As the first peak period of development in the era of feudal empire in Chinese history, the Han Dynasty not only developed material and spiritual civilization as never before, but also unprecedentedly high exchanges between China and foreign countries. With the historical footsteps of the Han Dynasty opening the door of the country and going to the world, the products of the Han Dynasty have also spread to all parts of the world, especially to neighboring countries and regions, and have become an important material carrier of Han culture to the world [1].
In this process, the bronze mirror, as one of the products of the Han Dynasty, also spread to the outside world on a large scale, becoming an important "messenger" of Sino-foreign exchanges at that time. The excavation of the Bronze Mirror of the Han Dynasty in the Yangdili Tomb Group in Gyeongsan City, South Korea, as the latest discovery of the Han Mirror in South Korea, has become the latest physical example of Sino-Korean exchanges between the Han Dynasty.
One
Gyeongsan City is located at the southern end of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, bordering Daegu Metropolitan City to the west and Gyeongju City to the east. The Yangdili Tomb Group is located in the Xishali area of Heyang-eup, Gyeongsan City, and there are Yangdili Ruins, Xishali Tombs, Island LiLi Ruins and Tombs nearby. In 2017, the Korea Seonglin Cultural Property Research Institute excavated the Yangdili tomb group, and the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb unearthed three bronze mirrors and other precious cultural relics, becoming one of the important archaeological discoveries in Korea since the 21st century. In response, the 2018 issue of "New Archaeological Discoveries in Korea in 2017" provided a brief report[2]; in June 2018, some of its excavated cultural relics were exhibited at the special exhibition "Path of the Qinhu River" held by the National Daegu Museum[3]; in 2020, the archaeological excavation report of "Gyeongsan Yangdili Ruins" was published[4]; in December 2020, the National Daegu Museum and others jointly held the "Fly! The Ruler, the Newly Discovered Visit to the Wooden Coffin Tomb in Qingshan Yangdi", was exhibited and a catalogue was published (referred to as "Visiting the Wooden Coffin Tomb in Yangdi").
Yangdili No. 1 Wooden Coffin Tomb is located in front of a northwest-southeast alluvial fan with an altitude of 62 to 70 meters in front of the low gentle hill, in the south of the II.-5 excavation area of the Yangdili Site Group, at an altitude of 64 meters. At the time of excavation, it was numbered Tomb No. 6, and later adjusted to "Yangdili No. 1 Wooden Coffin Tomb". The structure of the tomb is a rectangular vertical pit earthen clump, about 3.18 long, 1.5 wide, 1.21 meters deep, the tomb direction is roughly east-west; judging from the U-shaped decay traces found in the tomb filling soil, its burial tools are single wooden coffins made of logs, which are about 2.73 long and about 0.84 meters wide. Short-necked clay pots and clay belt pottery were found in the upper part of the tomb, and a large number of pottery fragments were found on the east and west sides. In the filling of the upper part of the tomb, a short-necked clay pot and a ox-shaped handle clay pot were found at the western end of the burial chamber, and a small pottery pot was found at the east end. In the lower part of the tomb, 19 pieces of plate-like iron axes were excavated; a group of thin copper swords and sword scabbards were excavated from the wooden coffin, fragments of lacquered fan handles, and 3 pieces of copper harnesses, copper bubbles and bronze mirrors. At the bottom of the tomb, the head end is paved with 2 rows of cast iron axes, and 1 row of tiled cast iron axes is found at the foot end; there is a rectangular waist pit in the middle, the waist pit is 0.8 long, 0.46 wide, and 0.2 meters deep; 2 sword handle ornaments excavated from the upper part of the northeast side of the waist pit; 1 piece of copper spear, 2 groups of copper sheaths, 1 iron spear and the lacquer sheath of the copper spear are 0.47 long, 0.27 wide and 0.12 meters high, and the lacquer sheath is decorated with 13 pieces of five baht coins. All three bronze mirrors were found under human bones, and it is speculated that the bronze mirror was placed at the bottom of the wooden coffin at the time of burial, and then placed on top of the deceased (Fig. 1). Excavators believe that the age of the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb in Yangdili is roughly around the Common Era, and speculate that the owner of the tomb is a leader-level figure in the area.
Three pieces of bronze mirrors were excavated from the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb in Yangdili, namely the Zhaoming Lian Arc Pattern Inscription Mirror, the Jun Forget Forget Lian Arc Pattern Inscription Mirror and the Nebula Mirror.
Zhaominglian arc inscription belt mirror (formerly numbered "Yangdili No. 1 Wooden Coffin Tomb No. 2 Mirror", hereinafter referred to as "Yangdili Zhaoming Mirror"),belongs to a kind of "variant inscription belt mirror". The mirror is well-made and well preserved, with an iron-gray body throughout and a local yellowish tinge. Hemispherical button, low table-shaped button seat, the button seat is surrounded by eight short arc lines and a week of convex stripes; the outside of the convex stripe is composed of eight inward contiguous arcs and nail stripes between the arcs, and its outer side is a two-week oblique ctenophore band and the inscription in between. The inscription font is "non-seal non-subordinate seal variant character", that is, the so-called "variant character", read on the right: "Neiqing to show the ming, light to fu sun and moon, not to leak", most of the words are separated by "and" glyph symbols, and a short horizontal space after the "fu" character. The edge of the mirror is flattened and slightly wider. Diameter 10.2 cm (fig 2).
