Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Huang Zhouhui Correspondent Liang Yanping
Photo, video/ Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Tang Mingming Intern Liu Yingying Zhang Chenlu
On March 31st, the "Little Wadang Big World - Special Exhibition of Wadang Excavated from the Ruins of the South Vietnamese National Palace" sponsored by the Museum of the King of South Vietnam was officially launched in the exhibition area of the Royal Palace of the Academy.
The exhibition is a phased result of the collation and research of archaeological data at the site of the National Palace Department of South Vietnam, and a total of more than 100 pieces have been selected to be excavated at the site, from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the exhibits cover cloud pattern tiles, text tiles, animal face tiles, lotus pattern tiles and other types.
The exhibition will be on display until October 12, 2022, through the five units of "The Beauty of rafters", "The Same Wind", "Majestic Royal Residence", "Lotus Blossoming" and "Living and Working in Peace", leading the audience into the world of Wadang in ancient Guangzhou and appreciating the style of the ancient eaves of Lingnan in various historical periods.
Exhibition site
Known as the "art on the eaves" in ancient China
Wadang, commonly known as tile head, barrel tile head, is the ancient architectural eaves barrel tile front end of the shield, but also a unique component of the Chinese architectural system, playing a role in protecting the rafters from wind and rain and beautifying the appearance of the building, known as the ancient Chinese "art on the eaves".
For thousands of years, Wadang has faithfully waited on the rafters, shielded from the wind and rain of thousands of years, and told the ancient people's attachment to home. The patterns, characters and other decorations on the tiles place people's yearning and expectations for a better life.
Lotus pattern tile
Archaeological excavations have shown that wadang appeared no later than the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, and so far it can be confirmed that the earliest wadang in China was found in the Zhouyuan site of Qishan Mountain in Fufeng, Shaanxi, and the wadang became a component of large buildings in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and developed rapidly.
The tile decorations of various princely states have a strong style of the times and local characteristics, especially the tile decorations of Qi, Yan and Qin are the most distinctive, and the animal pattern tiles, cloud pattern tiles, and tree pattern tiles are the largest.
Southern Beast Face Wadang
The lingnan region appeared and used wadang from the Qin Dynasty. In 214 BC, Qin unified Lingnan and then set up the three counties of Guilin, Nanhai and Xiang county, and since then, the Lingnan region has been officially incorporated into the big family of the Chinese nation.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the tile-roofed civil steadbed buildings in the northern Central Plains were introduced to Lingnan, and the building materials in Lingnan also developed from the original bamboo and thatch to bricks and tiles.
In Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other places found in the Qin and Han architectural sites unearthed a large number of building materials including wadang, cloud pattern is the most common face decoration of wadang, the shape, production method, ornamentation and other wadang in the Central Plains is almost the same, there is a grand situation of the world as one, the same wind, witnessing the development of Lingnan culture and integration into the Chinese civilization system.
Animal face pattern wadang
The "Long Live" script Wadang was unearthed in Lingnan
The site of the Nanyue National Palace Is located in the core area of the royal palace of the capital of the Nanyue And Southern Han Dynasties, and its overall layout of the palace is regular, the building site is grand, and the building materials are exquisite. The cinnabar "Long Live" script tiles unearthed from the Nanyue King's Palace and the glazed tiles of various colors unearthed from the Southern Han King's Palace reflect the majesty of the royal power.
At the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the former Qin general Zhao Tuo established the State of South Vietnam in Lingnan, with Panyu (present-day Guangzhou) as its capital. At present, a number of palace building sites have been excavated, and pottery stamped with words such as "Weiyang" and "Huayin Palace" and "Long Live" character wadang have been excavated.
Text Wadang "Hundred Lives"
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains began to popularize the script Wadang, the content of the text is complex and changeable, in addition to the common praise words, there are place names, chronicles, and chronicles. The written Wadang at the site of the Nanyue State Palace Office first appeared in the middle and late Period of the South Vietnamese Kingdom.
The content is relatively single, basically the word "long live", but the text style is rich and changeable, and some even have the rhyme of the bird and insect book, reflecting the distinctive local characteristics. In addition, when the "Long Live" script Wadang was excavated, there were many remnants of cinnabar, reflecting that the palaces of the emperors in the Qin and Han Dynasties were honored with red and gradually formed a system.
In the fifth dynasty of the late Tang Dynasty, the former Qing Navy made Liu Yan establish the Southern Han Dynasty in Lingnan, and the capital city of Guangzhou was the Xingwang Palace, using glazed tiles to reflect the royal identity.
Architectural glass was widely used in ancient mainland china for buildings such as palaces, mausoleums and royal temples, and was a symbol of imperial power. Due to technical limitations, in the early Southern Han Dynasty, there were only cyan and green glazing. In the late Southern Han Dynasty, yellow glass was successfully fired, which made the color of the palace building more abundant and particularly noble.
In addition, the Southern Han Dynasty also used many double phoenix pattern tiles, symbolizing royal power. The phoenix bird is a common decorative theme on ancient utensils, since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the phoenix pattern has become a symbol of the dynasty, and it is strictly forbidden to use it outside the court.
Southern Han Dynasty lotus pond Mandarin duck pattern wadang
Little Wadang reflects the history of Guangzhou's thousand-year-old city
The ruins of the Nanyue State Palace Office are not only the seat of the Nanyue King's Palace and the Southern Han King's Palace, but also the seat of the Qin and Han Counties, the Six Dynasties Office, the Sui and Tang Dynasties Metropolis, the Song and Yuan Governor's Palace, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has been the political center of Lingnan for more than 2,000 years.
According to the organizers, since 1995, large-scale building sites from different periods have been cleared here, and a large number of tiles from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties have been excavated, reflecting the uninterrupted urban scene of Guangzhou for more than 2,000 years.
Buddhism was introduced to China during the two Han Dynasties, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty gradually rose to its peak during the Sui and Tang dynasties. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the lotus flower, which was a Buddhist sacred relic, gradually replaced the cloud pattern as the mainstream ornament of wadang.
The Lingnan region is the place where Buddhism flourished, and a large number of cultural relics such as lotus pattern tiles, lotus pattern bricks, and lotus pattern celadons since the Eastern Jin Dynasty have been excavated from the site of the National Palace Of South Vietnam, which is an important empirical evidence of the prosperity of Buddhist beliefs in ancient Guangzhou.
Southern facing lotus pattern wadang
In the Song Dynasty, the society was stable, the economy was developed, the mind was open, the literati and scholars emerged, and the flower pattern began to become the main theme of the wadang ornament, and it was also one of the major sects of wadang excavated from the ruins of the South Yue State Palace Office since the Song Dynasty.
There are various types of face decoration, including lotus flowers with ice and jade, beautiful and elegant chrysanthemums, graceful and luxurious peonies, and clusters of flowers surrounded by fangs, etc., which together present the vigorous and vibrant life style of Guangzhou since the Song Dynasty.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, floral tiles continued to develop, with more elaborate ornamentation and richer layers, and the size of the tiles became smaller and smaller.
Wadang is an important historical and cultural carrier of ancient Chinese cities, containing colorful cultural connotations. Archaeologists believe that the tiles unearthed from the site of the National Palace of South Vietnam are an important physical witness of guangzhou's more than 2,200 years of history and as the political, economic and cultural center of the Lingnan region, and are also an important empirical evidence of the integration of the Lingnan region into a multi-ethnic unified country.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Li Li