Zhengzhou, January 1 (Xinhua) -- Why can the jade-handled iron sword of the Kingdom of Qiu be regarded as "China's first sword"?
——Interview with Li Qingli, deputy director and research librarian of the Yuguo Museum in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province
China News Service reporter Kan Li
In the long history of China, the sword has been endowed with multiple meanings and formed a unique sword culture. The story of Xuanyuan's sword and the cadre Mo Ye has been passed down to this day; princes and nobles, chivalrous and righteous men once used their swords as their glory; and the image of the sword standing tall in the world has been admired by the literati of all dynasties......
Because of this, once a rare sword has been unearthed for many years, it has attracted much attention. The sword of King Goujian of Yue, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Qin Sword and so on are all like this, until the early 20s of the 90th century, the jade-handled iron sword unearthed in the tomb of the State of Yu in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province was identified as "the first sword in China".
Everyone in the world knows how the Yue Wang Sword and the Qin Iron Sword, which look like scrap iron and are rusty, can win the reputation of "China's No. 1 Sword"? Recently, Li Qingli, deputy director and research librarian of the Yuguo Museum in Sanmenxia City, gave an exclusive interview to the China News Service's "East-West Question" to interpret this.
The transcript of the interview is summarized below:
China News Service: How was the jade-handled iron sword unearthed?
Li Qingli: Speaking of jade-handled iron swords, we have to mention the cemetery of the Kingdom of Qiu, which is a large-scale, complete-graded, orderly and well-preserved cemetery of the princely states from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period, located in Shangcunling, in the north of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province. The whole cemetery is 590 meters long from north to south and 550 meters wide from east to west, with a total area of more than 32,10 square meters and a key protection area of more than 1956,<> square meters. Since its discovery in <>, archaeologists have carried out four drills and two large-scale archaeological excavations on the cemetery.
The excavation of the cemetery is of great significance, among which, the two tombs of the monarch M2001 (the tomb of Qiuji) and M2009 (the tomb of Qiuzhong) were rated as "the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country" in 1990 and 1991 respectively. In 1996, the cemetery was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit, in 2001, it was selected as one of the "Ten Major Archaeological Discoveries in Henan in the 20th Century" and "One of China's Top 2021 Archaeological Discoveries in the Twentieth Century", and in <>, it was selected as one of the "Top <> Archaeological Discoveries in Henan in the Past <> Years" and "Top <> Archaeological Discoveries in China in the Past <> Years".
The first excavation was from 1956 to 1957, archaeologists carried out archaeological investigation and excavation in the area of Shangcunling, cleaned up 1052 tombs including the tomb of Prince Yu M234, 3 carriage and horse pits, 1 horse pit, unearthed more than 1,4 pieces of cultural relics, and confirmed the location of the cemetery for the first time.
The second excavation was from 1990 to 1999, a total of 18 tombs, 4 carriage and horse pits, 2 horse pits, unearthed more than 2,<> pieces of cultural relics, discovered the Guojun Zhaoyu area, and clarified the accurate scope and nature of the cemetery. Among them, archaeologists found a jade-handled iron sword in the tomb of Yu Ji.
The excavation site of the tomb of M1990 in 2001. Courtesy of the Sanmenxia City Yuguo Museum
Key Conservation Area of Qiuguo Cemetery (taken in 2016). Courtesy of the Sanmenxia City Yuguo Museum
At that time, when the archaeologists cleaned up the remains of the coffin cover, a small square jade piece was found in the southeast corner of the tomb, and the archaeologists continued to clean up with the confusion of "how can the jade appear in the coffin room", and gradually found the iron sword body, and found that the sword was inserted upside down, so they first cleaned up the surrounding bronze chariots and horses and weapons, and finally extracted it.
When the sword was unearthed, the whole was broken, the sword body was seriously corroded, the sword body was wrapped in a leather scabbard, there was a longitudinal stitching mark on the surface of the scabbard, the stitches were clearly visible, the scabbard body had been infiltrated by rust, and the sword body was glued together and could not be peeled off. There are traces of silk fabric on the mouth of the scabbard, indicating that the sword was wrapped with silk fabric before being placed in the scabbard.
1990 M2001 Tomb Tomb Burial Artifacts. Photo courtesy of Sanmenxia Yuguo Museum
China News Service: What is the significance of the discovery of the jade hilt iron sword of the kingdom?
Li Qingli: The jade-handled iron sword of the Kingdom of Yu is composed of an iron sword body, a copper handle core and a jade hilt. The part of the sword body has been identified as an artificially smelted iron product. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, bronze ware was a representative of social productivity and was widely used in production and life. According to archaeological data, in the middle and late Shang Dynasty, Chinese ancestors had a certain degree of understanding of the characteristics of iron, such as iron is harder than bronze, and the blade of weapons is sharper and more durable. Therefore, people began to try to use a limited amount of meteorite iron in important parts of weapons. In the process of forging weapons with meteoric iron, the method of artificial iron smelting was gradually explored to obtain iron.
The treasure jade handle iron sword of the town hall of the Henan Museum. Photo by Kan Li
With the continuous progress of artificial iron smelting technology, iron is not only used in military weapons, but also widely used in social production, which greatly promotes the development of productive forces. This jade-handled iron sword is made of copper, iron, jade three kinds of materials composite, through socketing, inlay, casting, hammering, cold and heat treatment and other technologies, the three textures, different hardness, different production processes of the material organically combined, reflecting the developed social productivity of the country and the superb handicraft skills of the craftsmen of the country.