Jun forget forget even arc pattern inscription mirror (formerly numbered "Yangdi Li No. 1 wooden coffin tomb No. 3 mirror", hereinafter referred to as "Yang Di Li Jun forget forget mirror"), also belongs to the seal variant character inscription belt mirror is a kind of mirror. The mirror is well-made, broken when unearthed, repaired, and has an iron gray color throughout. Hemispherical buttons, and twelve beaded button seats, the button seats are surrounded by a diagonal ctenophore and a convex belt; the outside of the convex band is composed of eight inward continuous arcs and fingernail stripes, short arcs, paisleys, rays, etc. between the convex arcs; its outer side is a two-week oblique ctenophore stripe and the inscriptions in between the two. The inscription is a variant of the seal style, which is read on the right: "Jun forgets and is committed, loves to make the heart old, cannot be exhausted, the heart is polluted and alone, knowing that it must not be long-lasting, and the ambition is endless", counting 33 characters [6]. The edge of the mirror is flattened and slightly wider. Diameter 17.4 cm (fig 3).
The nebula mirror (formerly known as "Yangdili No. 1 Wooden Coffin Tomb No. 4 Mirror", hereinafter referred to as "Yangdili Nebula Mirror") is well-made and well-preserved, and the whole is patina-colored and partially iron-brown. The contiguous button is surrounded by four sets of short arcs, convex chord patterns and sixteen inward arc stripes. The main stripe area is flanked by convex chord patterns, in which four groups of eight consecutive beaded constellations are evenly arranged, and between the nipples are seven nipples and their connections. The mirror edge is sixteen inward contiguous arc striations. Diameter 9.6 cm (fig. 4).
Two
The three bronze mirrors excavated from the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb in Yangdili are all common mirrors in the bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty, and they are undoubtedly Han mirrors (hereinafter referred to as "Yangdili Han mirrors"). Here, the chronology of the archaeological relics is first discussed slightly, and then through the analysis and comparison of the elements and the observation of the overall style, the origin of archaeological relics is used [7] to discuss their origins.
Zhaoming lian arc inscription mirror as a kind of continuous arc inscription mirror, named after the first sentence of its inscription "inner qing quality to Zhaoming", referred to as "Zhaoming mirror", is "the most excavated and the most popular Western Han bronze mirror"[8]; in the Chang'an area, about "accounting for one-fifth of the total number of copper mirrors unearthed in the same period", its popular age is the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, that is, after Emperor Wu to the Xinmang period; "The mirror inscription was common in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty with the change of seal body, but the subordination was quite obvious. In the late Western Han Dynasty and the New Mang Dynasty, the seal variant was popular, and the word 'and' was added to the mirror inscription"[9]. According to this, the production date of the Zhaoming Mirror in Yangdi should be from the late Western Han Dynasty to the Xinmang period after the Han Yuan Emperor, about the second half of the 1st century BC.
As far as the ZhaoMing Mirror of the Seal Variant Inscriptions seen so far, its mirror buttons are mainly hemispherical buttons, some of which are even peak buttons; there may be convex bands, arc bands, convex string patterns, or a variety of both; the mirror inscriptions are intermittently or spaced with the "and" character or none; other decorative patterns are also or without. Therefore, its mirror back decoration can be said to be very different. If we observe based on the comparative observation of mirror back decoration elements and their overall styles, such as the hemispherical button of the ZhaoMing mirror in Yangdili, the low table-shaped button seat, the short arc pattern and the convex pattern outside the button seat, the eight inward continuous arc pattern, and the seal variant "Zhaoming" inscription and the interval with the "and" character, there are many roughly similarities, but there are few similarities, and the similarities are less (referring to the mirror back decorative patterns, inscriptions and fonts are close and the overall style is the same, the same below). According to the search, the same as the Zhaoming Mirror in Yangdi are: "Chang'an Han Mirror" contains 2 pieces (M8:15, M108:1), 1 piece excavated from the Luoyang Yaogou Han Tomb [10], Luoyang Laogai Brick and Tile Factory M444 mirror [11] and another 2 pieces [12] in Luoyang Area, Dalian Lujiacun Cellar Mirror [13], Nanyang Area 16 pieces (part of the original report AA type)[14], Anhui Lu'an Economic and Technological Development Zone 1 piece [15], Huainan City Xie Jia Ji 1 piece [16], and Hunan Changde 1 piece [ 17] etc., diameter 7.5 to 11.5 cm, but its mirror edges, detail decorations and inscriptions are still slightly different. It is worth noting that among the 121 Zhaoming mirrors excavated in the Linzi area of Shandong, there are 81 mirror inscriptions with seal variant characters, most of which are similar to the Zhaoming mirrors in Yangdili, while there are 4 similarities, namely the M283 mirror of Xujia Cemetery, the M292 mirror of Yongliu Cemetery, the M88 mirror of Shanwang Cemetery and the M877 mirror of Nanma Cemetery, with a diameter of 9 to 10 cm (Figure 5) [18]. Although the details of Linzi's four Zhaoming mirrors are still slightly different, whether it is the pattern composition, inscription or overall style, they are the same as the Yangdi Li Zhaoming Mirror, which should be produced from the same casting mirror workshop, and the latter is well-made, with a diameter of 10.2 centimeters, which is obviously a fine product. In view of the distribution of this zhaoming mirror and the use of the presumption of origin of archaeological relics, its origin is likely to be in the Linzi area of the Han Dynasty.
