Bronze drums and the man

Having regained their social standing, bronze drums are suddenly hot property. Many have approached Chen with a good offer for his drums - he can easily make millions of yuan each year by simply renting the drums for exhibition - but he is not yielding. For him,each drum is a "non-renewable resource". He fears that should he rent out the drums, "it might become difficult to get them back".

Ten years ago, Chen borrowed about 5 million yuan ($712,771) to build a museum to popularize the Zhuang people's cultural treasure. The museum now showcases more than 100 bronze drums in different halls according to their different usage.

Unlike other museums, visitors to Chen's museum are allowed to touch the exhibits, even beat some of the drums. "Let people have a zero-distance contact with the bronze drums. It will arouse their interest and draw more people to protect the drums. This is how the legacy of the bronze drum culture will survive," Chen said.

In 2006, the central authorities listed the Zhuang bronze drum custom in Hechi as one of the first national intangible cultural heritages. Donglan was recognized as the hometown for national folk bronze drum arts. The county is now paying special attention to developing tourism and the cultural industry related to bronze drums.