TV interviews.
Master Wu is considered a national treasure. He drinks tea, boils water, chops wood, plays music, and shoots a bow/arrow – all essential life to making gongs. Making gongs is an expression of one’s emotional state. One must be calm and peaceful to make a gong from heart. Making gongs is meditation & it is Master Wu’s spiritual journey.
Life is realizing the Tao, the way of all things. Master Wu has had many spiritual realizations in the process of making gongs. “The hand follows heart”, he says. This is a true realization after 20+ years of non-stop experience.
To make gongs, Mr. Wu uses different mallets in size and shape, including 
some hand-made mallets, while creatively hammering the metal. Each contact creates a loud sound. Testing the sound of the gong, Master Wu hammers again with different mallets until he gets the right feel. Sometimes he stands on top of the gong and hammers as he maneuvers. With every strike he controls his strength and position of the hammer. Every strike changes the sound quality. Master Wu continues hammering and testing the sound until he gets a solid, thick, heavy, round, full sound.
Master Wu says that you can’t teach anyone how to make gongs. The skills have to be realized from the process of making gongs. You sense it, and feel it, then realize it. Gong making is not something learned by following a list of steps. It is a feeling. It is learned by doing.
The sound of Formosa – using Taiwan brass and skills, Master Wu is Taiwan…
some hand-made mallets, while creatively hammering the metal. Each contact creates a loud sound. Testing the sound of the gong, Master Wu hammers again with different mallets until he gets the right feel. Sometimes he stands on top of the gong and hammers as he maneuvers. With every strike he controls his strength and position of the hammer. Every strike changes the sound quality. Master Wu continues hammering and testing the sound until he gets a solid, thick, heavy, round, full sound.Master Wu says that you can’t teach anyone how to make gongs. The skills have to be realized from the process of making gongs. You sense it, and feel it, then realize it. Gong making is not something learned by following a list of steps. It is a feeling. It is learned by doing.
The sound of Formosa – using Taiwan brass and skills, Master Wu is Taiwan…
