According to a record of Fuyang Town, Fang Chaosheng’s grandfather, Fang Mingzhi, a native of Fuyang’s Xianting Village, went to Liancheng County, Fujian Province, to make a living during Xianfeng’s reign of the Qing Dynasty. Unintentionally, he acquired gong-making expertise from a local craftsman. Later, he returned to his hometown and started the workshop that has been known as “the factory of bronze gong” to date. After years of development, his grandson Fang Chaosheng made a name for making fine percussions during the Guangxu period.

Fang Chaosheng Gong, a time-honored brand, manufactures 67 varieties of musical instruments in eleven different categories, including Chaozhou bass gongs, qu gongs, dou gongs, cymbals, ma gongs, su gongs, opera horns, yue gongs, crown gongs, big suona horns and chimes. Raw materials have to go through a seven-step process before becoming the final products, i.e., metal picking, melting, over-molding, hammering the base, trimming, quenching and tuning. Among them, tuning gives a craftsman the most challenge. It is said that only countless hits can make a pitch-perfect instrument. In 2009, the craftsmanship made the 3rd batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage.

Of this art, the city has three representative inheritors, among whom one is at the provincial level and two are at the municipal level.