Bad luck, nightmares, bad news, can't help but make people frightened. The bad country, the bad rain, the bad luck, but it sounds very troublesome - what kind of country is this, and how can it have such a name? What is its history and where is it? Many mysteries about this mysterious ancient country have plagued the researchers concerned for many years. Since the 21st century, archaeological materials related to the Nightmare Country have appeared one after another, and the legend of the Nightmare Country, which has been lost in the long river of time, has slowly emerged.
The "Legend of Hanhuai - The Essence of The Bronze Ware of the Nightmare Country" being held by the Shanghai Museum brings together many key artifacts related to the Nightmare Country, trying to present the development context of the Bronze Ware of the Nightmare Country and restore the historical features of the Nightmare Country for today's audience.
Two clues
The history of the bad country has not been recorded in the annals of history and has long been unknown. Therefore, the exhibition takes the "mysterious history of the nightmare country" as the clue, and subdivides the bright line and the dark line - the bright line is the development history of the bad country itself, and the dark line is the discovery process of the history of the bad country in the past.
The only documentation on the Kingdom of Nightmares comes from the records in the Records of History and the Warring States Policy. The general content is that Ehou (written as "鄂" in the literature) and Ghost Hou and Xi Bochang (King Wen of Zhou) were the three dukes of the Shang Dynasty, and their status was noble. When Ghost Hou was killed for angering King Huan, Hou Hou was upset and was therefore brutally killed by King Huan. In addition, the history of the bad country has been lost during the War and Han Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, the retro trend prevailed, and scholars at that time once again found the word "nightmare" in bronze inscriptions. They recognized the word in the Jin text, referring to the "E" country in the ancient book. However, the jin records show that the Marquis of Qifang was destroyed by the King of Zhou because of the rebellion. Therefore, on the one hand, the Song people were pleased to prove that the bad country still existed in the Zhou Dynasty, and on the other hand, they were still confused about whether the bad country would completely perish after the Conquest. This confusion was not solved until after the rise of modern archaeology.
The two cemetery sites discovered in the 21st century in Suizhou, Hubei, and Xiayupu in Nanyang, Henan, are the key to unlocking the confusion of the ancients, the key to exploring the history of the bad country, and the focus of this exhibition. The "Nightmare Hou Family" section of the exhibition mainly shows the bronzes of the early Western Zhou Tombs and their family members found in Yangzishan in 2007, including the "One Statue and Two Dragons" wine vessel combination, etc.; the "Relationship between the Badhou Kingdom and the Zhou Royal Family" section explains the friendship and rebellion between the Badhou Emperor and the Zhou Royal Family through two heirloom bronzes; the "Bad lucky kingdom reproduction" part focuses on the bronzes excavated from the tombs of the four generations of the Badhou couples from the late Western Zhou to the early Spring and Autumn Period found in Xia Yupu around 2013. These include the common combination of "panzai" washers in that period, as well as the "Seven Dings" column combination that can represent the identity of the princes.
The exhibition design is very ingenious. Artifacts with the inscription "噩" or "噩侯" are all self-acting vessels of the Nightmare Hou and are placed in the same corner cabinet; it may be the trophy of the Nightmare Hou or other artifacts excavated from the No. 4 Tomb of Yangzishan from the Friendship Blessing Vessel, and the artifacts of family members such as Uncle Hao and The Nightmare Ji collected by the Shanghai Museum are placed in another corner cabinet, which highlights the difference in bronze casting or user identity. In addition, in the display area of the artifacts excavated from the tombs of the four generations of the Badhou couple, the museum simply restored the excavation of the corresponding tombs using the form of niches and projection methods, and attached a tomb plan to the wall. This display method is intuitive and clear, allowing visitors to understand the combination rules and practical functions of the utensils.
Triple interpretation
In 1917, Wang Guowei proposed the "double evidence method" of history: "My generation was born today, fortunately in addition to the materials on paper, we also have new materials underground." "It means to verify the excavated cultural relics and historical records with each other, and to consider the ancient history and culture from more perspectives." In recent years, many researchers have introduced ethnology, anthropology, scientific and technological archaeology and other disciplines, and put forward the idea of constructing a "triple evidence method" or even a "multiple evidence method".
At the end of the 20th century, Mr. Jao Zongyi's "triple evidence method" pointed out that history can be studied by combining historical documents, field archaeological materials, and ancient script interpretation. The curatorial concept of "taking bronze as the carrier and the content of the inscription as the longitude and latitude" contained in the Bad country bronze ware exhibition embodies the spirit of the "triple evidence method".
The exhibition displays and elaborates on almost every inscription on the bronze, from which the mystery of the surname of Nanyang Xiahou can be found from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period. In the exhibition, there is a bad pot, which is a "concubine" made for marrying a daughter in ancient times. Its inscription "Nightmare Hou Zha (Zuo) Meng Ji Concubine Kettle" roughly means that this dowry vessel was made for The Nightmare Hou for his daughter Meng Ji. From the pre-Qin law of men calling surnames and women calling surnames, it can be inferred that their surnames are "Ji".
Through the "triple evidence method",— the rise and fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the clues to the surnames of the Shang Dynasty's Bad kingdoms mentioned in the literature, the Western Zhou Dynasty's bad kingdoms found in the Jin Dynasty, and the archaeological discoveries of YangziShan and Xia Yupu, we can roughly sort out the history of the development of the Badlands themselves from the exhibition, that is, the bright line of the exhibition.
