Recently, the international gold price has been rising, triggering a new round of "hoarding" craze among the Chinese people, and everyone's purchasing preferences are varied, such as gold necklaces, gold bracelets, gold beans, gold bars, gold coins, and everything you buy. Netizens joked that once Chinese reach a certain age, they will automatically unlock and become "evil dragons", hobbing gold jewelry for themselves.
This love and pursuit of gold is actually a continuation of China's ancient tradition. Since ancient times, gold has played a pivotal role in Chinese culture, whether it is dazzling jewelry, or trading currency, or calligraphy, painting and handicrafts, gold can be seen everywhere.
Gold jewelry: Something shiny is, of course, worn on the head
The history of the use of gold in the mainland can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, as evidenced by the gold earrings unearthed from the Huojiaogou site in Yumen City, Gansu Province. This plain ring earring is about 4000-3800 years old, which is the earliest gold jewelry found in the mainland, and is currently in the collection of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
Gold earrings unearthed from the Huojiaogou site in Yumen City, Gansu Province
During the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, the development of Chinese gold ware was still in its infancy, and the gold products were small in shape, simple in ornamentation, and mostly ancillary decoration of other utensils. With the passage of time, it has gradually developed more than a dozen kinds of gold jewelry production processes such as gilding, filigree inlay, hammering, gold and silver mistakes, filigree, fried beads, chisel flowers, and tired silk.
Jin-hsien
Eagle-shaped gold crown
The ancients also used gold pendants, gold earrings, eagle-shaped gold crown ornaments, gold hairpins, golden hairpins, gold-winged birds, gold buckles and other ornaments. In the more than 3,800 years of purification, there have been many craftsmen's "dazzling skills", the exquisite shape, the complexity of the process, modern equipment is difficult to match.
Tang Dynasty hollow gilt sachet
The Tang Dynasty hollow gold incense sachet currently in the Chengdu Museum is exquisite and elegant in appearance, and the internal structure is even more ingenious, with two concentric rings connected to a hemispherical incense bowl. When the sachet is filled with spices, the balance of gravity and the rings keeps the incense bowl level and does not spill the spices due to tilting. The Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Zhi wrote in "Friends Sealed Body": "The breeze is dark, the sachet turns, and the hazy moon obliquely passes through the space." "Maybe it's this delicate and delicate golden sachet.
Golden cicada jade leaves
In the collection of the Nanjing Museum, there is a precious cultural relic called "Golden Cicada Jade Leaf". The golden cicada stands on the leaves made of mutton fat white jade in Hetian, Xinjiang, lifelike, as if ready to fly high at any time. The combination of golden cicada and jade leaves not only reflects the brilliance of gold, but also shows the warmth of white jade, and the two complement each other and shine brightly.
Gold currency: must be entangled, go out hard currency
"Gold and silver are not natural currency, currency is naturally gold and silver", in ancient China, gold is not only a jewelry, but also an important currency. Gold coins from different dynasties have their own unique shapes and characteristics.
In the pre-Qin period, gold had already begun to circulate as currency. At that time, gold currency mostly appeared in the form of gold cakes and gold ingots, which had extremely high value.
"Warring States Policy" records: Zhang Zi said, "The king does not seek the Jin Kingdom?" and the king said, "The golden pearl rhino elephant comes from Chu, and the widow does not seek the Jin Kingdom." "Gold, pearls, pearls, rhino leather, and ivory are all from the Chu State, and I have no requirements for Korea. What a rich answer! The solid gold reserves of the treasury gave the king of Chu confidence and courage. At that time, the territory of Chu was rich in gold resources, making it the only country that was prevalent in gold coinage during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This gold coin, called "Yingzhan", is also the earliest gold coin found in China.
郢爰
By the Han Dynasty, gold money was more widely used, not only for large transactions, but also as a reward and tax. During the Tang Dynasty, the status of gold currency became more stable and became an important part of the state's finances. At that time, there were not only a wide variety of gold currency, but also beautifully made, reflecting the high development of the level of craftsmanship at that time, such as the more familiar "Kaiyuan Tongbao".
In addition to the copper Kaiyuan Tongbao, the Tang Dynasty also cast gold and silver Kaiyuan Tongbao. These two precious metal coins are only for royal rewards, for the entertainment of dignitaries, and are not put into circulation, so the number of surviving coins is very small, especially the Jin Kaiyuan, which is even more precious.
After the Song Dynasty, with the emergence and circulation of paper money, the status of gold currency gradually declined, but its importance in wealth storage and international trade cannot be ignored. The forms of gold currency are more diverse, in addition to gold coins, there are also gold leaves, gold medals, gold collars and other forms. Among them, the cultural relics such as the gold medal of "Chen Erlang Ten Gold" and the "Su Zhai Han Wulang" ten taels of gold collars in the Southern Song Dynasty are all representatives of the gold currency of the Song Dynasty.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the prosperity of overseas trade, gold became an important medium for trade between China and the world.
Gold Feed: A luxury exclusively in China
In the fields of calligraphy, painting, handicraft production, etc., gold also shows a unique charm, with the characteristics of bright luster and stable texture, making it a unique and precious material in artistic creation.
Partial thangka painted in gold chalk
In many large temples in Tibet, a considerable part of the Buddhist scriptures are written by gold juice, and the scriptures written by gold juice are very important Buddhist classics, historical records, even if you read it again today, the handwriting of hundreds of years of Buddhist scriptures is still clear. The use of gold in traditional Tibetan painting is also very extensive, and the traditional thangka painting pigments are mineral plant pigments, and gold dust made of gold is indispensable. The ancients said that "color with class" is to use color to express the texture of different objects. The Buddha's robe, the Buddha's Dharma utensils, the vajra, the golden Dharma wheel, jewelry, etc. are all important elements in the thangka, and all have a metallic texture, so gold is extremely important in the color of the thangka, and even sometimes the whole thangka is painted with gold.
Not only Tibet, from the murals of the Kizil Grottoes, the murals of the Dunhuang Grottoes to the later murals of Fahai Temple, the figure of gold can be found in the religious murals of many places, so as to render the mysterious atmosphere and show the aura majesty of Buddha statues and mythical beasts.
In the field of handicrafts, gold is also widely used. Whether it is metal crafts or ceramic crafts, gold can be seen. These handicrafts are either made of gold as raw materials or used as decorative elements, all of which show high artistic value and collection value.
From dazzling ornaments, to circulating currency, to raw materials for calligraphy, painting and crafts, gold played multiple roles in ancient Chinese society. With its unique charm and value, it has become a symbol of people's pursuit of a better life and wealth. Today, we can still feel the love and pursuit of gold from these precious cultural relics, as well as the important position of gold in cultural inheritance. (Zhengguan News reporter Peng Qianya, text source network)
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