The sword is made of jade as the handle, and it is also the earliest product of the jade decorative sword seen so far, which is the prototype of the jade sword of the Han Dynasty. There are only three pieces of artificially smelted iron products unearthed from the cemetery of the Kingdom of Qiu, all of which are from the tomb of the monarch of the Kingdom of Qiu, and the precious and rare iron products show that only a few high-ranking nobles can use them, which should be a symbol of power and rank, and also reflect the hierarchy of the Western Zhou society.
China News Service: Why is the jade-handled iron sword of the Kingdom of Yu regarded as "China's first sword"?
Li Qingli: The reason why the jade-handled iron sword of the Kingdom of Yu can be regarded as "China's first sword" is mainly because it has rewritten human history and has very important historical and scientific value. As an artificially smelted iron product, this jade-handled iron sword is a block smelted carburized steel forged by the solid reduction method, which does not contain nickel and cobalt.
The jade handle iron sword of the Kingdom of Yu on display in the Sanmenxia Museum of Henan Province. Photo by Wang Zhongju
This discovery shocked the academic community, because before the unearthing of the jade-handled iron sword of the Kingdom of Yu, the earliest artificially smelted iron products known to be the copper-handled iron sword unearthed in the Qin tomb of Jingjiazhuang in Lingtai, Gansu Province in 1957, in the early Spring and Autumn period. The jade-handled iron sword unearthed from the cemetery of the Kingdom of Yu advanced the time of artificial iron smelting from the early Spring and Autumn period to the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and is the earliest artificial iron smelting product in the era of current archaeological discoveries, which is equivalent to advancing the history of Chinese artificial iron smelting by more than a century. Since then, the jade-handled iron sword unearthed from the cemetery of the Kingdom of Yu has enjoyed the reputation of "China's first sword", and has been selected as one of the treasures of the nine major towns of the Henan Museum. Although the Yue Wang Sword and the Qin Sword are well preserved and well-made, they are later than the jade-handled iron sword of the Kingdom of Yu in terms of time.
Exterior view of the Museum of the Kingdom of China. Courtesy of the Sanmenxia City Yuguo Museum
China News Service: From the perspective of the significance of "China's first sword", what is the historical inheritance of Chinese sword culture?
Li Qingli: The sword is one of the ancient weapons, known as the "king of a hundred soldiers", and its history has a long history with the history of human development. The ancients believed that "the sage made the sword", and the "Guanzi" recorded that "Chiyou was controlled by it, thinking that swords, armor, spears, halberds were ......", and it was believed that Chiyou invented the sword. According to archaeological excavations, the earliest swords were stone tools, and early humans sharpened stones into pointed double-edged tools.
Historical records of sword-making began in the Shang Dynasty, but they have not yet been confirmed by accurate archaeological objects. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, with the maturity of bronze smelting and casting technology, bronze swords appeared, but most of them were dagger-style short swords. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, bronze swords were the most popular, and copper-handled iron swords also appeared, and long swords began to become popular. By the Han Dynasty, the iron sword replaced the bronze sword.
The sword is one of the representative symbols of Chinese culture and has three symbolic meanings. First, the shape of its straight body and two blades represents the uprightness of the person; second, the ancient sword has a clear hierarchical concept, the sword represents the status of the sword, so the soldier must wear the sword, and the sword does not go to the body for no reason; third, the sword also represents the authority, prestige and power of the king, and can be used as a representative of the king or a symbol of power at a specific time.
Therefore, the ancient nobles, literati, and scholars wore swords, starting from the Zhou Dynasty and continuing to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the Han Dynasty was more prosperous.
In addition, the combination of the sword and the chivalry represents the spirit of justice; the sword and the literati and the ink embody a kind of humanistic spirit of advocating literature and martial arts; the sword is connected with the Tao, called the way of the sword, to achieve the effect of healthy body and mind, wisdom and wisdom, cultivation of sentiment, and perfection of personality.
"The edge of the sword comes from the sharpening, and the fragrance of the plum blossom comes from the bitter cold", it is the sword product as a metaphor for character. Therefore, no ancient weapon can carry so many cultural connotations like a sword, and Chinese sword culture has been integrated into the blood of Chinese sons and daughters and has become an integral part of China's excellent traditional culture. (ENDS)
Interviewee Profile:
Li Qingli is the deputy director and research librarian of the Sanmenxia Yuguo Museum. Sanmenxia City professional and technical key talents, social science experts, Sanmenxia City "Cuihan Talent Program" famous.
He has published more than 30 professional articles, mainly focusing on the work of the culture and museum of the Kingdom of China; presided over the compilation of books such as "Jade Unearthed from the Cemetery of the Kingdom of Qiu", "Bronzes Unearthed from the Cemetery of the Kingdom of China", "Zhou Feng and Yun - Historical and Cultural Exhibition of the Kingdom of China" and "Culture of the Kingdom of China"; the research topic "Research on the Protection of Cultural Relics in the Collection of the Museum of the Kingdom of China" was rated as "Excellent Research Report of the National Cultural System" by the Ministry of Culture; he presided over and participated in a number of research projects of the provincial and municipal social science federations, including "The Spiritual Core and the Value of the Times of the Culture of the Kingdom of China" It was awarded the first prize of "Excellent Research Achievement" by Henan Provincial Federation of Social Sciences.