When many people go to the museum and see a variety of cultural relics, they will feel the long history of the Chinese nation for 5,000 years. It is these cultural relics that sit quietly in the museum that have witnessed the rise and fall of China's dynasties. Behind every cultural relic, there is a story of its own. Xiaobian will introduce to you today the story of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Wooden Seal.
After Hong Xiuquan established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime, in order to highlight his lofty status as the "Heavenly King", he designed a tripartite seal for himself. They are: Golden Seal, Jade Seal and Wood Seal. In August 1864, after the Xiang army led by Zeng Guofan attacked Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan's son Hong Tianguifu was captured, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Jade Seal and Jin Xi were captured by the Xiang army, and sent by Zeng Guofan to the Qing Court Military Aircraft Office for storage in the Fang Strategy Hall, while Mu Xi's whereabouts are unknown. Later, the golden seal was stolen by the military minister Sarung A and melted into gold bars, and Hong Xiuquan's tripartite seal was only left with the jade seal. In the 80s of the last century, Muxi appeared.
No. 173 Zhanyuan Road in Nanjing was originally a private residence of the Qing Dynasty, but after liberation, it was nationalized and became a rented house. In the 1950s, Zhang Daren's mother took their family of six to live in the third entrance east wing of No. 173 ZhanYuan Road. The east wing has two doors, the entrance is a narrow and long horizontal courtyard, the house is a brick wall structure in the east and west direction, and the wooden ceiling is wooden floor. One summer in 1975, the weather was hot and dry, and there was a storm under the lightning and thunder outside, so the teacher Zhang Daren went to bed early. Suddenly, a blast of thunder sounded, and the brick wall on the east side actually collapsed. Zhang Daren's bed was close to the brick wall, and fortunately, the wall was poured outward, so Zhang Daren was not harmed.
Because the next few days were heavy rains, the housing management department could not carry out repairs. The house was exposed to everyone's vision, and Zhang Daren had to hold on day and night. One day, he looked at the ceiling and suddenly thought, "Why don't you clean the ceiling, so as not to fall into the ashes and grow bed bugs." Just as he was cleaning the ceiling, he suddenly found a square wooden knot covered with dust, and the writing on the downward side could be faintly seen. After Zhang Daren removed the wooden knot, he found that it was a large seal, three inches square, four sides of the dragon pattern, and the word "will" was engraved in the middle. After communicating with his brother, he concluded that it should be related to the emperor. But at that time, it was the "four olds", in order to avoid burning themselves, so they threw the wooden seal into the toolbox, and even used it to pad the corner of the table at one time.
In 1982, the whole city of Nanjing carried out a census of cultural relics and monuments, and the Yuhua District Cultural Relics Census Office decided to transfer a teacher from the education system to assist in the work due to the shortage of manpower. The person who was drawn was Zhang Daren. In early November of the same year, Zhang Daren was working. A citizen took a seal to the Cultural Relics Census Office for identification. After appraisal, the staff said: "This is an ancient seal, which has collectible value." Zhang Daren on the side was stunned: "This has collection value?" My family also has a large seal of fang, which is also engraved with the word "will"!"
The staff asked, "Is it really fake?" Zhang Daren said, "Can I still lie to you?" Tomorrow I'll bring it to you. The next day, Zhang Daren washed the wood prints and took them to the cultural relics office. After the appraisal of Mr. Luo Ergang, a famous historian in China, this great seal is the wooden seal of Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly King during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The wooden seal is the seal that Hong Xiuquan stamped when he signed the seal and approved the printing of documents and books, such as the first page of more than ten kinds of books such as the "Book of Heavenly Articles" and "Etiquette System" issued by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, all of which were stamped with the "purpose" seal of this wooden seal, but unfortunately, after the capture of Tianjing in 1864, the whereabouts of the wooden seal are unknown.
According to Mr. Luo Ergang's research, No. 173 Zhanyuan Road in Nanjing is the location of the official office of the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, he speculated that it was most likely that when the Xiang army attacked Tianjing, the officials of the Shushu Ya were afraid that Muxi would fall into the hands of the Xiang army, and hid it on the ceiling, but they did not expect to be mistakenly hit by Zhang Daren and found it. Now the wooden seal is collected in the Nanjing Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum, and interested friends can go to see it in person.