The Jun forget-to-forget even arc inscription mirror is also a kind of arc pattern inscription mirror, but its mirror inscription content is relatively rare. It is named after the first sentence of its inscription, "Jun forgets to forget and is committed to it", which can be referred to as "Jun Forget Forget Mirror". In view of the fact that the curved inscription mirror was mainly popular in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, then the popular era of the Jun forget-forget mirror is also roughly the same. If we consider that the degree of subordination of its Jingming font is slightly higher, it may be considered that its production date is from the late Western Han Dynasty to the Xinmang period after the Han Yuan Emperor, that is, the second half of the 1st century BC. So far, this kind of bronze mirror is mainly excavated from the tombs of the late Western Han Dynasty to the Xinmang period, which can be corroborated.
The curved inscription mirror was one of the most popular mirrors in the Han Dynasty, but the Jun forgetful mirror found very little, and so far, only 10 pieces have been retrieved in the mainland. Their pattern decoration, inscription content and font, mirror size and overall style are mostly similar, such as hemispherical buttons, twelve beaded button seats, ctenophore belts and convex belts that surround the button seats, eight inward continuous arcs and decorations between the arc patterns, two-week ctenophoric stripes and the inscriptions between the two, inscriptions with right-handed readings, seal variant mirror inscriptions, flat plain edges, etc., only their details are slightly different. The Shaanxi History Museum has a collection of 5 pieces, either for old collections or for collections in Shaanxi Province, with a diameter of 16.5 to 18.7 cm[19]. Five archaeological excavations were made, namely M5:26 mirrors of Sanmenxia Interchange in Henan[20], M90:12 mirrors of Huashan In Qufu, Shandong, M36:14 mirrors of Fengshan in Tengzhou, Shandong[22], M102:16 mirrors of Yaozhuang in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province (Fig. 6) [23], and M4 mirrors of Nanping Original Seed Farm in Changde, Hunan Province, with a diameter of 14.8 to 17.8 cm. Although there are some differences between the above mirrors and between them and the Yangdi Lijun Forgetting Mirror, including the slight increase or decrease in the mirror inscription, there is a high degree of consistency in the composition of the pattern, the content and font of the inscription, or the overall style, indicating that they should be produced in the same mirror casting workshop. Although the copper mirror seen so far is relatively scattered in terms of geographical distribution, archaeological excavations are mainly found in the northern region of Lunan and Northern Jiangsu, and have the regional style of Yangzhou Han Dynasty bronze mirrors, which may be one of the production areas of Han Dynasty bronze mirrors [25], and it is speculated that its origin should be in Guangling in the Han Dynasty, that is, in the area of present-day Yangzhou.
As one of the most popular mirrors in the Han Dynasty, nebula mirrors have been found in many parts of the country, but the place of origin and the number of mirrors vary greatly from place to place. For example, 18 of the 336 bronze mirrors included in the Chang'an Han Mirror, 6 of the 225 Han tombs in Luoyang Yaogou, 2 of the 217 Han tombs in the western suburbs of Luoyang, and 68 of the 467 bronze mirrors of the two Han dynasties in the Nanyang area [26], the number of which is far less than that of mirrors such as arc-patterned mirrors. In terms of its chronology, in the Chang'an area, it "appeared during the Han Wudi period and was popular during the Zhaoxuan period",[27] in the Nanyang area,[27] it was "first seen in the early Western Han Dynasty, popular in the middle and late Western Han Dynasties, and continued to be used until the Xinmang period".[28] One piece was excavated from Tomb No. 1 of Dabaotai in Beijing, and the tomb date was in the fourth year of the early Han Dynasty (45 BC) or later. In general, its main popular period is the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, that is, the second half of the 2nd century BC to the middle of the 1st century BC.
