They are used in all ethnic groups on the highland in the Central of Vietnam. There are many ways to explain the name of this musical instrument.

But, in summary, we can understand that Chinh is a kind of gong without knob and Chieng is a kind of gong with knob. As a habit of both democratic community life and multiphonic music aesthetic, the ethnic groups living in the highland in the Central of Vietnam have never played Chinh Chieng as an independent musical instrument.

They always combine them together to have an ensemble including a lot of Chings and Chiengs with different pitches. The smallest chieng ensemble consists of three ones and the largest may be up to 20 ones, such as Arap ching of the Gia Rai ethnic group and Honh Chieng of the Bahnar ethnic group.

Chieng ensembles of the highland in the central of Vietnam play an important role in all festivals of a life circle, such as ceremony for leaving the cradle day, ceremony for congratulating new rice, ceremony for celebrating Rice-Mother, ceremony for killing buffalo, etc. The people living in the highland may lack rice and water but they cannot live without the sound of Chieng in community activities.