Gong Gong

Gong Gong (Chinese: 共工; pinyin: Gònggōng or 龚工), also known as Kanghui, is a Chinese water god or sea monster who is often depicted in Chinese mythology, folktales, and religious stories as having red hair and the tail of a serpent (or dragon). He is often seen as destructive and is blamed for various cosmic catastrophes. In all accounts, Gong Gong ends up being killed or sent into exile, usually after losing a struggle with another major deity.

In Literature

Gong gong is known from the late Warring States period (before 221 BCE). Gong Gong appears in the ancient "Heavenly Questions" (Tianwen) poem of the Chu Ci, where he is blamed for knocking the earth's axis off center, causing it to tilt to the southeast and the sky to tilt to the northwest. This axial tilt is used to explain why the rivers of China generally flow to the southeast, especially the Yangzi River and the Yellow River, and why the sun, moon, and stars move towards the northwest. Literature from the Han dynasty becomes much more detailed regarding Gonggong.

Gong

A gong (Chinese: 鑼; pinyin: luó; Indonesian or Javanese: gong; Malay: gong ) is an African, East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat, circular metal disc which is hit with a mallet. It originated in China and later spread to Southeast Asia, and it can also be used in the percussion section of Western symphony orchestra.

Gongs are broadly of three types. Suspended gongs are more or less flat, circular discs of metal suspended vertically by means of a cord passed through holes near to the top rim. Bossed or nipple gongs have a raised centre boss and are often suspended and played horizontally. Bowl gongs are bowl-shaped, and rest on cushions and belong more to bells than gongs. Gongs are made mainly from bronze or brass but there are many other alloys in use.

Gongs produce two distinct types of sound. A gong with a substantially flat surface vibrates in multiple modes, giving a "crash" rather than a tuned note. This category of gong is sometimes called a tam-tam to distinguish it from the bossed gongs that give a tuned note. In Indonesian gamelan ensembles, some bossed gongs are deliberately made to generate in addition a beat note in the range from about 1 to 5 Hz. The use of the term "gong" for both these types of instrument is common.

Kong (surname)

Kong (孔) is a Chinese, Korean, and Cambodian surname. It can also be written as Kung in Taiwan, Hung in Hong Kong, Khổng in Vietnam, and Gong in Korea. There are around 2.1 million people with this surname in China in 2002, representing 0.23% of the population.

This surname Kong is most notable as the surname of Confucius and his descendants. The family tree of Confucius and his descendants is generally considered to be the world longest, covering over 2,500 years with more than 80 generations recorded, and has two million entries according to its last update in 2009. The main line of descent traditionally held the title of Duke Yansheng, which was changed to the title of the first Sacrificial Official to Confucius in the 20th century. This title is currently held by Kung Tsui-chang.

Kong may also be the English transliteration of a rare Chinese surname 空, or a less common form of the Gong surnames such as 龔, 貢 and 弓.

Origin

The character for the Kong surname was derived from the Zi (子) family name. The founder of the Shang Dynasty, Tang of Shang whose family name was Zi, had the courtesy name of Taiyi (太乙). His descendants fused the character Zi (子) to Yi (乙), forming the character Kong (孔) which eventually became a surname. It first appeared during the Zhou Dynasty as the courtesy name Kongfu (孔父) of a noble in the State of Song named Jia (嘉), said to be a descendant of the Tang of Shang. Kongfu Jia was murdered, and his son escaped to the State of Lu where he adopted Kong as the name of his clan. His family settled in Qufu and Confucius was one of his descendants.

Carlos Winkow

Carl Winckow known in Spain, where he spent most of his working life, as Carlos Winkow (6 February 1882 – 16 January 1952) was a German type designer who worked primarily for the Naçional Typefoundry.

Fonts Designed by Carlos Winkow

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