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 May 5, China News Service "East-West Question" has launched the "Treasures of the Town Hall" series of planning (1), which explores the meaning of cultural relics and the stories behind them through experts.
Hangzhou, 5 May (ZXS) -- Why did Liangzhu Yuqian King "see the millennium in jade"?
——Interview with Wang Mingda, senior researcher of Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Written by Zhang Yuhuan
Jade is one of the most outstanding material achievements of Liangzhu culture, and its quantity, volume, type and craftsmanship have reached the peak of China's prehistoric jade level, which is a key to empirical Chinese civilization of 5,000 years. In the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, the Yuqian King excavated from the tomb of the Liangzhu Anti-Mountain King is known as the "Treasure of the Town Hall". Its form is broad and large, and its ornaments are unique and complex, which is the first of the jade of Liangzhu culture.
What kind of "life" does King Yuqian have? What is "different" in Liangzhu jade? What is the significance for the continuation of Chinese civilization? China News Agency's "East-West Question" recently interviewed Wang Mingda, senior researcher of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
Video: Wang Mingda: Why did the king of Liangzhu Yuqian "see the millennium of jade"? Source: China News Network
The following is a summary of the interview:
China News Agency: How was King Yuqian discovered?
Wang Mingda: King Yuqian is from tomb 12 at the anti-mountain site. In the early summer of 1986, according to the excavation plan formulated, the anti-mountain archaeological team of the Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology stationed in Heshan Village, Changmei Township, Yuhang County (now Yuhang District), and laid six probes of 4×90 meters at the western end of the mound about 30 meters above the flat land, more than 10 meters long and more than 10 meters wide.
Wang Mingda recalls the excavation story in the Liangzhu Site Park. Photo by Zhang Yuhuan
I am the leader of the anti-mountain archaeological team. At that time, soon after we started excavating the topsoil, a number of Han tombs were discovered one after another, but these were not the main goals of this archaeological excavation. Twenty days later, as the cleanup of the Han tomb drew to a close, the depth of excavation by each probe had reached about 150 centimeters. As a precaution, I decided to stop using a small hoe to turn the soil, and instead use a sharp, large flat shovel to shovel the ground flat and light, and then carefully observe the change in the color of the soil on this flat ground.
Anti-mountain site strata. Photo by the pillar
One of the most important skills of field archaeology is "recognizing the soil in the soil". Finally, in the middle of Probe No. 3, we identified a gray-brown patch of soil from a large area of gray loess, and after repeated shoveling confirmation, we delimited the rectangular north-south boundary line, that is, the grave mouth of the earth pit.
On the afternoon of May 5, before the heavy thunderstorm, the security officer Chen Yue cleared a piece of soil with small jade grains and patent leather from the pit dug below, and when I was on the partition (31.1 meters high), he held it in the palm of his hand and handed it to me. But that didn't tell the story, so I gently plucked it with a piece of bamboo, and finally I found a ring-shaped white object that could see a little bit of jade, and I thought, "I'm going to catch it now." "This is the number 6 jade that was later unearthed.
It is worth mentioning that during the entire excavation process, because the tomb is deep, and the burial objects are almost all over the tomb, people have almost no place to stand in it, so we tried our best to find a "soil method" - "hanging operation method", that is, using two sections of hairy bamboo to cross on both sides of the tomb mouth, and then using ropes to hang two sections of hairy bamboo in the tomb, and laying wooden boards on the hairy bamboo in the tomb. People crouch on movable wooden boards, clean up one section and move another section without touching objects.
Wang Mingda tells the scene of archaeological work in Liangzhu Site Park. Photo by Zhang Yuhuan
In the end, a total of 12 pieces of jade were unearthed in tomb No. 6 of the anti-mountain site, and the king of jade was located near the head of the tomb owner, and the remaining 5 pieces of jade were slightly different in size, height and number of knots, and were unearthed in the chest and abdomen of the tomb owner. This is also the first time that Zhejiang archaeologists have excavated high-level tombs of the Liangzhu culture.
Wang Mingda holds the king of jade. Photo courtesy of interviewee
China News Agency: What is "different" about King Yuqiang? What is the meaning of the "divine emblem" on its surface?
Wang Mingda: This jade is the largest, heaviest and most exquisite piece of Liangzhu jade that has been found, with a height of 8.9 cm, an upper diameter of 17.1 cm to 17.6 cm, a lower diameter of 16.5 cm to 17.5 cm, an outer diameter of 5 cm and an inner diameter of 3.8 cm.
King Yu Qiang. Photo courtesy of Visual China
In addition to the largest size, the peculiarity of the Jade King lies in the "divine emblem" carved on all sides. At the beginning of the discovery of the Jade King, archaeologists did not pay much attention to the ornaments on the jade Qiang. After it was sent to the cultural relics warehouse for numbering and taking pictures, we found that the jade king actually depicted the "god man beast face" pattern wearing a feather hair crown and riding on a sacred beast.
Jade King part - "God, man and animal face" pattern. Photo courtesy of Visual China
The main body of this motif is "god man", the face is inverted trapezoidal, and the eyes, nose, and teeth are very realistic. The "god man" also wears a towering feather crown on his head, a hat ornament with a continuous cirrus pattern engraved on the inner layer, and a radial feather crown on the outside. The limbs of the "god man" are finely carved with yin patterns, the upper limbs are raised arms, elbows are bent, and the five fingers are flat. Beneath the "god man" is a divine beast (shaped like a tiger) lying on the ground, with oval-shaped eyelids on the outside, connected by bridge-shaped convex surfaces, with a nose bridge and nose wings, and sharp teeth in its wide mouth.