As far as the basic characteristics of the nebula mirror are concerned, it is mainly a continuous peak button or a small number of hemispherical buttons, with four nipples to divide the back of the mirror into a four-part layout, and the four nipples are decorated with a different number of small nipples and their connecting lines, and the sixteen inward arc edges, etc., but there are many differences in the patterns and structures of the button seat and its surrounding decoration, milk spike, nebula pattern, etc., which can be seen from the "Chang'an Han Mirror" dividing the 18 pieces of nebula mirrors into two types and six types. If the search is based on the characteristics of the continuous peak button of the Nebula mirror in the Yangdi, the short arc and convex string pattern around the mirror button, the sixteen inward arc stripes, the eight consecutive beaded constellation milk, the nebula pattern composed of seven nipples and their connections, and the sixteen inward arc edges, it can be seen that there are many roughly similar, but there are few similar and similar styles. According to the search, similar to the Yangdili nebula mirror, the investigation of the Chang'an Han mirror, the Luojing Tonghua and the Hanjin bronze mirror excavated in luoyang area was not seen[30]; four of the 68 nebula mirrors unearthed in Nanyang (that is, AA type), but the overall style was different[31]; Yangzhou Pingshan Farm M3:54 mirror [32], Yangzhou Yizheng Sanli Village excavation mirror [33], Yangzhou Yangmiao Township mirror [34], Zhejiang Longyou excavation mirror [35], The mirror unearthed from the Lu'an Chengdong Development Zone in Anhui Province and the Tibetan mirror no. 776 in Shouxian [36] are similar to the Nebula Mirror in Yangdili, with a diameter of 9.4 to 10.5 cm, but the size of each mirror and the decoration around the mirror button are slightly different, indicating that its origin may be the same. It is worth noting that among the 34 nebula mirrors excavated in the Linzi area of Shandong, there are 6 similar to the nebula mirrors in Yangdi, of which the M92 mirror of the Fan family cemetery, the M85 mirror of the Xiguannan cemetery and the M44 mirror of the Shanwang cemetery (Figure 7) are closer, with a diameter of 12.2 to 12.5 cm, and the decoration around the mirror is slightly different[37]; the casting fan [38] excavated from the ancient city of Linzi Qi has the same casting fan [38], and its casting characteristics are the same as the M92 mirror of the Fan family cemetery, which can be known to be produced in Linzi. Overall, although the same copper mirror as the nebula mirror in Yangdi has been found in many places, the Linzi area is relatively concentrated. Based on the presumption of origin of archaeological relics and considering that the nebula mirror is one of the types of bronze mirrors produced in Linzi in the Han Dynasty, it may be considered that the origin of the nebula mirror in yangdi and its similarities should be in the Linzi area, and it can even be speculated that they are produced in the same casting mirror workshop.
Three
If the above analysis can be established, then it can be roughly inferred that the Yangdili Zhaoming Mirror and the Nebula Mirror were produced in Linzi in the Han Dynasty, and the Jun forgetful mirror was produced in guangling (present-day Yangzhou) in the Han Dynasty. At the same time, although these three kinds of bronze mirrors have been popular as common mirrors in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty for a long time, in view of the emergence and popularity of nebula mirrors earlier than the arc pattern mirror, it can be speculated that the three Han mirrors in Yangdi were not introduced at one time, at least twice, that is, the introduction time of the nebula mirror was the second half of the 2nd century BC or the first half of the 1st century BC, while the Zhaoming mirror and the Jun forgetful mirror were introduced in the second half of the 1st century BC. Although the burial date of the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb in Yangdili is around the Common Era, the three Han mirrors buried in the tomb are introduced much earlier than the burial time of the tomb, because the Han Dynasty cultural relics unearthed in Korea are generally imported from the place of production shortly after production, and are not used or stored in the production place for decades or even hundreds of years before being introduced"[39].
In fact, in the three Han mirrors excavated from the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb in Yangdili, except for the Jun's forgotten mirror, which was first discovered in South Korea, the other two kinds of bronze mirrors have been found in South Korea before. Zhao Mingjing has been found in the wooden coffin tomb No. 38 InYangyang-dong, Gyeongju City, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, the wooden coffin tomb No. 17 In Miyang City, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, and the Chi-dong Cave in Daegu City. Among them, the excavation mirror of Tomb No. 38 in Chaoyangdong is similar to the Zhaoming Mirror in Yangdili, with the inscription "Inside and Clear and Bright, Light and Like the Sun and Moon, Heart Without Leakage", and the decoration outside the new seat is slightly different, with a diameter of 8 cm [40], showing that the origin of the two is the same. The inscription of the M17:8 mirror of the school cave is relatively complete, "the inner clear quality is to show the light, the brilliance is like the sun and the moon, the heart is suddenly raised and willing to be loyal, but the congestion is not leaked", but there is no "and" character between the inscriptions, and its button seat is twelve beads, with a diameter of 10.2 cm [41], and its overall style is obviously different from the Yangdi Li Zhao Ming Mirror. The nebula mirror was found in the Wooden Coffin Tomb No. 1 in Chadoori, Chowon-ri, Gyeongsangnam-do Province,[42] and the No. 3 Wooden Coffin Tomb in Miyang, Miyang City, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, respectively, and a fragment was excavated from the Yongcheon-ri Wooden Coffin Tomb in Yongcheon-ri, North Gyeongsang Province. Among them, the M3:4 mirror of the school hole, with a diameter of 9.9 cm, except for a slight difference in the decoration of the new seat, its pattern, structure and overall style are the same as those of the Yangdili Nebula Mirror[44], showing the same origin of the two. If the above analysis is correct, then it may be assumed that the Zhaoming Mirror of Tomb No. 38 in Yangdili and Chaoyangdong, and the Nebula Mirror in Tomb No. 3 in Yangdili and Xuedong are "the same batch" introduced, respectively.
