Ho Zun
Liangzhu Yuqun
"Five-star out of the East Lee China" Brocade arm (replica)
Southern Song Dynasty astronomical map rubbing
Jade Dragon
Jasper depicts a golden cloud dragon pattern
Spring Water Tupe
Selected Editions of the Four Libraries (Reproductions)
Ejun Qijin Festival
Merchant martingale fang liter
The word "China" in He Zun's inscription ◎ Wang Jiannan
Exhibition: Why China
Duration: 2022.1.26-5.4
Venue: Wenhua Hall, Palace Museum
On the occasion of the Spring Festival in 2022, the Beijing Winter Olympic Games are full of exciting events, and the Palace Museum also presents a situation where tickets are difficult to find. After entering the palace, people flocked to the Wenhua Hall on the east side, and the first exhibition "Why China" was officially opened on January 25, with more than 130 pieces (sets) of cultural relics from the Neolithic Era to the Qing Dynasty, including stone tools, jade, bronze, ceramics, gold and silver, calligraphy and painting, etc., spanning important festivals such as the Spring Festival and the Qingming Festival, and closing in early May.
Heavenly Circle Place: He Zun, Jin's Protective Arm, Starry Sky Map
As early as the Liangzhu culture period of the Neolithic era, the concept of a heavenly circle place had been formed. The typical artifact of liangzhu culture, the jade chun, presents the shape of the outer square and the inner circle, and the center of the circle of the hole symbolizes the heavenly pole and the earth pole, and the perforation that runs through the upper and lower can penetrate the stick, that is, the pillar of heaven and earth. It is not only a ceremonial instrument used to characterize power, identity, and status, but also an important magic instrument for communicating the activities of heaven and earth sorcery. Another artifact that was used by ancestors to communicate with the heavens was the jade bi, and the Liangzhu jade bi was undoubtedly the best embodiment of this idea.
The ancestors of China looked up at the starry sky countless times in the latitude near the ecliptic surface, and gradually outlined their geographical location. They divided the stars into twenty-eight groups, distributed along the ecliptic equator. This circle of stars can be divided into four groups according to the four directions, each with seven stars. According to the approximate shape of each set of stars, people imagine it as the image of a dragon, a tiger, a finch, and a turtle, commonly known as the "four elephants". In the Han Dynasty, the "four elephants" were used to indicate the orientation, representing the four directions of east, west, south and north. It can be seen that people at that time were convinced that the "four elephants" were closely related to all things in heaven and earth, yin and yang, and believed that the "four elephants" had the divine power to protect the four directions. The Palace Museum's collection of "four elephant flags" also proves this. In the Han Dynasty, people often used the "four gods" motifs representing the Eastern Green Dragon, the Western White Tiger, the Southern Suzaku, and the Northern Xuanwu as a circular architectural component covering the front end of the roof tiles. These four figurative divine beasts are the artistic images that the ancients associated and abstracted from the celestial phenomena of the four stars. The concept of orientation extended from the "four elephants" to the "round place of the sky" has a long history and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
The Temple of Heaven, which was built in the eighteenth year of Ming Yongle (1420), was built as a place for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to "sacrifice the heavens" and "pray for the valley", and strictly followed the design concept of "heavenly round place". The inner and outer altars of the Temple of Heaven are both north and south, symbolizing the "round place of heaven". Because the cultural relics are too large to be moved to the exhibition hall, we can confirm this statement on a bronze heavy vessel - a first-class cultural relic from the Baoji City Museum in Shaanxi Province, and He Zun, which was excavated in 1963 in Jiacun Town, Baoji County.
This exquisite bronze piece from the early Western Zhou Dynasty, with a round mouth, is a kind of "heavenly round place" shape, which not only reflects the solemn and generous temperament, but also hints at the ancient people's understanding of the surrounding world in the pre-Qin period. This sacrificial vessel cast by the royal nobleman "Ho" is 38.8 centimeters high, 28.8 centimeters in diameter and weighs 14.6 kilograms. The four hollowed-out large door shuttles throughout the body show a majestic and domineering posture. The whole is based on thunder patterns, and the abdomen and hoop feet are high-relief rolled horn feeding patterns. The most crucial point is that the inner sole is cast with 12 lines of inscriptions, totaling 122 words, describing a series of activities in which the Zhou Chengwang camp was built and sacrifices were held. The seventh line begins with the words "Zhaozi China", which is the earliest appearance of the word "China" known. As a result, He Zun's status surpassed that of other Shang Zhou bronzes.
