Anyang Yin Ruins - Pan Geng Qian Yin

At the end of the 15th century AD, the Shang king Pan Geng last moved the capital to Yin (present-day Anyang, Henan), after Pan Geng moved to Yin, the Shang Dynasty's national strength gradually strengthened, especially in the Wuding period, flourished for a time, so the Shang is also called Yin Shang, from 1300 BC Pan Geng moved to Yin, to 1046 BC In the 255 years after the fall of Emperor Xin, it has been the political, economic, military and cultural center of the late Shang Dynasty, and it has been reduced to ruins after the fall of the Shang Dynasty. Yin Ruins with unique style, huge scale, strict planning of the palace buildings and tombs of the Shang Kings, with exquisite production, delicate ornamentation, widely used bronze ware famous at home and abroad, with bronze smelting and casting, jade production, primitive porcelain and other highly developed handicrafts and world-renowned, Yin Ruins bronze ceremonial ware appeared in large quantities, reflecting the highly developed bronze civilization in ancient China, as China's first documented, and confirmed by oracle bones and archaeological excavations of the ancient capital city site, has important historical, scientific, artistic and cultural value. (See Figure 2-3)

Simu PengFangding – the largest bronze vessel in the world

Late Quotient

Height 133 cm, length 110 cm, width 78 cm

It was excavated in 1939 in Wuguan Village, Anyang City, Henan Province

Collection of the Museum of Chinese History

In 1939, an extra-large bronze ding, Simu Peng DaFangding, was unearthed in Anyang Wuguan Village (YinXu Wangling District), named after the inscription "Simu Peng" cast on the inner wall of the abdomen. Ding belly is rectangular, straight mouth, wide rim, double vertical ears, columnar feet, abdomen around the ornamentation of animal face pattern, Ding belly four corners each have a rib, the shape is dignified and majestic, magnificent, is the Shang King Wenting to sacrifice his mother "E" and made, weighing 875 kg, is the world's largest bronze so far, casting technology and artistic level represents the highest achievement of bronze casting technology in the Shang Dynasty.

From the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, bronze culture entered a glorious period of nearly two thousand years. Nobles at all levels have strict regulations on the types and quantities of ceremonial instruments used, and the number of types and quantities directly represents the level of rank, and the ceremonial music system expressed by bronze ceremonial vessels is the basic social norm that distinguishes ranks and regulates behavior. Ding is generally used with Gui (equivalent to the current bowl), and the number has strict hierarchical rules: Tianzi Nine Ding Eight Gui, Princes Seven Ding Six Gui, Doctor Five Ding Four Gui, Qing Shi Three Ding Two Gui, ordinary people can not use, the group of Ding from large to small, become a column, called the Column Ding system. If you exceed the specifications used, it is an offense and a crime. According to statistics, among the Shang Zhou bronzes that have been recorded so far, the number of Ding is the largest, which shows the important position of Ding at that time.

At that time, the smelting of bronze was made of ceramic crucibles, which were similar in shape to the helmets placed upside down, and archaeologists called them "general helmets", and each general helmet could melt copper 12. 7 kg, according to calculations, casting Simu Pengding such a large bronze, need to use more than a thousand kilograms of metal raw materials, more than seventy general helmets at the same time casting, requiring hundreds of people to operate at the same time, binaural first cast and then embedded in the Ding fan, the rest of the Body cast at once, fully shows the production scale and technical level of the Shang Dynasty bronze casting industry.