Editor's note:
The beauty of the national treasure, through ancient and modern times, is used to carry the Tao, and it is magnificent.
Behind each rare cultural relic is the ingenuity and wisdom of the ancients, engraved with the cultural genes of the Chinese nation, and witnessing the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.
Starting from January 11, 2023, China News Agency "East and West Questions" launched a series of plans for "Treasures of Town Halls" (1), using experts to explore the meaning of cultural relics and the stories behind them.
China News Agency, Nanchang, January 12th, title: What kind of bronze civilization does the Shang Dynasty Fu bird double-tailed bronze tiger tell about?
——Interview with Xu Changqing, chairman of Jiangxi Archaeological Society and second-level researcher of Jiangxi Provincial Museum
China News Agency reporter Liu Zhankun Li Yunhan
Unearthed in Oceania, Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, the two-tailed bronze tiger of the Shang Dynasty is the largest surviving pre-Qin bronze tiger.
It is huge in size, peculiar in shape, exquisite in craftsmanship, and vivid in image. It expresses the divinity of tigers and people's admiration for tigers to the extreme, and has strong regional characteristics. First-class cultural relics.
Why does this "bronze tiger" with both bravery and domineering and tenderness become the "treasure of the town hall"?
What kind of bronze civilization does it tell about?
Xu Changqing, chairman of the Jiangxi Archaeological Society and a second-level researcher at the Jiangxi Provincial Museum who participated in the archaeological excavation of merchant tombs in Oceania, Xingan, Jiangxi, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West".
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
Reporter from China News Agency: Why did the two-tailed bronze tiger of the Fu bird in the Shang Dynasty become the "treasure of the town hall" of the Jiangxi Provincial Museum? What kind of historical civilization at that time is reflected behind it?
Xu Changqing:
In September 1989, 1,374 artifacts from the Shang Dynasty were unearthed in Chengjia Village, Dayangzhou Town, Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, including 475 bronze artifacts, which caused a sensation.
At the excavation site full of yellow sand, pieces of heavy bronze utensils were neatly arranged, and ceramic wares were piled up together. Bronze swords, daggers, spears and other weapons were all broken into three pieces, layered on top of each other, and the surface was coated with cinnabar when unearthed.
In the central core area, exquisite jade ornaments, exquisite bronzes, and small jade strings are concentrated.
Various signs show that more than 3,000 years ago, there was a grand funeral here.
Such a large number of bronze wares unearthed at one time is the only one in the southern region and rare in the whole country.
Therefore, the tomb is known as the "Southern Bronze Kingdom" by experts.
In 2019, tourists visited the Oceania Shang Dynasty Bronze Excavation Site Exhibition Hall.
Photo by Li Fusun
The crouching bird double-tailed bronze tiger of the Shang Dynasty unearthed from a merchant tomb in Oceania, Xingan, is a single crouching tiger weighing 6.2 kilograms, making it the largest surviving pre-Qin bronze tiger.
In terms of shape, the mouth is grinning, the fangs are exposed, the eyes are protruding and ferocious, and the four legs are lying down in the shape of wanting to be indulged.
A small bird perched on its back, with a sharp beak and round eyes, it is comfortable and peaceful.
Tiger birds live in peace and are very distinctive.
In general, this "treasure of the town hall" tiger is large in shape, unique in shape, vivid in image, brave and domineering, and tender of a bird, and shows mysterious appearance and majesty and divinity; The elegant appearance contains simple and exquisite craftsmanship.
It is the creation of reality and imagination, the integration of technology and art, the connection of material and spirit, and the witness of civilization and history.
In particular, the divinity of the tiger and people's admiration for the tiger are expressed to the extreme, with strong regional characteristics.
The double-tailed bronze tiger with crouching birds of the Shang Dynasty in the Jiangxi Provincial Museum is decorated with patterns all over the body, with curly cloud patterns on the face and abdomen, cloud and thunder patterns on the back, and deformed scale patterns on the nose, main ridge, tail and lower parts of the legs. The upper part of the four legs is a striking thunder pattern.
Photo courtesy of Xu Changqing
China News Agency reporter: What are the characteristics of the bronzes unearthed from the Oceania merchant tomb in Xingan, Jiangxi? What is the unique status?
Xu Changqing:
Xingan Oceania Shang tomb is the tomb with the largest number of bronzes unearthed among the noble tombs of the Shang Dynasty that have been excavated in China.
In the 20th century, China had three of the most dense bronze unearthed sites.
The first one is the tomb of Fu Hao at the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province. The owner of the tomb is Fu Hao, the wife of Shang Wang Wuding.
Excavated in 1976, 468 pieces of bronzes were unearthed in the tomb less than 30 square meters. This is the only emperor-level mausoleum in the capital of the late Shang Dynasty that has not been robbed.