According to literature, there were three large ancient kingdoms in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula during the Two Han Dynasties, namely: "There are three kinds of Han: one is Ma Han, the other is Chen Han, and the third is Benchen." Mahan is in the west, with fifty-four kingdoms... Chenhan is in the east, and there are two kingdoms in ten... Benchen is in the south of Tatsuhan, and there are also ten two kingdoms"[45], so it is called the "Three Koreas Era", which is archaeologically called the "Early Iron Age" or the "Original Three Kingdoms Era". The exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the ancient kingdoms of the Three Koreas are not recorded in the historical records, but the archaeological discoveries have initially depicted the Sino-Korean exchanges and their evolutionary pictures at that time[46]; the discovery of the Han mirror in Yangdili has further deepened our understanding of the Sino-Korean exchanges in the Han Dynasty.
First of all, sino-Korean exchanges in the Han Dynasty entered a period of rapid development from the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. Discoveries such as the mirror of the Sycamore pattern at the end of the Warring States and the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty in Iesan City, North Jeolla Province,[47] the cast iron scythe of the Late Western Han Dynasty in Gedong,Gun, Gyeongju North Province,[48], and the first half of the Han Dynasty in Bechu Han Chu,[49] in Sacheon Island, South Gyeongsang Province, show that as early as the early years of the Western Han Dynasty at the end of the Warring States period, cultural relics of the Chinese mainland had been introduced to the ancient kingdom of The Three Koreas, indicating that there were already personnel exchanges between the two places at that time; the discovery of the Warring States-style bronze sword in the forest of Gyeongju County and related studies have shown that as early as the middle of the Warring States period in the second half of the 4th century BC, Bronze craftsmen from the Wuyue region once crossed east to the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. However, most of the Han Dynasty cultural relics such as bronze mirrors found in Korea are dated to the middle of the Western Han Dynasty and later, and even in terms of the entire Korean Peninsula, "except for a few bronze mirrors that may be as early as the early Western Han Dynasty, the vast majority of them are mirrors that appeared and became popular in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty and later" [51]. The discovery of three bronze mirrors in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty in Yangdi further shows that the rapid development of Sino-Korean exchanges in the Han Dynasty began in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. This change should be closely related to the establishment of the four counties of Lelang, Lintun, Xuanju, and Zhenbo in the three years of the Reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (108 BC) after the destruction of ancient Korea. Although the four counties of Lelang are located in the north of the Korean Peninsula, and the political tentacles of the Han Dynasty did not reach the south of the Korean Peninsula, the establishment of the four counties of Lelang greatly narrowed the distance between the Han Dynasty and the ancient kingdom of the Three Koreas, becoming the "frontier zone" and "bridge" for the exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the Three Koreas, and an important opportunity for the prosperity of Sino-Korean exchanges.
Secondly, the main transportation route for Sino-Korean exchanges in the Han Dynasty was the "Yellow Sea Ring Road". Archaeological discoveries and documentary studies have shown that before the 5th century Chinese mainland and the Korean Peninsula had two main lines of communication, namely the "Liaodong-Korean Peninsula" land route and the "Yellow Sea Road" waterway, and it was "land passage and sea passage coexisting and juxtaposing." However, for South Korea in the southern part of the peninsula alone, the 'Yellow Sea Route' sea route may be of greater importance and importance".[53] "The so-called 'Road around the Yellow Sea' refers to the inverted 'U' shaped sea traffic route that goes north, east, south, east and south along the coastal waters of the Yellow Sea", that is, the offshore communication lines connecting the eastern coasts of Jiangsu and Shandong, the Bohai Strait, the southern coasts of Liaodong, the western and southern coasts of the Korean Peninsula, and the northern part of the Japanese island of Kyushu [54]. As far as the Yangdili Han mirror is concerned, if the analysis of this article can be established, then its origin is in Linzi and Guangling in the Han Dynasty, and these two places are located in the eastern part of the Han Dynasty, that is, the western edge of the coastal zone of the Yellow Sea, and the bronze mirror cast by Linzi and Guangling is exported from the place of origin to the south of the Korean Peninsula, through the near sea around the Yellow Sea, which is the most convenient and most likely. On the other hand, the Yangdil-ri tombs are located in the southwest of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula, and thus in the coastal zone of southeastern Korea, and it is also most convenient and possible to contact Chinese mainland through the southern and western offshore sea lanes. The Zhao Ming Mirror of Tomb No. 38 of Jeongyang-dong in Gyeongju City is similar to the Zhao Ming Mirror in Yangdili, and the Nebula Mirror of Tomb No. 3 in School-dong, Miyang City is similar to the Nebula Mirror in Yangdili, all three of which are located in the southern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do province and the northern part of Gyeongsangnam-do Province, and the southern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do in southeastern Korea are one of the concentrated distribution areas of Han Dynasty cultural relics unearthed in Korea[55], which can be used as evidence of the introduction of the Yangdi-ri Han mirror through the "Yellow Sea Road". In other words, the discovery of Hanjing in Yangdi once again proved from one side that the "Yellow Sea Ring Road" was the main communication route between China and South Korea in the Han Dynasty.