Professor Deng Cong, editor-in-chief of Liangzhu Jade Craftsmanship, distinguished professor of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Shandong University, and former director of the Chinese Archaeology and Art Research Center of Hong Kong Chinese University, has included in his works the most representative divine and human animal face ornaments of Liangzhu jade. The delicate micro-engraving technology of the divine and human animal face, which can be micro-engraved with 1 to 3 stripes with bare hands on a width of 5 mm, demonstrates the high-end stunt of Liangzhu jade craftsmanship. Photo by Sun Zifa
We interpret the "god man and animal face" pattern on the Jade King is a belief that being able to ride on the back of the tiger to conquer the tiger represents a special "divine power". The "God, Man and Beast Face" pattern on the Jade King is engraved on almost all Liangzhu jade Qiang, but it is only complex and simple. This may show that Liangzhu society already has a fairly unified political system, and the unity of faith is actually a reflection of the unity of human society.
China News Agency: What does the tomb of King Yuqian and the King of Anti-Mountain mean to Liangzhu culture?
Wang Mingda: In March 1986, when we applied for the anti-mountain excavation plan, we wrote, "According to the excavation of Liangzhu cultural tombs such as Caoshoe Mountain and Fuquan Mountain, we believe that the anti-mountain should also be an important Liangzhu cultural tomb, that is, the 'earthen pyramid'." ”
Facts have proved that the excavation of the tomb of the anti-mountain king of the Yuzhu King has indeed produced a number of "most": it is a high-grade cemetery with the largest number of jade artifacts, the richest variety and the most exquisite carvings among the known Liangzhu cultural sites; Tomb No. 12 of the Anti-Mountain is the highest-level tomb of the Liangzhu culture found so far, and if calculated as a single piece, the number of burial objects is as high as 658, of which 647 pieces of jade are counted as a single piece (excluding jade grains and jade pieces). The scale of construction of the anti-mountain burial ground, the richness of the burial products, and the abundance and precision of jade, no Liangzhu culture tomb has surpassed it.
Tourists visit the tomb of the anti-mountain king. Photo by Wang Gang
Previously, the Liangzhu culture was not "conspicuous" among many archaeological cultures in China. In November 1986, in order to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the discovery of the Liangzhu site, the "Liangzhu Culture Symposium" was held in Hangzhou. Professor Yan Wenming of the Department of Archaeology at Peking University believes that the excavation of the anti-mountain has pushed the Liangzhu culture to the forefront of archaeological disciplines.
China News Agency: What is the significance of the jade unearthed in Liangzhu to the continuation of Chinese civilization?
Wang Mingda: The production of great and useless works of art is one of the symbols of civilization.
Jade is the most important representative of the material and spiritual culture of Liangzhu culture, reflecting the civilization model linked by theocracy. At that time, the royal power mastered rare jade materials and made various groups of jade objects that represented status.
The main types of Liangzhu jade are Qi, Bi, Yu, etc., and jade is the most representative, and each piece of jade is engraved with a divine emblem pattern. Liangzhu jade culture reached the peak of Chinese prehistoric jade culture.
Spectators visit the restoration scene of tomb No. 14 at the anti-mountain site. Photo by Li Zhong
The texture, production process, form, etc. of a jade object can reflect the identity, status and power of the owner, which is an important embodiment of ancient civilization. Therefore, jade is one of the most important indicators of Chinese characteristic civilization, and it has played an irreplaceable special role in the formation of Chinese civilization. Among them, the Jade King is the most representative sacred jade in the 5,000-year civilization history of Liangzhu culture.
King Yu Qiang. Photo by Shen Yishan
Professor Yan Wenming once said that Liangzhu jade, represented by jade, influenced most of China. As an important part of Chinese civilization, Liangzhu culture, especially the jade culture of Liangzhu, had a wide influence on the same period and later Longshan period and surrounding cultures, and the distribution area reached most of China. In many sites of the Xia Shang and Zhou Dynasties, such as Yin Wu and Sanxingdui, jade from the Liangzhu culture has also been found, which shows the significance of the Liangzhu culture to the Chinese ritual civilization.
China News Agency: How is China's jade civilization represented by Liangzhu jade different from other countries in the world?
Wang Mingda: China was one of the three major centers of jade in the ancient world, the other two centers were in New Zealand and Mexico, but the three have different historical and cultural traditions.
Mexican jade culture was mainly created by local ancestors, the Maya, and today the jade culture has been broken. New Zealand jade is mainly mined and used by the indigenous Maori people. But in fact, New Zealand jade mainly talks about the origin of jade. Moreover, New Zealand jade has a large number of jade, but there are not many types, and the style is quite simple compared to Chinese jade.
From a worldwide perspective, China was the first country to manufacture and use jade. The history of jade used in China stretches for a long time, and the ancient jade craft has a history of nearly 10,000 years, which has played a role that cannot be ignored in the formation of the diversified and integrated pattern of the Chinese nation. (End)
Respondent Profile:
Wang Mingda explains in the museum. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Wang Mingda, male, is a senior researcher at the Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the leader of the anti-mountain archaeological team. He has been engaged in the front-line work of Zhejiang archaeology for a long time, and has served as a director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, a member of the Chinese Jade Culture Center, and the vice president of the Jade Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics.