Xie Zhongjun

　　In ancient China, the tripod was regarded as a ceremonial vessel and an important weapon for passing on the country.

Many museums in China have collections of tripods. Among them, the most well-known one is the Houmuwufang Ding (formerly known as the Simuwufang Ding) in the National Museum of China. The Da Yu Ding, the Da Ke Ding, etc.

Today, we might as well log on to the cloud platform of the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and learn about another bronze ding ding, Qin Gong ding, at the "Silk Road Guanghua: Guangdong and Long Cultural Relics Fine Art Exhibition".

　　This cultural relic unearthed from Dabaozi Mountain, Li County, Gansu Province, is named after the inscription "Dong Qin made a casting tripod" on the inner wall of the tripod.

Don't underestimate these inscriptions, because they carry credible historical data, and future generations can judge the age of the bronze wares and the standards for the shape and decoration of the utensils at that time.

What is even more amazing is that it also hides the secret of the rise of the Qin people.

　　Where is "Qin"?

Which Duke Qin is "Duke Qin"?

According to "Historical Records: Qin Benji", the ancestor of the Qin people, Bai Yi, assisted Dayu in water control, and was given the surname Ying by Emperor Shun, and he became the main surname in ancient times.

In the Zhou Dynasty, Qin Feizi's superb horse-raising skills were deeply appreciated by King Xiao of Zhou, so he sent him to "between Wei and Wei" to raise horses, and the result was a great success. The vassal state of the Zhou Dynasty, "the Qin in the city, made the reconciliation of the Ying family, and called it Qin Ying".

From then on, the Qin people continued to write the glory of their ancestors and obtained a legal base.

After that, Duke Xiang of Qin escorted Zhou Ping Wang Dongqian to the east, and was officially named a prince.

Duke Xiang died during the subsequent crusade against Xirong and was buried in his hometown, Xichui, which is now Dabaozi Mountain in Lixian County, Gansu Province.

Duke Xiang's son, Duke Wen, succeeded in attacking the Rong, regaining the lost territory of the Zhou Dynasty in one fell swoop, and started the process of the Qin people's eastward advance.

After the death of Duke Wen, he was also buried in Dabaozi Mountain, Li County.

　　It can be seen from this that the Dabaozi Mountain in Lixian County, Gansu Province unearthed by Duke Qin’s Ding, is the place of Zhaoxing where the foundation of the Qin people’s business was created by the Qin people for several generations since Qin Feizi, and it is also the base for the continuous development and growth of the Qin people. The fallen leaves of key figures return to their roots.

It is generally believed that M2 of Dabaozishan is Qinxiang cemetery, M3 is Qinwen cemetery, and the "Qin Gong Ding" unearthed in M3 belongs to Qin Wen Gong.

　　Of course, because the Dabaozishan site has been severely stolen and damaged, and the unearthed artifacts are scattered all over the place, there is a debate in the academic circle about the tomb owners of the two tombs M2 and M3, but it is interesting that some scholars have come up with their own way. It provides an enlightening perspective for determining the ownership of Qin Gongding.

　　The character "Qin" has already appeared in the oracle bone inscriptions. The intuitive record of the threshing method, and the pictogram of this threshing method eventually developed into the country name of the Qin people, shows how much the Qin people, who were good at taming birds and beasts in the early days and later horses, paid attention to the issue of food.

On the bronze tripod unearthed at M2 of the Dabaozishan site in Lixian County, Gansu Province (part of it is now in the Shanghai Museum), the character "Qin" is still written with "jiu" in it, but on the Qin Gong Ding unearthed at M3, the "jiu" shape is omitted. , that is, within a short generation, the glyph of the country name "Qin" has been significantly simplified.

　　So how does this reduction of complexity happen?

First of all, with the improvement of productivity and the improvement of threshing methods, the use of "mortar" threshing is too inefficient to meet production needs.

The omission of "mortar" reflects the fact that the mortar, a low-efficiency production tool with a stone color, has been eliminated.

It should be known that in the contemporary or even earlier "Book of Songs, Binfeng, July", the description of the agricultural production of Zhou's ancestor in Bindi (now in Longdong, Gansu and Xianyang, Shaanxi) is "Building a garden in September, and building a garden in October. Grain threshing", that is, threshing the crops by rolling them on the field garden, instead of threshing them with a pestle and mortar with both hands.

Even today, 2,700 years later, mill threshing is still used in some rural areas in northwest my country.

Therefore, the detachment of the "mortar" in the word "Qin" is also an aggressive sign that the Qin people actively embraced the advanced production methods and farming culture of the Zhou Dynasty.

　　Interestingly, almost at the same time as the simplification of the inscription "Qin" and "jiu" on the Duke of Qin's tripod unearthed on M3, King Zhou Ping promised Qin State a large area of ​​lost land, including Bindi, the hometown of Zhou, due to the contribution of Qin people to escort them to move eastward. Duke Wen of Qin defeated Quan Rong and took over a large area of ​​the Zhou Dynasty.

The agricultural production method in Bindi, especially the threshing method, is obviously more advanced than the Qin people's hands and mortar threshing. So learning advanced production methods and integrating into agricultural civilization is a natural choice for the Qin people.

The Qin people not only embraced the advanced production methods in the hometown of the Zhou Dynasty, but also this embrace was extremely active and urgent, and promptly reflected this enthusiasm for learning and acceptance in the writing of the national title "Qin", that is, the fall of the "mortar". .

　　It took about 2,000 years for the Qin people to achieve unprecedented splendor from their ancestors assisting Dayu in controlling floods, through the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, to the Warring States period when they unified the six kingdoms. However, they died in just two generations.

As the Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu said in "Efang Gong Fu": "Those who belong to the Qin family are Qin, and they are not the world."