In addition, after the introduction of hanjing to the ancient kingdom of The Three Koreas, it was regarded as an extraterritorial treasure and became a symbol of the social status and status of the holder. In the territory of the Han Dynasty, with the popularization of the function of bronze and the popularization of copper applications[56], copper mirrors became a daily necessity widely used by all levels of society, and their social application did not have the distinction and restriction of identity levels, but after it was transmitted to the outside world, its nature and social application changed. As far as the three kinds of Han mirrors in the Yang Dynasty are concerned, the Zhaoming Mirror and the Nebula Mirror are widely found in the tombs of bureaucratic landlords and civilians in the Han Dynasty, and it goes without saying that even the relatively rare Jun forget-forget mirror is the same. As mentioned above, among the Han tombs unearthed in the mainland, the Sanmenxia overpass M5, Qufu Huashan M90, Tengzhou Fengshan M36 and Yangzhou Yaozhuang M102 were either local officials or small and medium-sized landlords, and none of them were high-ranking officials or nobles. However, the owner of the No. 1 wooden coffin tomb in Yangdili was the highest-ranking leader, or the "king" of an ancient country to which Chen Han belonged. In fact, this is not uncommon. Tomb No. 38 of Chaoyangdong, Gyeongju City is a wooden coffin tomb, with sun mirrors, Zhaoming mirrors, single-circle inscription mirrors and homely guifu mirrors[57]; Tombs No. 3 and No. 17 of The School Cave in Miyang City are wooden coffin tombs, which are buried with nebula mirrors and Zhaoming mirrors, respectively, which belong to local high-level tombs; Tomb No. 1 of Chahuri in Changwon City is also a wooden coffin tomb, with unearthed nebula mirrors and five-baht coins, copper weapons, iron weapons, and lacquerware, etc., and it is speculated that the owner of the tomb is the leader of Benhan[58]. In fact, this situation has been seen elsewhere. Located in the Tilia Hill Cemetery in Sibilgan, northeast Afghanistan, the 6 excavated tombs are all vertical cave wooden coffin tombs, unearthing more than 20,000 pieces of gold products, known as the "Golden Hill", of which Tombs 2 to 4 each unearthed a curved inscription mirror, Tomb No. 2 excavation mirror is the Jun forget-forget mirror, the tomb owner is the early Guishuang or the high-ranking nobles of the Ōtsuki clan [59]. Obviously, whether in Northeast Asia or West Asia, in the eyes of the locals, the Han mirror is an "imported product" from outside the region, and it is also a rare thing from the Han Empire, which is "rich in people" and highly developed in civilization. It can also be seen from this that the personnel exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the Three Han Ancient Kingdoms may include different classes of society, but the holders of the Han Dynasty cultural relics represented by the Han Mirror imported from the Han Dynasty are mainly limited to the upper echelons of society; the spread and influence of Han culture with the dissemination of Han Dynasty cultural relics as the medium are mainly limited to the upper class society of the Three Han Ancient Kingdoms.
As for the specific methods and processes of the introduction of the Han Mirror into the ancient kingdom of the Three Koreas in Yangdi, whether it was a folk act or an official act, there is still no data to be examined. If we consider that the historical data do not see the official exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the ancient kingdoms of the Three Han Dynasties, it may be speculated that the Han mirror in Yangdi was imported through folk exchanges, and it may even be brought by the Han residents Dongdu. But in any case, the discovery of the Han mirror in Yangdili provided a new physical witness to the exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the ancient kingdoms of the Three Han Dynasties and the spread of Han culture to Northeast Asia.
P.S. In the process of collecting, translating and producing korean materials, Wen Zaifan of the National Institute of Culture and Property of Korea, Jin Honesty, a Korean student at the School of Archaeology and Literature of Peking University, Wang Feifeng, Li Miao and other friends of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, have provided help from many parties, and hereby express their gratitude.
exegesis
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[1] Bai Yunxiang, "Han Dynasty: Opening the Door of the Country and Going to the World," Guangming Daily, June 18, 2012.
[2] [Han] Choi Dae-yong, "Remains of Gyeongsan Yangdili: The Discovery of the Tomb of the Highest-Ranking Leader of the Former Three Kingdoms Period in the Qinhu River Basin", 2017 New Discoveries in Korean Archaeology (In Korean), National Institute of Cultural Property, Korea, 2018.
[3] [Korean] National Daegu Museum, "The Road to the Qinhu River: Ancient Artifacts Unearthed in the Qinhu River Basin" (in Korean), pp. 84-97, 2018.
[4] [Korean] Shenglin Cultural Property Research Institute, "Qingshan Yangdili Ruins" (In Korean), 2020.
[5] [Korean] National Daegu Museum "Fly! Dominator: A Visit to the Newly Discovered Wooden Coffin Tomb in Gyeongsan Yangdi (in Korean), 2020.