Another important cultural relic that echoes this is the "Five Stars Out of the East and Benefits China" brocade arm guard treasured by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum. The word "China" appears again, indicating that the Han Dynasty has clearly designated the orientation and status of China. This brocade arm guard was woven by the most advanced five-color warp brocade at that time, the brocade was blue, using the weaving method of warp jacquard, and the five groups of colors such as royal blue, crimson red, grass green, bright yellow and white were woven with star patterns, cloud patterns, peacocks, cranes, evil spirits and tiger patterns. Separated by curly plant vines and two buds and one flower, the Chinese characters "Five Stars Out of the East and China" are woven in the middle of the pattern, and after the word "five" are woven with three concentric circles every three characters, indicating the five stars of gold, wood, water, fire and earth.
By the Southern Song Dynasty, people could already draw extremely detailed starry sky patterns. The southern Song Dynasty astronomical atlases from the Suzhou Inscription Museum in the exhibition hall have been highly praised by the famous British scientist Dr. Joseph Needham in his magnum opus "History of Science and Technology in China". This map was drawn by Huang Bao, a court official in charge of teaching Zhao Kuo the King of Jia in the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1190), and is the earliest surviving astronomical map with the names of the Twenty-Eight Houses in the world, more than three hundred years ahead of Europe. A total of 1434 stars are engraved in the whole map, and the Milky Way belt obliquely runs through the star map, which has important astronomical historical value.
Shangyu culture: jade dragon, special chi, spring water Tupei
The Liangzhu culture in southern China is famous for its prevalence of jade at home and abroad, and has become one of the sources of the Chinese nation's jade tradition, and the jade dragon from the northern Hongshan culture echoes with it. This Neolithic jade dragon collected by the Palace Museum is the largest of its kind seen so far, and its shape is simple and full of mystery. This image of the "dragon", which is aggregated and highly abstracted from a variety of animal images, reflects the change in the ideology and concept of the ancestors, and is the product of the development of prehistoric religious sacrifices to a certain height, after which the image of the dragon gradually became a symbol of power status.
The jasper depicting the golden cloud dragon pattern special chime made in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty is made of a whole piece of Xinjiang Hetian jasper, the whole body is pure and lustrous, the polish is exquisite and smooth, and the two sides are decorated with depicting gold double dragon play beads and flowing cloud patterns, which reflect the turquoise color of the jade. The chime body is regular and wide, similar to the curved ruler used by carpenters. It is drilled with round holes for wearing a bright yellow tassel rope and hanging from a pillar on a shelf for percussion. In Chinese's heart, how can the most beautiful music be without the participation of Miyu. Mencius said: "Golden Sound Yu Zhen", originally meant. That is, when playing, each sentence is sung, and the bell is struck first to announce its sound; at the end of the sentence, a special chime is struck to receive the rhyme of one sentence. This reflects the ancient people's concept of worshipping Confucian ritual music.
Throughout Chinese history, jade culture has long become an important part of Chinese civilization, and it is also one of the typical characteristics of Chinese civilization that distinguishes it from other civilizations in the world. Chinese has a long history of jade, as early as the Neolithic Age, it produced a prehistoric culture with superb jade craftsmanship such as Hongshan, Liangzhu, Qijia and Shijiahe. The jade pig dragon of the Hongshan culture, the topaz eagle grabbing the head pendant representing the post-Neolithic Shijiahe culture, and the white jade carved dragon and phoenix pattern wall from the late Warring States period to the early Western Han Dynasty all highlight the long tradition of jade culture. Early jade often appeared as liturgical props, and in the Zhou Dynasty, the various qualities of jade were associated with human virtue and became the standard for "gentleman"'s personal ornaments.
