Editor's note:

The beauty of national treasures, through ancient and modern times, 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. From 2023 March 3, China News Service "East-West Question" has launched the "Treasures of the Town Hall" series of planning (20), through experts to explore the meaning of cultural relics and the stories behind them.

Tianjin, 3 March (ZXS) -- Question: How does Taibaoding tell the context of Chinese civilization?

——Interview with Yao Yang, Director of Tianjin Museum

Written by Zhang Shaoxuan Wang Zaiyu

Taibaoding, now in the Tianjin Museum, is included in the "Catalogue of the First Batch of Cultural Relics Prohibited from Going Abroad (Border) for Exhibition". As a witness of the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Taibaoding can reflect the bits and pieces of Chinese culture and art and even the historical process, whether it is the production process or the inscription in the ding. Yao Yang, director of the Tianjin Museum, recently accepted an exclusive interview with the China News Agency's "East-West Question", telling the story of the excavation, circulation and preservation of Taibaoding.

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: How was the world-famous Taibao Ding discovered?

Yao Yang: As one of the "Seven Instruments of Liangshan", Taibaoding has a relatively legendary process of excavation.

First of all, the name "Liangshan Seven Instruments" comes from the Qing Dynasty. The earliest literature on it came from a scholar named Yang Duo in Shandong. In his "Records of the Jinshi of Hanqingge", it is mentioned that "Jining Zhong Yangtian (Yanpei) obtained seven kinds of ancient artifacts near the Shouzhang Liang Mountain: Dingsan, Yiyi, Luyi, Zunyi, and Gongyi, and this is also Lugongding, Yuzun Two, and has returned to Qufu Confucius Temple." "Zhong Yangtian, a local gentry, got seven antiquities in Liangshan, and the text lists the number and basic names of the artifacts, but no more information.

After the discovery of the "Liangshan Seven Artifacts", it attracted the attention of many collectors and scholars, and after long-term research by later generations of scholars, more verifiable materials were mastered, and the excavation time was more accurately determined. Scholars found that the "Jining Jinshi Zhi", which recorded the Jinshi inscriptions in southwest Lu during the Daoguang period, appeared in the relevant content of the "Liangshan Seven Instruments", and the book was written in the 23rd year of Daoguang, which shows that the "Liangshan Seven Instruments" were unearthed and known before the 23rd year of Daoguang.

In recent years, according to the relevant first-hand documents found in the Shandong Museum, the figure of "Liangshan Seven Instruments" appeared in the antique market of Jining in the sixteenth year of Daoguang, so its discovery will not be later than the sixteenth year of Daoguang.

One of the "Seven Instruments of Liangshan", Taibaoding. Photo courtesy of Tianjin Museum

China News Agency: What twists and turns has Taibao Ding survived in the world?

Yao Yang: After the discovery of the "Liangshan Seven Instruments", due to the turbulent times, many were lost, but Taibaoding was completely preserved, and it was passed down in an orderly manner, from Zhong Yangtian to Li Zongdai to Ding Linian, three generations of Shandong folk collectors have been protecting the safety of Taibaoding in the turbulent era.

Taibaoding's connection with Tianjin is about its fourth collector, Republic of China President Xu Shichang. Xu Shichang has a lot of research on gold and stone research, and he loves the collection of gold and stone cultural relics. In 1917, Xu Shichang received news from his friend Ke Shaotin, a scholar of the university, that the Ding family in Rizhao, Shandong Province wanted to sell four bronze heavy objects, Taibaoding, Taishiding, Xiaokeding, and Kezhong, so he immediately contacted the seller and bought them at a large amount of money and collected them at home.

In 1958, Zhang Binghui, Xu Shichang's granddaughter-in-law, donated four artifacts to the country, all of which are still in the Tianjin Museum. In the 4s of the 20th century, Taibaoding was listed as a national treasure that could not be exhibited abroad.

It can be said that the Xu Shichang family carefully collected and carefully protected Taibaoding, and achieved the only cultural relics collection in the "Seven Artifacts of Liangshan" that can be preserved in China. There is a "Deding Song" in Xu Shichang's "Collection of People in Shuizhu Estate", in which it is written that "Confucianism is rich in words and benevolent and righteous; Today, on the hall of the four instruments, the ancient color is shining brightly", which shows his love and respect for Taibaoding.

Xu Shichang made a photocopy of "Deding Song". Photo courtesy of Tianjin Museum

China News Agency: Taibaoding has the "face value responsibility" of the Ding world, what is the so-called?

Yao Yang: Taibao Ding is not large, about 30 centimeters long and only more than 20 centimeters wide, but it has slender four-legged legs and a relatively high center of gravity in the whole shape.

Compared to adults, it is a typical "My Fair Shuding" long legs, which are easy to resonate with the aesthetics of modern people, so many people will feel amazing when they see it.

Its ornamentation is also very special. It has double vertical ears cast on its mouth, and double beasts are embossed on its ears, and the image of spirit beasts on its ears is also absent in the Ding of the Shang Dynasty. The dinger of the Shang Dynasty is very simple, mostly simple patterns. From the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ornaments of the ding began to change, many abstract things were concretely displayed, and various images of spirit beasts appeared.

On the other hand, Taibaoding's abdomen is decorated with banana leaf patterns and gluttonous patterns on all four sides, and the corners are decorated with ribs. At the same time, Ding, such as Cheng Wang Ding, used nipple nail patterns, which was relatively decent. The ornamentation of Taibao Ding can be seen to be further artistically processed and exaggerated.

