01. Bronze lunch box
In the summer of 2002, a humble bronze piece appeared in the Hong Kong antique market, which looked like a worn-out "bronze lunch box" due to severe rust, so no one cared.
However, it is this seemingly ordinary "lunch box" that will reveal the truth of a myth and legend in China thousands of years ago!
The staff of the Poly Art Museum accidentally found this object, and on closer inspection, some inscriptions were faintly revealed under the cover of patina at the bottom of the artifact!
As we all know, there are inscriptions on bronzes, and its value will be even greater. Because these ancient words may convey to us an unknown historical truth...
In the end, Poly bought the "bronze lunch box" and brought it back to Beijing, and invited Professor Li Xueqin, an expert in bronze appraisal at Tsinghua University, to identify the object.
What I didn't expect was that this inconspicuous "lunch box" immediately attracted Li Xueqin's attention! Professor Li can tell at a glance that this is a genuine product!
02. Sui Gong Cup
It was called "盨" (xǔ) and was originally a ceremonial vessel used to hold millet, millet, rice, and sorghum, and there should have been a lid in its entirety, but the lid of this cup was missing. (That said, it's not wrong to call it a bronze lunchbox.) It has been popular since the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, which has a history of more than 3,000 years.
This piece (xǔ) is 11.8 cm high and 24.8 cm wide. Oval, straight mouth, circle foot, abdomen micro-drum, animal head amphora, ear rings seem to have the original title of the ring, now lost, the circle foot in the middle of the tip arc missing. The mouth of the vessel is decorated with a hyacinth pattern, and the belly of the vessel is decorated with a tile groove pattern.
Through the phoenix pattern on the edge of the mouth, experts determined that it was cast by the "Sui Gong", a "Sui Guo" monarch in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, so it was called "Sui Gong Cup".
What everyone is most curious about is the inscription recorded at the bottom of the cup, what exactly is written?
Professor Li Xueqin read the first few words of the inscription and was already very surprised!
03. Unlock the Xia Dynasty code
I only see that the inscription begins with "Heavenly Destiny Yu Shi Tu, follow the mountains and rivers", in Chinese historical documents, the inscription on "Dayu" is very rare! Subsequently, Professor Li deciphered the basic content of the inscription.
This Sui Gong Cup is engraved with a 98-character inscription, and as soon as the inscription content came out, it caused an uproar in the Chinese historical circles!
The inscription records that Dayu managed the flood by cutting down the hills, blocking the flood, and channeling the river, followed by some "virtue for the government" content. It also mentions that "Sui Guo" is a descendant of Yu Shun.
"Da Yu Zhi Shui" is a well-known story in China, "Yu" was the first king of the Xia Dynasty.
But for nearly a hundred years, historians have been debating whether Dayu, 4,000 years ago, was a real historical figure. In particular, some foreign historians believe that China's five-thousand-year history is too exaggerated!
The inscription on this Sui Gong Cup proves that as early as 2900 years ago in the Western Zhou Dynasty, people were already widely praising the merits of Dayu!
Prior to this, the earliest record of Dayu Zhishui was in the Warring States period, and now this cultural relics excavated in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the second period of the Western Zhou Dynasty has suddenly advanced the documentation of Dayu Zhishui by six or seven hundred years.
At the same time, Sui Gongyu also provides conclusive literature for solving the mystery of ancient Chinese history!
In the end, the experts were pleasantly surprised by more than this, Professor Li Xueqin found that the written record of Dayu Zhishui on the Sui Gong Cup was surprisingly consistent with the sentence on the Confucian classic "Book of Shang"!
As early as before, the authenticity of the ancient book "Shang Shu" was very controversial, so at least it proved the authenticity of the "Yu Gong" and other articles in the "Shang Shu" about The Great Yu Zhishui.
The importance of this "Sui Gong Cup" to Chinese history is self-evident, unfortunately, where did it come from? Was it the tomb robbers who stolen from the tomb of the king of Suiguo, and where is this tomb now? Nothing is known...