In the last years of the Shang Dynasty, after the King of Sui killed the Three Dukes of Qi, the Kingdom of Qi did not perish, but continued. In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the Kingdom of Qi and the State of Zeng were established in the east of Han, roughly located in the area of present-day Suizhou; a certain generation of Marquis should also have several brothers such as Bo, Zhong, Uncle, and Ji; at this time, the bronze ware of the Kingdom of Qi was peculiar, exquisitely shaped, superb in craftsmanship, and unique. In the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, the marriage between the State of Qi and the Royal Family of Zhou was brilliant for a while, but in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, during the period of The Marquis of Xi, it united with Dongyi and Southern Huaiyi to rebel against Zhou, causing destruction. From the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period, the Kingdom of Nightmares was transferred to the area of present-day Nanyang, where four generations of Xiahou couples were buried; the early Western Zhou Dynasty "Jiao" surnamed Xiahou may have changed to the "Ji" surname Xiahou at this time.
Four highlights
The unique style of the bronze ware of the Nightmare Country is also a wonderful highlight that should not be missed when viewing the exhibition.
First, the bronzes unearthed in Suizhou are intricately shaped, especially represented by the Nightmare Hou FangMu and a pair of animal face tattoos in the central display cabinet. These artifacts are covered with teeth and claws and exaggerated animal heads, and the visual effect is shocking. In many places on the utensils, three-dimensional and protruding animal heads have been added to the needles. There are a total of 17 large and small ribs and 24 animal faces on the top, while the square has 36 large and small ribs and 43 animal faces.
Second, what is more eye-catching is the mysterious ornamentation on the bronze. The animal faces on the Fang And Ji cover almost all common animal figures in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, such as dragons, phoenixes, gluttonies, snakes, etc. The most special is the high relief animal face pattern on the main body on the bronze, which is more similar to a human face: its eyelids, orbits, eyeballs and pupils are well-layered, and the curved eyebrows composed of vertical lines are used above the eyes, and the two wings of the thick nose are specially shaped. This is the unique "god face pattern" on the bronze ware of the Nightmare Country. There are a total of 14 "human faces" on both sides of the temple, and a total of 13 "human faces" on all sides of the temple. They are exquisite and unique, and even have a slight smile. And due to the special burial conditions such as local geology and moisture, the surface of this batch of bronzes has formed a rare blue rust, which is magnificent and strange and moving.
Third, the inscriptions on the bronzes of the Nightmare Kingdom reveal a lot of information. Some scholars have pointed out that the "anti-book" in the inscription is another feature of the early Western Zhou Dynasty bronzes unearthed in Suizhou. That is, the same "nightmare" word uses a variety of different ways of writing, sometimes upside down, sometimes omitting two mouths, sometimes using variants, etc. Among the early Spring and Autumn Bronzes unearthed in Nanyang, there is also an inscription of Ding that appears "anti-book". However, this occasional occurrence may be a production defect, which was caused by the craftsman's negligence in the casting process to reverse the mold of this inscription. Suppose, a prince of a time of great national wealth and strength, would allow a bronze ceremonial vessel to be flawed? I am afraid not, so the secret behind this inscription about the strength of the bad country seems to have been revealed.
Fourth, the manufacturing process of the bronze ware unearthed in Nanyang is also worthy of in-depth exploration. Even if it is roughly in line with the overall era style at that time, this batch of Nanyang bronzes from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period is still difficult to hide the rough feeling in the process: most of the ornaments are simple and rigid, losing the early sense of refinement, three-dimensionality and unique regional characteristics; the feet, ears and other parts of many utensils are often holes due to incomplete copper flow casting; the fan lines left during casting are not repaired and polished in the follow-up, and are abruptly retained on the surface of the utensils. Among these artifacts are both those made for burial and many practical objects, which cannot be explained by the simple reasons of the utensils alone. Coupled with the situation of "one country, two surnames" mentioned above, some scholars believe that the bad country at this time was the result of the King of Zhou moving the remnants of the fallen country to the Nanyang Basin and handing them over to the rulers of the princes surnamed Ji.
More questions about the history of the Kingdom of Nightmares, such as whether the Xiahou of the late Shang Dynasty, the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and the early Spring and Autumn Period belonged to the same family, and where the Land of the Late Western Zhou Dynasty was located, prompted people to have more expectations for future archaeological achievements.
Why pay attention to this small pre-Qin country between Han and Huai? Perhaps for Westerners, the vast starry sky overhead and the moral code in their hearts are eternal goals, but for Chinese whose history has continued to this day and has not had a fault, the thick history and colorful civilization of the land under their feet are as valuable as the stars overhead. Every historical site on the land of the motherland, including the Shang and Zhou dynasties, is an important puzzle to restore the pattern of pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization, and it is also an important clue to understand the whole picture of ancient Chinese history. Just like the text written by the Shanghai Museum for this exhibition: on the occasion of the Shang Zhou Dynasty, the King of Wu li Zhou, the Zhou Feng Yin descendants of the Song, the King of Zhou Li tyrannical and ruthless, the King of Zhou You's favor, the fall of the Shen State in Western Zhou, the expansion of the Power of the State of Chu... This pile and every incident seems to have more or less something to do with the bad country. Although the bad country is a small country, "the leopard in the tube can be seen", and what is reflected in the history of the bad country is the rise and fall of the Zhou Dynasty, and it is the historical torrent that rushed away in that era.