Bird Zun (Western Zhou)
When you think of "Jin", you immediately think of Shanxi.
But do you know why Shanxi is called "Jin"?
Map of Shanxi
Today, I would like to lead you to reopen the door of history through a treasure of the Shanxi Museum' town hall, the Bird Zun.
More than 3,000 years ago, King Wu destroyed the Shang and established the Western Zhou. After the death of King Wu, his son Chengwang took the throne.
King Cheng was still young and was ruled by his uncle Zhou Gongdan.
Zhou Gongfu Zheng
Duke zhou, surname Ji, given name Dan. He was the younger brother of Ji Fa, the King of Wu, the uncle of King Cheng, and a pioneer of "Confucianism" who was revered by Confucius as a saint. Because the fief was in Zhou (northeast of present-day Qishan County, Shaanxi), it was called the Duke of Zhou.
Under the administration of the Duke of Zhou, the Western Zhou Dynasty saw a thriving scene.
However, during this period, the "Rebellion of the Three Prisons" (1) occurred in Western Zhou, which is what we call the "Wu Geng Rebellion" (2), allowing the Zhou royal family to see clearly that the princes of the opposite sex with the "Tang Kingdom" as a series of princes, under the appearance of obedience, had a wolf ambition. (Simply put, (1) (2) is that King Wu of Zhou sent three younger brothers to spy on King Wu Geng, the son of King Shang, but they colluded to threaten the ruling position of his nephew King Cheng of Zhou.)
Zhou Gongdong crusaded to quell the rebellion
Therefore, Zhou Gong led his troops to fight for King Cheng, and after three years of eastern crusades, he finally took a series of small vassal states such as "Tang" and so on.
At the same time, the young King Cheng was playing in the harem with his brother Shu Yu, when he suddenly heard a report from a historian that the Duke of Zhou had occupied Tang Territory.
King Cheng was very happy to hear this, and cut it into the shape of Yu Gui with the tung leaves that had fallen on the ground, and said solemnly: I will use this as a relic to seal you as the king of the Tang Kingdom.
Kirito leaf sealed brother
This is the story of the famous "Tong Ye Fengdi" in history.
(There are many versions of this story, one of which says: the ancient sound of "Tong" is the same as "Tang")
(At that time, we can't verify the scene, but "jun no joke" has also become a king's "words must be done", a lifelong pursuit.) )
When Shu Yu grew up, he came to this place in Tang, and the history called "Tang Shu Yu" (the ancients all took the country as a surname).
Statue of Tang Shuyu in Jinci Temple
Shu Yu came to TangDi to build water conservancy and develop agriculture, and a strange shape of rice ear grew in the farmland (possibly a genetic mutation)
So Shu Yu presented "Jiahe" to his brother King Cheng of Zhou, who believed that this was "the image of the world and the same", and gave it to the Duke of Zhou, so the Duke of Zhou wrote "Jiahe" to show his gratitude.
Therefore, Tang Shuyu became the first Marquis of Jin to be commended by Zhou Tianzi. (Of course, at that time, it could not be called the Marquis of Jin)
However, Tang Shuyu is the founder of the Jin Dynasty, the founder of the country, and as the founder of the Three Jins culture, his historical merits are indelible.
There are many theories about the origin of "Jin".
One of them is that after the death of Tang Uncle Yu Xian, his son Xiè (xiè) took the throne. At the time of Guotai Min'an, Xie's father decided to change the name of the country and take the name of Jinshui as the name of the country, becoming the first generation of Jin Marquis.
Jinci Temple
Later, at the source of the Jinshui River, under the Hanging Urn Mountain, the father built a special temple to worship his father, called Tang ShuYu Ancestral Hall, which is the predecessor of today's Jin Temple.
Since then, the world has only known "Jin" and not "Tang".
So where exactly is "Jin"?
Overlooking the ruins of Tianma-Qu Village
It was not until the 1960s that archaeologists found a large number of Jin relics in Qucun and Tianma Villages at the junction of Yicheng County and Quwo County in Linfen, Shanxi, and thus clarified the location of the first fiefdom of the Jin Dynasty.
Floor plan of the Jin marquis cemetery
In the 1990s, on the basis of the discovery of the ruins of the Jin Dynasty (Tianma-Qucun site), the Jin Marquis Cemetery was excavated.
From the tens of thousands of cultural relics unearthed, archaeologists found that the bronze ware cast with the name of "JinHou" Jin Wen is not a minority.
From the first generation of Tang to Jin's father, to the Marquis of Jin, who participated in the Zhou Dynasty King's crusade against Dongyi, to the Marquis Wen of Jin, who escorted King Zhou Ping to move east, the order of a total of nine generations of Jin Marquis jumped in front of him.
Marquis Huan of Jin - Marquis Wu of Jin - Marquis of Jincheng - Marquis li of Jin - Marquis Jing of Jin - Marquis of Jin - Marquis of Jin - Marquis Xian of Jin - Marquis Mu of Jin - Marquis Wen of Jin
It can be said that the discovery of the Tianma-Qucun site provides an important basis for us to study the chronicles of the early years of the Jin Dynasty.
The study of chronology throughout the Zhou Dynasty will have a positive and far-reaching impact.
The large number of well-preserved tombs provides invaluable material for the study of the funerary system, social structure and many issues associated with it.
Tracing back to the roots, our bird zun was found in this site, and the story about the bird zun we will talk about in the next issue.