[6] Regarding Jingming, Fly! The interpretation of the ruler, the newly discovered visit to the wooden coffin tomb in Qingshan Yangdi, is "Jun forgets and is determined to lose, loves to make the heart old, the old cannot be exhausted, the heart is sweaty and lonely, knowing that it must not be for a long time, it is not endless", and the interpretation of some of the words is inappropriate, so the author has revised it.
[7] Bai Yunxiang, "On the Method of Presumption of Origin of Archaeological Relics Based on Style and Distribution", Archaeology, No. 9, 2016.
[8] Kong Xiangxing and Liu Yiman, "Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirror", p. 69, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1984.
[9] Cheng Linquan and Han Hanhe, Chang'an Hanjing, p. 117, Shaanxi People's Publishing House, 2002.
[10] Luoyang District Archaeological Excavation Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Luoyang Yaogou Han Tomb, p. 162, Science Press, 1959. Press: According to the text introduction and picture data, of the 24 pieces of Zhao Ming Mirror and the Yang Di Li Zhao Ming Mirror are similar to only M56:2 (plate one of 6), the diameter is 9 cm, and the mirror edge is a narrow edge.
[11] Huo Hongwei and Shi Jiazhen, "Luojing Tonghua- Discovery and Research of Luoyang Bronze Mirror", p. 104, Science Press, 2013.
[12] According to my fieldwork in the fall of 2006. In addition, 40 pieces of Zhaoming Mirror were excavated from the Han Tombs in the Western Suburbs of Luoyang ("Report on the Excavation of Han Tombs in the Western Suburbs of Luoyang" by the Luoyang Excavation Team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Journal of Archaeology, No. 2, 1963), but there was no similarity with the Zhaoming Mirror in Yangdili.
[13] Lushun Museum, "Bronze Mirrors in the Lushun Museum", p. 30, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1997.
[14] Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, "Bronze Mirror Unearthed in Nanyang", p. 68, Figure 163, 164, Plate 79:2, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2010.
[15] Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, et al., Bronze Mirror Unearthed in Lu'an, p. 70, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2008.
[16] Huainan Museum, Huainan Museum Collection, pp. 88, 89, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2011.
[17] Long Chaobin, "Bronze Mirror Unearthed in Changde", p. 61, Yuelu Book Club, 2010.
[18] Zibo Linzi District Cultural Relics Administration Bureau, "Research on the Tombs and Excavated Bronze Mirrors of the Warring States and Han Dynasties in Linzi, Shandong", pp. 640, 660, 662, 663, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2017. Press: Referred to as "Linzi Warring States Han Dynasty Tombs and Bronze Mirrors".
[19] Shaanxi History Museum, "A Thousand Autumns of Golden Classics: An Integration of Bronze Mirrors in the Shaanxi History Museum", pp. 168-171, Sanqin Publishing House, 2012. Press: The diameter of the copper mirror is 16.5, 16.8, 18.1, 18.7, 18.9 cm, respectively.
[20] Sanmenxia City Cultural Relics Task Force, "Briefing on the Excavation of the Western Han Tombs of the Sanmenxia City Overpass", Huaxia Archaeology, No. 1, 1994.
[21] Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Tomb of the Southern Han Dynasty in Luzhong (Part 2), p. 636, Figure 35-1, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2009. Press: Regarding the size of the mirror, the excavation report is recorded as 18.6 cm, while the "Jian Yao Qilu" (Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, etc., "Jian Yao Qilu - A Study of the Bronze Mirror Unearthed by the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology", page 275, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2009) is recorded as 17.74 cm.
[22] Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Tomb of the Southern Han Dynasty in Luzhong (Part 1), p. 61, Figure 37-2, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2009. Press: The "Jian Yao Qilu" refers to the cemetery as the "Fengshan Cemetery", which is based on the excavation report.
[23] Yangzhou Museum, "Han Tomb No. 102, Yaozhuang, Hanjiang County, Jiangsu Province", Archaeology, No. 4, 2000.
[24] Same [17], p. 59. Press: The original book of Jing Ming has not been interpreted in many places, and here it is re-interpreted as "Jun forgets to forget and is committed, loves to make the heart old, the heart is not fully executed, the heart is polluted and alone, knowing that it is not indispensable, and the ambition is already there", counting 32 words.
[25] Xu Zhongwen and Zhou Changyuan, Bronze Mirror of han guangling, pp. 14-18, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2013.
[26] Tong[14], pp. 109-367, "Statistical Table of Copper Mirrors Unearthed in Nanyang City".
[27] Cheng Linquan and Han Hanhe, Chang'an Hanjing, p. 76, Shaanxi People's Publishing House, 2002.
[28] Same [14], p. 104.
[29] Dabaotai Western Han Tomb Museum, Beijing, Cultural Relics of Dabaotai Han Tombs, pp. 5 and 33, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2015.
[30] According to my fieldwork in the fall of 2006.
[31] Same [14], p. 53, plates 63, 67.