The theme of the jade Qingyu Lanting Xiu Zen Shanzi created during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty is based on the "Orchid Pavilion Preface" written by Wang Xizhi in the spring of 353 AD. The back of the mountain is engraved with the Qianlong Emperor Ding Di (1747) Jia PingYue both looking at the Imperial Landing "Orchid Pavilion Preface", and the second seal of "Tai" and "Wang Bu" is signed after the text. The small jade not only has three-dimensional figures and plants, but also engraves poems and seals, becoming a three-dimensional carving art that integrates poetry, books, paintings and prints. The practice of carving narrative and pictorial decorative patterns on the surface of jade began in the Song Dynasty. In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Yushanzi was very popular as one of the desk furnishings. This kind of jade plaything is extremely humanistic and elegant, reflecting the major impact of the Han scholar-doctor culture on the formation of the cultural psychology of various ethnic groups.
Unlike the Western people's worship of "gemstones", Shangyu reflects the Chinese's diligent pursuit of good intentions, and this tradition also records the footprints of national integration. The white jade carved Spring Water Tupei of the Jin Dynasty is a daily portrayal of the nomadic people who live between the white mountains and black waters. The Khitan people have the custom of "four hours of bowling". The Khitan Emperor set up a bank account in the safari area, where major political issues were often decided, and over time, "乂钵" became the administrative center for handling government affairs. Spring and autumn are the best times to hunt every year, and are called "Spring Water" and "Autumn Mountain" respectively. Jin Dynasty jade often takes "spring water" and "autumn mountain" as the theme, and the ornamentation shows "Haidong Qingqing Hunting Geese" and "Mountain Forest Hulu Shooting Deer", which is very natural and wild. It can be seen from this that the Chinese nation, which is formed by the condensation of many nationalities, has intermingled and mixed in the long history of Chinese civilization, interdependence in economy, mutual closeness in emotion, and cultural eclecticism, jointly writing a long history and creating a splendid culture, and has long formed a pattern of pluralism and integration that no one can do without.
Chinese characters: Dish Fangxuan, Shang Martingale Fangsheng, Calligraphy Art
Of all the artifacts in this exhibition, there is always one thing that is inseparable, and that is the text. Two Shang Dynasty carved tortoise shells and one carved ox bone record the Shang king's sacrifice to ancestors and prayers to the gods to bless the wind and rain, involving astronomy, calendar, geography, war, sacrifice, field hunting and other matters. As the earliest systematic Chinese character in China, the oracle bone is an important document for the study of early Chinese social history, culture, language and writing. Since its invention, Chinese characters have stood in the forest of world characters with their own ideographic system, and have also given birth to Chinese philosophical thought.
The Chinese writing system pioneered by Oracle has evolved continuously, not only becoming the most important means of recording history and culture, but also becoming the best ideographic symbol for condensing Chinese thoughts and emotions. The Dish Fang wei from the Hunan Provincial Museum is the largest and most exquisite bronze fang wei excavated so far, and is known as the "King of Fang Wei". There are six words on the lid of the vessel, "The vessel is the father's own honor", from which we know its owner. In 1919, the vessel was revived in the chaotic world, but the body and the lid were separated for nearly ninety years. In 2014, Hunan people used the "crowdfunding" method to return to China with more than 20 million US dollars to negotiate and purchase the instrument, and finally let the national treasure merge.
"Festival" is an ancient relic, equivalent to later documents. The Ejun Qijin Festival from the Anhui Museum is stunning. The two artifacts are shaped in the shape of bamboo knots, cast in bronze, and decorated with false gold seal books. The shorter one is called "Car Festival", which is equivalent to "Land Pass"; slightly longer is "Boat Festival", which is equivalent to "Waterway Pass". From the inscription "Cast Gold Festival for the Merchants of Ejun Qi's House", it can be seen that King Huai of Chu specially cast it for the fengjun Ejunqi for his business use. The excavation of the Golden Festival shows that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, commerce had developed to a high level.
In 221 BC, The Qin Emperor Yingzheng completed the first unification in Chinese history. The previous martingale transformation method played a great role. The economy of the Qin state has been developed, and the combat effectiveness of the army has been continuously strengthened, laying the most solid foundation for realizing reunification. The Shang Martin Fangsheng from the Shanghai Museum was cast by Shang Martingale in the eighteenth year of Qin Xiaogong's tenure as Daliang Zhao, and was the standard measuring instrument supervised by the Qin State when the law was unified. The rise is rectangular in shape, with a hollow handle on one side and inscriptions on the other three sides and the bottom. The inscription at the bottom is the Qin Dynasty inscription of the Qin Shi Huang Edict, which proves that this liter has been used continuously for more than 120 years and is the standard reference for the decree of Qin Shi Huang. The corresponding "Cloud Dream Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Hu Jian" is the first qin law physical object discovered systematically. The content of the ink book covers agricultural production, market transactions, conscription, official positions, and ethnic minority relations, which have had a profound impact on the establishment of laws and government systems in subsequent generations.
