Zeng Hou Jiao inscription rubbing
Zeng Hou Qiao Ji
When it comes to Zeng Guo, the most famous discovery is the magnificent Zeng Marquis Yi chime, a complete set of 65 pieces weighing a total of more than 2.5 tons. It is puzzling that the Zeng Kingdom, which created a brilliant and splendid civilization of etiquette, is almost absent from historical records. The history and culture of Zeng Guo have been explored by the academic community for a long time.
There are records of Zeng Guo's bronzes in the writings of the Northern Song Dynasty, but there is no in-depth study. In modern times, a considerable number of Zengguo bronzes have been discovered, and the mainstream view at that time was that the "Zeng" state in these bronze inscriptions was the "Ji" state surnamed "Ji" in Shandong in historical records.
In 1933, a pair of "Zeng Ji square pots" were unearthed in the tomb of King Chu of the Warring States in Li Sangudui, Shou County, Anhui, and the maker was "Shenghuan's wife Zeng Ji", that is, the wife of King Shenghuan of Chu, she came from the surname Zeng Guo of Ji, which indicates that there was a Ji surname Zeng Guo during the Warring States period. In 1979, two bronze Ge were unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Guo in Spring and Autumn discovered by Ji Shiliang in Suizhou, Hubei Province, with inscriptions "Muhou's son Xigong, grandson of Xigong, great-grand worker Yin Jiyizhi" and "Zhou King Sun Jiyi, Kong Zang Yuanwu, Yuan Yongge". Ji Yi is a descendant of Zeng Muhou, and at the same time calls himself "King Sun of Zhou", so Ji Yi naturally has the same surname as the Zhou royal family, so it can be known that Zeng Guo in the Spring and Autumn period is also surnamed Ji.
In 2011, archaeologists excavated the Yejiashan Zeng State Necropolis in Suizhou in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Because the tombs in the cemetery are all in the east-west direction, it is different from the high-ranking noble tombs of the princes surnamed Ji such as the Jin State, the Wei State, and the Yan State found in the north and south directions. Therefore, scholars generally believe that the early Zeng State of the Western Zhou Dynasty represented by the Yejiashan cemetery is not the same country as the Eastern Zhou Ji surnamed Zeng State, and only a few scholars oppose it.
The final resolution of this controversy depends on the discovery and interpretation of the new golden text.
In 2013, another archaeological excavation was carried out in Yejiashan Cemetery, and Tomb No. 111 unearthed a bronze square seat with the inscription "Gongbao Zun Yi of the Southern Gong of Ren Kao", indicating that it was Zeng Guojun "犺" who made the vessel for his late father "Nangong". "Nan" is the clan title of Qi, that is, the abbreviation of "Nangong", so "Nangong" comes from the Nangong family, and the Nangong family is known for the surname Ji. In 2014, the information on the tomb of Zeng Marquis and the tomb in the late Spring and Autumn period was collated and announced, and the bell inscription of the tomb included the words "Bo Shi Shangyong, left and right Wen Wu, Da Yin's order, pacify the world." Wang ordered Nangong, camp and mansion, Huaiyi, and Jiangxia". "Boshi" or Nangong Shi, who had assisted King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou in pacifying the world, and King Zhou ordered Nangong to establish a state near "Jiangxia". The "Bo Shi" in the Zeng Hou and Chime inscriptions proves that the "Nan Gong" in the Nangong inscription is Nangong Shi, and Zeng Guojun is a descendant of Nangong Shi. Nan Gongguo and Zeng Marquis and Chime put an end to the dispute over the surnames of the Zeng state in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, proving that the Eastern Zhou Zeng State and the Western Zhou Zeng State were the same state.
This research is a classic case of the organic combination of archaeological discoveries and Jinwen interpretations to explore the history and culture of Zeng Guo.
In traditional Chinese texts, there are almost no records of Zeng Guo, and the Zeng State in archaeological data is from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle Warring States period, more than 700 years before and after, only the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty has missing links, and it is the princely state with the richest archaeological materials in the two-week period. How to explain this phenomenon has puzzled the academic community for many years. The famous historian Mr. Li Xueqin proposed the "Mystery of Zeng Guo" after the excavation of the tomb of Zeng Marquis Yi. He believes that the "Zeng Guo" seen in the archaeological findings is the "Suiguo" found in historical records and roughly located near present-day Suizhou, and "Zeng" and "Sui" are two countries. This understanding is generally accepted by scholars, but some scholars insist that Suiguo and Zeng are two vassal states. The advancement of research on this issue also depends on archaeological discoveries.
In 2019, several groups of tombs of Zeng Marquis and his wife were discovered in the Suizhou Zaoshu Forest Cemetery. Many bronzes unearthed in M169 have the inscription "Sui Zhong Qianjia". Among them, the inscription on the copper ribbon records that the king of Chu made a "concubine" for the marriage of "Sui Zhongqia"; The inscription on the bell of the tomb clearly records that the country in which Qijia married is the State of Zeng, and the "Sui" used as the name of the country in the title "Sui Zhong Jia Plus" is the State of Zeng. A copper ding unearthed in M191, with the inscription "Tang Hou System Suihou Xingding", is a burial product specially made for the Tang State monarch according to the ritual system after the death of the Tang State Monarch, this bronze ware was unearthed in the tomb of Zeng Guo, which also proves that "Sui" is Zeng.
The epigraphers of the Northern Song Dynasty recorded the bronzes of Zeng Guo for nearly a thousand years, and scholars of the late Qing Dynasty have been interpreting the bronzes of Zeng Guo for more than 100 years, but these studies have not lifted the fog of the history and culture of Zeng Guo. For more than half a century, field excavations have greatly enriched the archaeological data of Zeng Guo, and the inscriptions on the unearthed bronzes have opened a door for us to study the history and culture of Zeng Guo. The in-depth interpretation of these golden texts finally solved the "mystery of the past".
(Author: Zhang Tianyu, associate researcher, Institute of Excavated Documents and Ancient Civilizations, Peking University)
Source: Guangming Daily