The most notable are the ribs on the foot of the column and the disc in the middle of the foot, which are extremely rare in Shang and Zhou bronzes.

Taibao Ding Ding Ding ear ornament. Photo courtesy of Tianjin Museum

China News Agency: Although the inscription on the Taibao Ding is only three characters, it is known as "one word and a thousand gold", why?

Yao Yang: Bronze ware appeared in China about 4000,<> years ago, and after entering the Bronze Age, China's bronze manufacturing developed rapidly. Compared with the West, the biggest feature of Chinese bronze is that it is included in the category of ceremonial system. The so-called "great affairs of the country, in worship and fighting", shows that the sacrificial ritual system and the protection of the family and the country were equally important at that time.

The casting date of Taibao Ding is the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and the inner wall of the abdomen of the Ding is cast with the three characters "Da Bao Cast". "Dabao" or "Taibao" is an official title responsible for guardianship and assistance to the monarch. It is recorded in the "Shangshu Junxi": "Summoning the Duke is the guarantee, the Duke of Zhou is the teacher, and the king of Xiangcheng is the left and right." " Shiji Yan Zhao Gong Family " also has the saying that " Zhao Gong Xie has the same surname as Zhou , surname Ji , King Wu of Zhou destroyed the dynasty, and was crowned Duke of Zhao in Northern Yan". Therefore, it can be seen from research that Taibaoding was cast by the prince of Western Zhou Cheng Zhao Gongxi.

The Taibao Ding is engraved with a three-character inscription "Taibao Cast". Photo courtesy of Tianjin Museum

The excavation of Taibao Ding also reflects that Chinese bronzes are an important epitome of historical and cultural influence. The reason why the three-character inscription on Ding's body is "one word and a thousand gold", first of all, it clarifies the relationship between the artifact and the taibao zhaogong, which is a collection of the zhaogong family.

If you do a horizontal observation with several other bronzes in the "Seven Artifacts of Liangshan", you can find from the literature that the five artifacts, including the Taibaoguan, are inherited and collected by the Zhaogong family, which is a very important historical information that can lead people to understand the political culture of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and understand the political status of Zhaogong and his historical role.

Secondly, the three characters "Dabaozhu" in the inscription, "Da" is "Tai", which is now called Tongfake. The most characteristic of the era is the character "cast", because the "cast" character inscription rarely appears, in the early years, the inscription scholar Mr. Chen Mengjia still thought that the golden text in Dingnei was "鬲".

Later, experts and scholars confirmed that the upper part of the character "cast" was the golden character "鬲", but it was written from the late Shang period to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and the writing method of "鬲" had changed by the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which not only reflected the evolution of Chinese characters, but also revealed the era of the emergence of Taibaoding.

Photocopy of the Taibaoding inscription. Photo courtesy of Tianjin Museum

China News Agency: Is the inscription on the Taibao Ding so precious, does it also reflect the development process of social history?

Yao Yang: Beginning with the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a major shift in inscriptions on bronzes. The people of the Shang Dynasty were superstitious about ghosts and gods, so they would go to divination to burn oracle bones and read divination words, and would not write down things in writing. The Zhou Dynasty underwent a great change in concept, and the Zhou people paid more attention to people-oriented, not only paying attention to the warm and cold life of the people, but more importantly, the rulers changed from believing in ghosts and gods to paying attention to the activities of the sky and paying attention to real life. Therefore, the Zhou people used to record important events that occurred, such as sacrifices, wars, natural astronomy, etc.

Bronze became the vehicle for recording such events, so more and more inscriptions will be found on bronzes after the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is also an important difference between Shang and Zhou bronzes.

Sideways picture of Taibaoding. Photo courtesy of Tianjin Museum

China News Agency: In recent years, what has the museum done to protect Taibaoding?

Yao Yang: With the enhancement of the strength of museums in all aspects, the protection of Taibaoding has become more and more standardized. We have customized the cultural relics cabinet with high-tech content, and the small environment in the cabinet is constant temperature and humidity to ensure that Taibao Ding is protected and displayed in the most suitable greenhouse environment.

Strengthening the protection of cultural relics with scientific and technological strength has been the focus of the museum's work in recent years. Through scientific monitoring, 24-hour uninterrupted real-time tracking of possible diseases can be achieved, and the risk of oxidation can be detected in time. For any budding that may endanger the safety of cultural relics, scientific and technological means can be used to intervene to minimize the risk of disease. (End)

Respondent Profile:

Yao Yang graduated from Nanjing University with a bachelor's degree in law, a master's degree in history, a doctorate in history, and a postdoctoral fellow in Chinese classical literature from the school's College of Arts. He has successively served as the director of Li Shutong (Former Residence) Memorial Hall, the deputy director of Tianjin Museum, the secretary and director of the Party Branch of Tianjin Cultural Heritage Protection Center, and the current director and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Tianjin Museum. He has been engaged in art history and cultural heritage protection research for a long time, published more than 131 academic papers in domestic core journals, and presided over and participated in many academic projects at the provincial and ministerial level. It has been selected as the first level of Tianjin's "2020" innovative talent training project and Tianjin's "'five batches' talent training plan". In <>, he was awarded the Excellent Expert of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.