There is no doubt that ancient calligraphy and painting can best reflect the evolution and development of writing. Although the works appearing in this exhibition are all reproductions due to the limitations of indoor lighting and temperature, it is still possible to follow the clues on the map to find Chinese a clear vein of witnessing history and expressing inner feelings with calligraphy and painting.
The Tang Dynasty Yan Liben's "Foot Map" records the scene when the Tubo king Songzan Gampo sent the emissary Lu Dongzan to Chang'an to meet Tang Taizong in 640 AD, which was an important moment of Sino-Tibetan ethnic exchanges. Chinese painting is good at depicting people with lines, which is closely related to the brush, the same tool used in writing. Chinese painters of the fifth to sixth centuries began to think about the relationship between natural landscapes and people. The Eastern Jin Dynasty Gu Kaizhi's "Luoshenfu" picture volume provides an important reference for us to study how early painting expresses the narrative mood of poetry and deals with the background of landscapes. At this time, the proportion of landscapes and figures was out of balance, reflecting the situation of "heavy characters and light landscapes" during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The development of landscape painting did not undergo a fundamental change until the Sui and Tang dynasties. In the Sui Dynasty, Zhan Ziqian began to use nature as the protagonist in "You Chun Tu", and the characters gradually became embellishments. Green landscape is another mature painting in the Tang Dynasty during the flourishing period of figure painting. The "Lion Forest Map" painted by Ni Zhan in the Yuan Dynasty indicates the true rise of literati painting. This work was stored in the Yangxin Hall of the Qing Palace for a long time, and was often exhibited by the Qianlong Emperor. The painting heart, the front and back water and the trail left many of his inscriptions. In the first part of it, he inscribed four big characters of "Yunlin Qingjue", revealing the emperor's heart for returning to the hidden mountain forest. The picture depicts a garden, with rockeries stacked, trees, and several hall buildings. From the inscription of Ni Zhan in the upper right of the painting, it can be seen that this is his cooperation with his friend Zhao Yuan, which lasted in 1373.
The inscription "Yan's Family Temple Stele" collected by the Forest of Steles Museum in Xi'an is an inscription written by Yan Zhenqing when he built the family temple, which is of great significance to the study of the Tang Dynasty family temple system, and is also a concrete embodiment of the Chinese nation's pursuit of filial piety and respect for the survival of the dead. Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy has always been regarded as the "pen of Zhongzheng" and has become a model for successive loyal and martyr ministers to emulate. In addition to calligraphy and painting, the power of Chinese characters is reflected in the strength and breadth of printing and dissemination.
The Vajrapani Prajnaparamita Sutra, which was lost overseas, was published in the ninth year of Tang Xiantong (868) and is the earliest engraving print with an exact date found so far. Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty recorded Bi Sheng's invention of movable type printing in the Mengxi Pen Talk. The Qing Dynasty 'Imperial Rejuvenation First Immortal Elixir' prescription wood carving version is displayed side by side with a large box of wooden movable type stamps, proving that the ancient skills have been passed down in an orderly manner. The last set of cultural relics in this exhibition is an anthology of the Four Libraries. The compilation of the largest series of books in ancient China initiated by the Qianlong Emperor involved more than 400 people before and after, which lasted for 10 years. The Siku Quanshu not only preserves all the important documents from the pre-Qin to the Qing Dynasty, but also embodies the collective cultural will of a nation. When I opened this book, I opened ancient China.
Chinese characters have evolved from pottery and pictures on rock walls in ancient times into symbols, to Yin Shang Bu ci engraved on turtle shells and cow bones three thousand years ago, from rusty gold texts cast on bronze to ink that fly around on bamboo janes, and finally developed into a unique calligraphy art, along the way, relying on and corroborating with physical objects, telling the enduring stories of the Chinese land, conveying the pain and happiness, glory and dreams experienced by Chinese civilization in the long river of time.
This edition of photography / Wang Jiannan