The second is the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan. Two sacrificial pits were excavated in 1986. More than 700 bronzes were unearthed from the No. 2 sacrificial pit. Of course, it is not a tomb.
The third is the Xingan Oceania merchant tomb, which was excavated in 1989 and unearthed 475 bronzes.
The bronzes of Oceania merchant tombs are of high grade.
In the Shang Dynasty, the bronze axe was a symbol of royal power and military command, and only high-ranking nobles could own and use it.
There are only dozens of archaeological discoveries in the Shang Dynasty.
Six pieces of copper battle-axes were unearthed from merchant tombs in Oceania, the largest in number, and one of them weighed 11.4 kilograms, which was the "king of battle-axes" in China.
According to literature records, when King Wu of Zhou defeated Zhou, Duke Zhou of Zhou held a big axe, and Gonggao Bi held a small axe, which separated the two sides of King Wu of Zhou.
King Wu of Zhou chopped off the head of King Zhou of Shang with a Xuan ax and hung it on the small white flag.
Being able to use "Yue Wang" can imagine the identity of the owner of the tomb.
At the same time, a four-legged deer cage (yǎn) was also unearthed, which is 105 cm high and weighs 78.5 kg.
The jar has two ears standing on a deer, and the whole vessel is formed by one-time casting, with exquisite decoration, which reflects the outstanding achievements of bronze model casting crafts, and is known as the "king of jars" in China.
More than 30 bronze tripods of various types were unearthed from the tomb, some of which weighed tens of kilograms.
These heavy bronze vessels form the core of ritual activities in Oceania merchant tombs and are symbols of their prominent status.
A four-legged deer jar unearthed from a merchant tomb in Oceania.
Photo by Huang Zhengsheng
The bronze wares from Shang tombs in Oceania not only have the style of Shang culture in the Central Plains, but also have strong local characteristics.
The double-tailed bronze tiger of Fu bird in Shang Dynasty is one of the cultural relics with strong local characteristics.
In addition, ancient musical instruments are equally important as the ritual vessels of "regulating the country, establishing the state, and ordering the people".
The bronze 镈 unearthed from the tomb is exquisitely decorated, huge in size, and has a deep and loud sound. Known as the "King of 镈", it is the most typical single-piece percussion instrument in western Jiangxi and eastern Hunan.
The bronze mask, commonly known as the "double-faced god-man" statue, has a wide mouth, protruding eyes and big ears, revealing a mysterious and strange atmosphere. It is a ritual vessel used by wizards to hold sacrificial activities with the help of heaven and earth, and has distinctive characteristics.
Bronze head of a double-faced god and man unearthed from a merchant tomb in Oceania.
Photo by Han Yibing
China News Agency reporter: Why might the bronzes from the Xingan Oceania merchant tomb belong to Hu Fang? What kind of ethnic group is Tiger Fang?
Xu Changqing:
According to statistics, in the tombs of merchants in Oceania, Xingan, there is not only a huge single tiger image, but also on the ears and feet of the tripod, the handles of bronze weapons, the head of the staff and the jade ornaments, which are the most characteristic of ritual vessels. There are so many, there are actually 56 images of tigers.
Some are realistic, specific and vivid; some are freehand, with vivid depictions.
It can be described as powerful!
The bronze tripod decorated with a large number of crouching tigers is unique to Jiangxi, and the rich tiger images are rare in the whole country, showing the unique local tiger worship.
According to literature records, there was a tiger family in ancient times, and the earliest clan worshiped tigers, which was formed in the Yellow Emperor period.
In the Shang Dynasty, it developed into Hu Fang, which was found in oracle bone inscriptions.
In the late Shang Dynasty, it moved south to Jianghan.
"South of Yin, Hufang Kingdom, west of Pengli, east of Dongting, following the three seedlings, Hufang rose."
Therefore, in the late Shang Dynasty, it may have reached the Dongting Lake-Poyang Lake area.
From the analysis of tiger elements such as the shape and pattern of tigers used extensively on bronze wares, it is very consistent with the geographical location of the tiger side recorded in the literature.
The Bronze Kingdom in the south may be the Tiger Fang Kingdom or the Tiger Kingdom, and the tomb probably belongs to the top leader of the Tiger Fang or the tomb of the Tiger King.
Unearthed in Oceania, Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, a Shang Dynasty bronze tripod with crouching tiger and flat feet.
Photo courtesy of Xu Changqing
Oceania merchant tombs are the most direct manifestation of the achievements of the highly developed bronze civilization of the "Southern Bronze Kingdom".
