From February 9 to May 19 this year, the Chengdu Museum held the first large-scale original exhibition of 2021 , "The Five Capitals of Libei - Chinese Cities in the Qin and Han Dynasties". This special exhibition comprehensively shows the vigorous and prosperous but different urban scenery under the historical background of the great unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Bringing together more than 300 pieces/sets of fine cultural relics reflecting the production and life of the city in the Qin and Han dynasties, including 152 precious cultural relics, 62 first-class cultural relics, and 32 of the latest archaeological excavations are exhibited to the audience for the first time! When it comes to this exhibition, many friends who love history and literature are more clear.
However, recently, careful citizens and friends have found several problems in this exhibition... For example, in the "Chengdu Han Dynasty Lacquerware Excavation Site Distribution Map", the "Xingjing" is incorrectly marked as "Rongjing". Some citizens said that there is no such place as "Rongjing" in Sichuan. Only the "Xingjing" is now part of Ya'an City, Sichuan Province.
In this regard, the Chengdu Museum gave its own response to the opinions of careful readers.
Exhibit chart
"Yu Gong" or "Gong Yu"?
History buff Liu Qihun pointed out that on an exhibition board introducing the ware, there is such a passage: "The Book of Han and the Biography of Yugong records: 'The main gold and silver ware of the Shuguang Han Dynasty is five million each. 'The gold and silver ware here is according to the reference to the precious lacquerware with precious metal components inlaid with precious metal components in the mouth or ear of the utensils-----------------
He said that the source of this sentence quoted on the exhibition board in the "Book of Han", more accurate title should be "Hanshu Wang Gong Liang Gong Bao Biography", mainly recounting the deeds of Wang Ji, Gong Yu, Gong Sheng, Gong She, Bao Xuan, and several people, is a "Qing Jie Shi Shi" mainly a kind of biography. Gong Yu was a sage during the Western Han Dynasty and the protagonist of the idiom story "Bullet Crown Xiangqing". Wang Ji and Gong Yu are a pair of friends who have a deep friendship, Gong Yu has been dismissed from office many times, and Wang Ji is not ambitious in the official field. Later, Wang Ji was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the imperial court, and Gong Yu was very happy when he heard about it, so he took out his official hat, flicked off the dust, and prepared to wear it, which was called "Wang Yang reigned, Gong Gong was crowned", that is, they were in agreement and had the same interests. "Shu Guang Han lord gold and silver vessels, five million per year" comes from Gong Yu's speech to Emperor Yuan of Han, which opposed the phenomenon of extravagance and harsh conscription by the princes, nobles, and rich families at that time.
The Yugong is a masterpiece of ancient Chinese geography and belongs to the Book of Shang. The Yugong divides China into nine regions, namely "Kyushu", and briefly describes the mountains, terrain, soil, and products of each state. There is no titled "YuGong" in the Book of Han.
"Yang Zhai" or "Yang Di"?
In a "Schematic Map of the Distribution of Commercial Centers in the Western Han Dynasty", Liu Qihun believes that the museum mistakenly wrote "Yang Zhai" as "Yangdi".
"Yang Zhai (dí) is an ancient Chinese place name, and in present-day Yuzhou, Henan, it is rumored to be the capital of Xia Qi." Liu Qihun introduced that after Xia Qi eliminated the Youhu clan, in order to abolish the traditional tribal Zen concession system and establish the hereditary throne, he once held a "Juntai Enjoyment" among the princes of the Hui Alliance, thus establishing Xia Qi's "co-lord" status, so that China entered the historical stage of "family world". During the Warring States period, Yang Zhai was the capital of Korea. During the Western Han Dynasty, Yang Zhai was the seat of government of Yingchuan County.
Also on this map, the location of "Suiyang" is mislabeled to the north of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Suiyang, now part of Shangqiu City, Henan Province, is an important birthplace of Chinese civilization, is the capital of the Western Han Dynasty Liang Kingdom, and the famous Suiyuan Garden was built here. Suiyuan was the court of Liu Wuyou and Yanbin, the Prince of Liangxiao, and at that time, literati such as Sima Xiangru and Mei Cheng were all suiyuan guests and chanted for them.
Suiyuan is famous for its green bamboo, and the allusion to the "Suiyuan Green Bamboo" in the Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion is derived from this. Suiyuan is also known as Liang Garden, as the saying goes, "Although Liang Garden is good, it is not a home of long-term love", which is used to refer to the place where you live, no matter how good it is, you can't stay for a long time. Taking Luoyang on the map as the standard, Suiyang should be in the east of Luoyang, but the map is marked in the north, which can be said to be the opposite of the south.
"Xingjing" or "Rongjing"?
In addition, in the "Chengdu Han Dynasty lacquerware excavation site distribution map", Liu Qihun also found that the figure mistakenly marked the "Xingjing" as "Rongjing". "There is no such place as "Rongjing" in Sichuan. He said that Xingjing now belongs to Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, and "Xing" is a polysyllabic character, the "Xing" of the Sichuan Xingjing is pronounced yíng, and the "Xing" of Xingyang, Henan is pronounced xíng.
Museum Response:
Thanks to the attentive readers who are recreating the panels
For the question of readers' reaction, on the 27th, the staff of the Cultural Relics Department of Chengdu Museum responded to the Red Star News reporter. The staff said that the way "Yugong" and "Yangdi" were written was indeed wrong, and the reader's interpretation was correct. At present, the exhibition "The Five Capitals of Libei - Chinese Cities in the Qin and Han Dynasties" has ended, and in the subsequent publication of the catalogue, the museum will definitely pay attention to these two places. In addition, "Xingjing" is indeed a typo on the exhibition board in the permanent exhibition, and the museum has told the design department to make the exhibition board again, and it will be replaced after the production is completed.
The source of the map in the exhibition chart is the original book drawing
Finally, regarding the location of the location of "Suiyang" in the map, the staff said that this schematic distribution map of commercial centers in the Western Han Dynasty is the original map of Xue Fengxuan's "Chinese Cities and the Evolution of Their Civilizations" on page 130, Figure 7.3. This question still needs to be evaluated by experts to evaluate whether the book also has labeling errors.
"The reader is very careful and thanks to him for reminding us." The staff told reporters that it is rare to have such a careful reader, after this incident, the museum will definitely pay more attention to avoiding problems in this regard, so as not to laugh and be generous.
Red Star News reporter Dai Jiajia pictured in the museum
Edited by Wang He
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