Chen Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Say (yuē) Ting Kangxi Strokes: 14 Page 504, Entry 02 Broad Rhymes (Guangyun), Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), Dictionary of Rhymes (Yunhui): Pronounced yin (falling tone). Explanation of Characters (Shuowen): To strike a small drum to elicit musical sound. The character structure is derived from the radical Extended (shen) with the phonetic element Simple (jian). Jade Chapter (Yupian): A small drum placed upon a larger drum, struck to initiate a musical piece. Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), Spring Officials, Grand Master: Issued an order to play the drum, the ting. Commentary: Zheng Sinong stated that one strikes the small drum before the large drum; the small drum serves as a guide for the large drum, which is why it is called ting. Zheng Kangcheng believed that the expression drum ting is synonymous with striking the ting. Also, Spring Officials, Assistant Master: For small musical occasions, strike the drum ting. Commentary: Ting is the name of a small drum. Also identical to the character field (tian). Book of Odes (Shijing), Odes of Zhou: The ying and tian hanging drums. Note: Tian should be written as ting. Ting is a small drum placed beside a large drum; it belongs to the category of ying and bing drums. Phonetic shifts led to errors in character usage, resulting in the character tian. According to the Correct Character Encyclopedia (Zhengzitong), this character is classified under nine strokes, which is incorrect. This is now rectified.