The Beijing Winter Olympics are about to kick off, and the Winter Olympics are full of enthusiasm throughout the country. In Guangzhou, where there is no snow all year round, there is also a special Story of the Beijing Winter Olympics: the official materials indicate that the design creativity of the Winter Olympic medals refers to the jade bi excavated from the tomb of the King of Nanyue. "On the night of the medal launch, my colleagues and I were very excited, and this honor will always be in our hearts." A few days ago, Li Minyong, president of the Museum of the King of Nanyue, introduced the jade bi in the tomb of the King of Nanyue and the movement elements in other cultural relics.
The tomb of the King of Nanyue was found in 1983 in Xianggang Mountain, Yuexiu, Guangzhou, and the owner of the tomb was Zhao Xiao, the second generation of the Nanyue Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty, this tomb is well preserved, more than 10,000 pieces of excavated cultural relics, and it is the largest ancient tomb seen in Lingnan, the highest grade, and the richest burial products. At the end of September last year, among the top 100 archaeological sites in China in the past century, the tomb of the King of Nanyue and the ruins of the National Palace Of Nanyue were on the list, and they were one of the representatives of 16 important archaeological sites of the Qin and Han Dynasties in the country.
The jade bi that was "referenced" by the Winter Olympic medal was unearthed from the tomb. It is reported that there are 244 sets of jade excavated from the tomb of the King of Nanyue, which are mainly divided into categories such as funerary jade, which can be described as Han jade grand view. A total of 71 pieces of Yubi were excavated from the tomb. From the decoration point of view, they are divided into plain surface, two areas and three areas of ornaments and other categories, obviously the three district ornaments are the most complex and exquisite, but also the highest level of jade bi, a total of 5 pieces.
Number D49 Yubi
Li Minyong introduced that in the official materials, the design of the Winter Olympic medal refers to the three-district ornamented jade bi numbered D54 excavated from the tomb, which is a national first-class cultural relic and is currently on display at the National Museum. There is also a similar ornament, larger piece, called the Bi Wang's number D49 jade bi, which is displayed in the basic exhibition area of the king's tomb in the museum.
"The jade bi is one of the most important ceremonial instruments in ancient China, and is considered to be a symbol of heaven and the basis for communication between heaven and man." Li Minyong believes that the medals of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games use jade bi as the design material to praise the Olympic athletes with the highest standard jade in Chinese culture, which is a perfect combination of China's excellent traditional culture, Chinese aesthetics and olympic spirit, reflecting the beautiful vision of the world.
Li Minyong also derived a lot of knowledge. The State of Nanyue was in the Western Han Dynasty, and the cultural relics in the tombs of the Nanyue kings can be traced back to at least two popular sports at that time: fierce confrontational fencing and the leisure sport Liubo chess, which tested wisdom. The tomb unearthed a number of long swords that are not used on the battlefield, which should have the nature of etiquette and performance exercise, and on a painting-patterned bronze mirror depicts two people fighting swords, and several people around them watch the scene; in addition, Liubo chess is the most popular game chess game in the Han Dynasty, and the tomb of the King of Nanyue unearthed a chess board and chess pieces. Keju is the predecessor of modern football, in another exhibition area of the South Vietnamese King Museum, the ruins of the royal palace exhibition area have unearthed a lot of blue and white porcelain with Keju patterns, which shows the wide popularity of this sport.
Text/Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng Reporter: Fang Qing
Photo/ Guangzhou Daily, New Flower City Reporter: Wang Yan