[32] Yangzhou Museum, "Briefing on the Cleaning of Han Tombs in Yangzhou Pingshan Farm", Cultural Relics, No. 1, 1987. Press: The diameter of the mirror is 10.2 cm.
[33] Yizheng Museum, "Bronze Mirror of Yizheng Collection", p. 39, Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House, 2010. Press: The diameter of the mirror is 9.4 cm.
[34] Same [25], p. 70. Press: The diameter of the mirror is 10.5 cm; furthermore, in the nebula mirror included in the book, the No. 23 mirror and the No. 24 to No. 26 mirror are very different in style, showing the difference in its origin, and the latter may be produced in Yangzhou.
[35] Wang Shilun, ed., Wang Mu, revised Bronze Mirror Unearthed in Zhejiang, plate 3, p. 226, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2006. Press: The diameter of the mirror is 10.4 cm.
[36] Same [15], pp. 67, 148. Press: The diameter of the two copper mirrors is 9.8 and 9.7 cm respectively.
[37] Same [18], pp. 298–304.
[38] Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, et al., Archaeology of the Ancient City of Linziqi (Part 1), pp. 683-685, Figure 7-33, Plate 311-4, Science Press, 2020.
[39] Bai Yunxiang, "Han Dynasty Cultural Relics and Their Understanding in the Cultural Relics of the Three Han Dynasties", Qin and Han Archaeology and Qin and Han Civilization Research, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2019. Press: This article was originally published in East Asian Culture No. 8 (2010).
[40] [Korean] Fukuzumi Museum, "The Mirror of God: A Bronze Mirror: A Special Exhibition of fuquan Museum, 2009" (in Korean), pp. 64, 65, 2009.
[41] [Korean] Miyang University Museum, "Ruins of Miyang School Cave" (in Korean), pp. 135-137, Figure 52, Color Edition (Part 2), 2004.
[42] [Korean] National Museum of Central, "Cha to ri - Special Exhibition of Cha To ri" (in Korean), pp. 7-11, 98-99, 2008.
[43] [Korean] National Gyeongju Museum, "Ruins of Yongcheon Ryujeon-ri" (in Korean), pp. 30, 31, 2007.
[44] [Korean] Miyang University Museum, "Ruins of Miyang School Cave" (in Korean), pp. 47, 48, Figure 15, color edition (part 1), 2004.
[45] Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 85, Dongyi Lie, p. 2818, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1965.
[46] Same as [39].
[47] [Sun] Takakura Hiroaki, Copper Mirrors of the Three Kingdoms Period, Kyushu History Museum, Vol.14, pp.53, 1989.
[48] [Korean] Hunan Institute of Cultural Property, Ruins of Gedong, Guanzhou (in Korean), pp. 93-95, 2005.
[49] [Korean] Daesongdong Kofun Museum, "Foreign Exchanges of Kim Kwan Gaya" (in Korean), p. 45, 2005.
[50] Bai Yunxiang, "From the Bronze Sword of Shanglinli in Korea and the Bronze Mirror of the Village of Plains in Japan on the Two Eastern Crossings of Ancient Chinese Bronze Craftsmen", Cultural Relics, No. 8, 2015.
[51] Bai Yunxiang, "Archaeological Observations on the Relationship between China and the Korean Peninsula in the Han Dynasty", Northern Cultural Relics, No. 4, 2001.
[52] Book vi of the Book of Han, Records of Emperor Wu: In the third year of the Yuan Dynasty (108 BC), "In the summer of Xia, the Joseon Dynasty beheaded its king Right Canal and descended, and used its land as Lelang, Lintun, Xuanyu, and Zhenfan County." p. 194, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1962.
[53] Bai Yunxiang, "Archaeological Inquiry into Sino-Korean Exchanges in the Second Half of the First Millennium BC", Journal of the National Museum of China, No. 4, 2018.
[54] Bai Yunxiang, "The Proposal of the "Yellow Sea Ring Road" and Its Essence", Haidai Silk Language: "The Belt and Road" and the Proceedings of the Shandong Symposium", Qilu Book Society, 2020.
[55] See Bai Yunxiang, "Han Dynasty Cultural Relics and Their Understanding in the Cultural Remains of the Three Han Dynasties", Figure 1 ("Qin and Han Archaeology and Qin and Han Civilization Research", p. 508, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2019).
[56] Bai Yunxiang, "Bronze and Bronze Manufacturing in the Qin and Han Dynasties", Archaeology and Qin and Han Civilization Research of qin and Han dynasties, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2019.
[57] [Korean] National Gyeongju Museum, Gyeongju Museum, Gyeongju Yeongju-dong Ruins (in Japanese), p. 193, Tongcheon BunkaSha, 1996.
[58] [Korean] National Museum of Central, "Cha to ri - Special Exhibition of Cha To ri" (in Korean), pp. 7-11, 98-99, 2008.
[59] Higuchi Takayasu, Afghanistan: Ruins and Treasures: Five Thousand Years at the Crossroads of Civilization, pp. 88-104, Japan Broadcasting Publishing Association, 2003.
(Author: Bai Yunxiang, College of History and Culture, Shandong University; originally published in Cultural Relics, No. 1, 2022)