As we all know, in the 1950s and 1960s in China, there was a boom in archaeological excavations, led by Guo Moruo, then director of the first Institute of Chinese History, and historian Wu Han, who excavated many super mausoleums, especially the burial items excavated from the Dingling Tomb of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which are the most abundant and rare in the world. (However, due to the limitations of the conditions at that time, some rare national treasures in Dingling were suddenly carbonized when they encountered oxygen molecules after they were unearthed, and the damage was serious.) ）
In addition to excavating rare treasures unearthed from the Dingling Tomb of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, a famous national treasure was also excavated from the tomb in Wuwei County, Gansu Province, and most people who mention its name today are very familiar. This object is a Chinese tourism symbol, known as the treasure of the town and the national treasure of the national treasure bronze galloping horse, and later Mr. Guo Moruo was even more happy to see it.
As a symbol of Chinese tourism, the Eastern Han Dynasty copper galloping horse is also known as Ma Chao Dragon Sparrow, Ma Ta Fei Yan, Ma Ta Flying Falcon and so on. In 1969, when local farmers in Wuwei County were digging air raid shelters, one of the villagers wielding a pickaxe suddenly felt that he had touched something hard, and after the villagers cut open the floating soil layer, they found that it was a brick. Immediately found the brick wall, so the villagers took the bricks apart and found that it was an Eastern Han tomb.
After investigation, it was found that this burial chamber has a large space and is divided into three rooms: front, middle and rear. Although the tomb has been excavated many times, there are still many remains, and it is like a "rich underground museum". There are many treasures in the tomb, including 99 exquisitely cast bronze carriage horse samurai honor figurines, and the particularly striking thing is the copper galloping horse with high artistic value. Later, the production captain saw the situation and asked the members to find a marijuana bag containing grain and take out the valuable burial goods. Finally, the news reached the relevant departments, and the superiors instructed that these treasures could not be sold, let alone destroyed, and should be properly kept.
According to the inscription on the chest of the excavated horse figurines, the leitai Han tomb is the tomb of "Shou Zhangye Chang Zhang Jun", between about 186-219 AD. The excavation of the Leitai Han Tomb bronze carriage horse warrior honor figurine and the rare bronze galloping horse are rare in previous archaeological excavations in Gansu Province. The copper galloping horse, in particular, roars with its head held high, takes off on three legs, and steps on a bird with its right hind hooves. It not only expresses that the speed of the galloping horse exceeds that of the bird, but also skillfully uses the body of the bird to expand the landing area and ensure the stability of the galloping horse. The artistic shape is also beautiful, giving people the feeling of soaring clouds and fog, leaping thousands of miles, and is a very romantic artistic masterpiece of "flying in the sky".
It can be said that the copper galloping horse contains high artistic, scientific and historical value and has the connotation of Pegasus culture, and the casting skills are exquisite, which can be called the best of bronze art. The excavation of the copper galloping horse washed the world away, and the horse figurines since the pre-Qin Dynasty were eclipsed by it, and the painter shelved his pen for it. At the time, though, people didn't really recognize the value of copper galloping horses. The real understanding of the value of the copper galloping horse is the historian Guo Moruo, who is the Bole of the copper galloping horse.
When Guo Moruo first saw the copper galloping horse, he was amazed by the shape of the copper galloping horse, believing that it had both the momentum of galloping and the principle of mechanical balance, which was undoubtedly a rare treasure. Later, he compared the copper galloping horse with the golden jade robe unearthed from the Han tomb in Mancheng, Hebei Province, and Guo Moruo joyfully composed a poem: "The four seas praise the copper galloping horse, and everyone argues about the golden robe." Guo Moruo also said that if this Eastern Han Bronze Galloping Horse was brought to the Beijing exhibition, it would definitely cause a huge sensation. It turned out that Guo Moruo's vision was indeed unique, and this object later shined at the exhibition in Beijing and was quickly identified as a national treasure- cultural relic.
Since 1973, China has exhibited excavated cultural relics in more than 10 countries and regions such as the United States, Britain, France, and Japan, all of which are represented by copper galloping horses and make huge posters. At the London exhibition, the British newspaper said: "The copper galloping horse has become an attractive star. British audiences say the bronze galloping horse "is simply the pinnacle of a work of art." The famous poet Zang Kejia was also quite amazed after watching the copper galloping horse, and the improvised work "TaYan Yingfeng Copper Galloping Horse" praised the copper galloping horse as "a sacred dragon, using the world as a place, galloping to the dust, eye-catching, and winning applause." It is a fine work of China's splendid culture, it is a beautiful masterpiece of art, it is the glory of the Chinese people".
For this rare art treasure, people praised, at that time, in order to facilitate the copper galloping horse to participate in the exhibition, Guo Moruo also gave the copper galloping horse a name that was both image and good to sound, "Ma Ta Fei Yan". Later, in 1983, the China National Tourism Administration identified "Ma Ta Fei Yan" as a Chinese tourism symbol. In 2002, the state included it in the first batch of national treasure-level cultural relics that were prohibited from being exhibited abroad, and was the treasure of the Gansu Provincial Museum.
However, although Guo Moruo's poems were well written, Premier Zhou was worried about the rise of the country's archaeological excavation of ancient tombs, and he once told Guo Moruo that although the golden robes and copper galloping horses were good, they could not indulge the local excavation of imperial tombs. However, Guo Moruo did not understand his intentions, because he had long coveted Wang Xizhi's manuscript "Lanting Collection" in Qianling, and then he applied again to re-excavate Changling. However, Premier Zhou coldly said a sentence: "Do not open the imperial tomb within ten years", which obviously poured cold water on Guo Moruo at that time. Until 1973, the state announced that it was strictly forbidden to actively excavate ancient tombs, and this sentence of the prime minister eventually became The basic policy of archaeology for imperial tombs in China.