The Wucheng site in Zhangshu and the Niucheng site in Xingan not only have the largest large-scale city sites in southern China, but also unearthed high-scale and high-grade bronze tripods, as well as a large number of stone and pottery models for casting bronzes.
The combination of large city sites, tombs and high-grade bronze wares together constitute the core content of the Bronze Kingdom.
The city wall of the Wucheng site in Zhangshu, Jiangxi.
Photo courtesy of Xu Changqing
China News Agency reporter: Is the Southern Bronze Kingdom a local civilization or a Central Plains civilization? What role did it play in the formation of the Chinese nation community?
Xu Changqing:
Years of research have shown that the northern Jiangxi region of Jiangxi was an important position for the Central Plains Dynasty to manage the south. The "golden key" of the treasure house of Jiangxi bronze civilization.
Among the remains of the Shang Dynasty in the Bronze Kingdom in the South, many of the early Shang pottery, pottery (jiǎ), folded shoulder pots, and ring-foot plates found in the Shang Dynasty have elements of the Shang culture of the Central Plains, indicating that the source of the Bronze Kingdom may be related to the Shang culture of the Central Plains .
Some high-necked hard pottery pots with printed patterns obviously have the pottery characteristics of the Wannian Culture of the Shang Dynasty kiln site in Yingtanjiaoshan, Jiangxi, and belong to the common utensils of the Yue people in the south.
It can be seen that at the beginning of the mining of the Ruichang Tongling Copper Mine, merchants from the Central Plains and local Yue people should have participated.
Who is it controlled by?
It may be the northern Central Plains people, because they brought advanced copper smelting and casting technology.
A large number of bronze wares unearthed from merchant tombs in Oceania, such as tripods, gongs, you (yǒu), 罍 (léi), 鬲, bean, and axe, all have the style of the Central Plains Shang culture in terms of shape and decoration, indicating that in the hinterland of Jiangxi and Jiangxi, the core of the Bronze Kingdom In the region, the influence of commercial culture is profound and extensive.
Similarly, the research on the casting technology of bronze ritual vessels in Oceania also found that it used and inherited the popular clay molding technology in the Central Plains, which is the result of the spread of the core technology of Shang culture.
In the Zhou Dynasty, that is, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Chu cultural factors such as Chu-style 鬲, Yue cultural factors such as hard pottery and glazed pottery pots appeared in the copper mine sites at the same time, and we saw the phenomenon of Chu people and Yue people controlling copper mines.
Unearthed in Oceania, Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, a cloud-patterned bronze battle-axe from the Shang Dynasty.
Photo courtesy of Xu Changqing
The Southern Bronze Kingdom was the core of the largest and highest-level regional local government in southern China during the Bronze Age.
Originating from the profound accumulation of Neolithic civilization in Jiangxi, relying on the unique advantages of copper resources, under the strong influence of the bronze civilization of Xia and Shang in the Central Plains, the bronze production technology is highly developed, and the achievements of bronze civilization are ahead of other regions in the south, which promotes the development of Chinese civilization. Make progress together and step into the palace of early national civilization.
It is an important carrier for China's prehistoric civilization to enter the stage of national civilization since the late Neolithic Age, and it is a direct manifestation of the pluralistic unity of Chinese civilization.
The peak of its civilization occurred in the mid-Shang Dynasty and continued to the late Shang Dynasty, which may last for four to five hundred years.
It has witnessed the cultural integration of the Chinese civilization, which is inclusive of all rivers, and the process of finally integrating into the unified family of the Chinese nation.
(Finish)
Respondent profile:
Xu Changqing, chairman of the Jiangxi Archaeological Society and a second-level researcher at the Jiangxi Provincial Museum.
Photo by Liu Zhankun
Xu Changqing, graduated from the Department of Anthropology, Xiamen University, majoring in Archeology.
Second-level researcher of Jiangxi Provincial Museum, successively served as director of Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Secretary of the Party Committee of Jiangxi Provincial Museum.
Special allowance expert of the State Council, key cultural relics protection project expert of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, vice president of the Chinese Baiyue History Research Association, and chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Archaeological Society.
He has been engaged in field archaeological research and cultural heritage protection for a long time. He has participated in the excavation of major projects such as the site of the Haihunhou Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty in Nanchang and the tomb of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Lizhou'ao, Jing'an, etc. Protection and research, related projects have won the "Six Archaeological Discovery Awards", "Top Ten Archaeological New Discoveries" awards, the Gold Award for Archaeological Assets Protection, and the "Jiangxi Provincial Social Science Outstanding Achievements" award from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for many times.
He personally presided over and participated in 3 projects of the National Social Science Fund, presided over 3 social science planning projects in Jiangxi Province, presided over the writing of more than 10 reports and catalogs, and published more than 120 archaeological reports and academic papers.