When it comes to traveling in Shanxi, many people first think of the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, pingyao ancient city, or yungang grottoes, but shanxi's monuments are too remote, and it is almost impossible to punch all of them one by one through a few days of travel.
If you want to appreciate the charm of Shanxi's historical sites in a short time, then going to the Shanxi Provincial Museum in Taiyuan for a walk will definitely make you feel the deep heritage of Shanxi for the first time.
Before appreciating the Shanxi Museum, let's take a look at it, although this museum does not have many tourists, but in fact, it has more than 500,000 cultural relics, which makes it the number one museum in Shanxi, and even in the domestic museum is also the best.
Of course, in addition to the rich collection of the Shanxi Provincial Museum, its cultural relics are also quite distinctive, especially those that witness the integration of ethnic minorities and Central Plains culture.
Then our trip to the Shanxi Provincial Museum starts from these exotic cultural relics, and the first cultural relics I want to recommend is the Sui Dynasty pottery camel that was introduced in the CCTV "National Treasures" program a few days ago.
This artifact is about 47 centimeters tall and 30 centimeters long, and at first glance it is not too impressive, but if you look closely at the figure on the back of a camel, you will find that the little man is extremely cute, holding a cake-like food in his hand and sending it to his mouth.
This cake-like food was the Hu Cake (similar to the bread in present-day Xinjiang) at that time, which was imported from the Western Regions through the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, it became a popular food for people in the Central Plains, especially in the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi once used "flax cakes to learn Kyoto, and the crispy oil of the noodles came out of the new oven." To the hungry Ambassador Yang, it seems that there is no support for it? "To praise the hu cake, it can be seen that the literati and inkers at that time liked this cake very much."
Of course, in the Tang Dynasty, this kind of hu cake became an extremely high-end food, and was loved by the royal family, such as Tang Xuanzong's escape to Sichuan on the way to use hu cake to fill the hunger, which shows that hu cake is not only popular with the common people, but a food loved by all the people.
Like the hu cake just mentioned, there are also many imported products in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, among which the hunting-pattern Persian silver plate from Persia is also my favorite cultural relic.
Let's take a closer look at this silver plate unearthed in Datong, Shanxi, which is high on all sides and low in the middle, and is open.edd. Focusing on the pattern in the middle, in the center is a Persian with a round hat and a long beard, wearing a necklace of nine jewels around his neck, which shows his extraordinary status.
The streamers behind the head are classic decorations of the Persian Sassanid period, and through these objects, it can be clearly felt that this hunting map shows the scene of the Persian Sassanid Dynasty, so it is very likely that it was also imported through the Silk Road.
However, if it comes to the most exquisite cultural relics of the Central Plains and ethnic minorities, then it must be yuhong tomb stone rafter, which is a stone rafter excavated from the ancient tomb of Yu Hong in the Sui Dynasty.
The stone rafters are made of White Jade material, and the top is a wooden building that imitates the top of the mountain, and the rank is second only to the top of the royal temple, through which it can be seen that Yu Hong was also a powerful person at that time.
The focus can be on the bas-reliefs on the rafters and rafters, which can see figures with high noses and deep eyes and micro-curled hairstyles, which can be seen at a glance that they are not Central Plains people, but most likely Sogdians who came to the Central Plains through the Silk Road to engage in commerce.
In addition to the Sogdians, on the rafters, you can also find pictures of winemaking and lion biting gods, funeral travels, camel hunting lions and Hu people holding horns, riding camels hunting lions and bighorn sheep, feasting and drinking and fighting with human lions, etc. all show the luxury scenes of religion and life with Central Asian characteristics.
In addition, the carvings are all painted with gold, making the overall appearance more ingenious.
In fact, such a variety of cultural relics in the Shanxi Museum can be described as countless, such as the Northern Wei Acrobatic Figurines, Stone Carving Fang Yan, Lou Rui Tomb Murals, etc. can be focused on. In short, as a Shanxi Museum with few tourists, it will bring you different surprises everywhere, and at the same time show you the glory of Shanxi. (Author: Horse and stop, life is about walking, the journey needs to be recorded!) ）