Source: Henan Daily
The Olympic Games are a world-class stage for cultural charm. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is the first Winter Olympic Games in China's history, and in order to showcase the beauty of Chinese culture, the organizing committee has integrated many cultural relics into the relevant design. For example, the creativity of the Tinder lantern at the Beijing Winter Olympics comes from the lamp of the Changxin Palace of the Western Han Dynasty, the creativity of the Tinder Terrace comes from the He Zun of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the design inspiration for the medal comes from the concentric circle Yubi. As the "spokesperson" of traditional Chinese culture, these cultural relics not only have legendary historical stories behind them, but also carry a unique sense of artistic beauty.
Tinder lamp / Western Han Dynasty Changxin Palace lamp
The Beijing Winter Olympics tinder lights and torches are in the same vein in design, and the upper parts are rotated upwards, like flying ribbons fluttering in the Dunhuang murals. The design of the lower part and base of the tinder lamp is obviously "taken" from the Changxin Palace lamp of the Western Han Dynasty, showing simplicity and elegance.
Known as the "First Lamp of China", the Changxin Palace Lamp is the treasure of the town hall of the Hebei Provincial Museum, and was excavated in 1968 in the tomb of Dou Qi, the wife of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, Mancheng County, Hebei Province. This lamp is gilded throughout, showing the image of a sitting palace woman holding the lamp in both hands. The palace maid looked ahead, looking calm and elegant, holding a lamp in her left hand and a lampshade in her right hand. The casting of this lamp is extremely wonderful: the head, body, right arm, lamp holder, lamp plate and lampshade of the palace maid can be removed, and the two tile-like masks can adjust the direction and brightness of the light by opening and closing; the long sleeve of the right arm seems to be blocking the wind, which is actually a rainbow pipe, which can absorb oil smoke into the cavity of the palace woman's body, thereby keeping the palace room clean; the lamp holder is like a bean (an ancient food-eating instrument, shaped like a high-foot plate), and the lower part of the Tinder lamp of the Winter Olympics inherits the style of the bean-shaped lamp holder of the Changxin Palace lamp. Bean-shaped lamp is a very common copper lamp shape in the Han Dynasty, Changxin Palace lamp is based on the bean-shaped lamp added lampshade and the image of the palace girl, both environmental protection function and artistic beauty, the whole body gilded shows the magnificence of the Han court utensils.
The name of the lamp of Changxin Palace comes from an inscription engraved at the bottom of the lamp holder: "Changxin Shang Bath, allowing one liter less than half a liter, weighing six pounds, one hundred and eighty-nine, and now the inner one lies down." "Changxin" refers to the palace where Empress Dowager Dou lived during the reign of Emperor Liu Qi of the Han Dynasty, Changxin Palace, and the inscription on the lamp is the logo of the artifacts in the palace. There are a total of 9 inscriptions engraved on the palace lamp, of which the inscription "Changxin ShangYu..." is slightly scrawled. Interestingly, 6 of the inscriptions of the palace lamp are engraved with "Yang xin jia", and the seal carvings are fine and neat.
Why is the palace lamp of Changxin Palace engraved with the inscription "Yangxinjia"? According to one theory, this lamp was originally owned by Liu Jie, the Marquis of Xinhou of the Western Han Dynasty, and judging from the records of the "Records of The Chronicle of Filial Piety" and the "Records of the History of Empress Lü", after Lü Hou became seriously ill, he made Lü Lu the King of Zhao a general and a general of the Northern Army; Lü Wangzhan took charge of the southern army, and Lü's relatives took control of the military power. After Lü Hou's death, the lieutenant Zhou Bo wanted to eliminate the Lü forces, but was not allowed to lead the army because he did not have military power. Zhou Bo then sent Liu Jie and Li to Lü Lu's mansion to persuade Lü Lu to hand over the seal, and after Lü Lu listened to the advice, he handed the seal to Liu Jie, and Liu Jie immediately took the seal and reported it to Zhou Bo. Zhou Bo led the Northern Army and other ministers to destroy Zhu Lü, and Emperor Wen made Liu Jie the Marquis of Yangxin. After Liu Jie's death, his son Liu Zhongyi was created the Marquis of Yangxin. Liu Zhongyi was stripped of his title during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han for his participation in the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms", and his family property and the Changxin Palace lamp inscribed with the inscription "Yangxin Family" were confiscated by the imperial court and sent to Empress Dou's Changxin Palace for use. Because Empress Dou and the tomb master Dou Xuan were of the same clan, the lamp was given to Dou Xuan and buried in his tomb. Another theory is that this lamp is not from the Yangxin Hou family, but the yangxin princess family, yangxin princess is the film and television drama often appeared in the han wu emperor Liu Che's sister Princess Pingyang, because its fiefdom is in Yangxin, so it is also known as yangxin princess. Princess Yangxin and Empress Dou were grandchildren, and this exquisitely made palace lamp may have been a gift from Princess Yangxin to Empress Dou, and was later given to Dou Xuan.
As an artistic treasure, there are many unknown historical stories behind the Lamp of Changxin Palace, waiting for us to discover.
Tinder Terrace / Western Zhou He Zun
According to the interpretation of the design team, the creativity of the Tinder Terrace of the Beijing Winter Olympics comes from the traditional Chinese bronze ceremonial vessel - Zun, which mainly adopts the curved shape of Zun and the stable base, symbolizing "all things on the ground". Zun is a common vessel shape in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which belongs to the ceremonial vessel of the wine vessel category, and later the word "Zun" gradually evolved into an honorific, such as respect, honor, etc. The shape of zun is not the only one, the shape of the Tinder platform of the Winter Olympics is accurately derived from the shape of the Yao zun, and from the promotional video, its creativity comes from the Western Zhou He Zun.
He Zun, as the treasure of the town hall of the Baoji Bronze Museum, is one of the first 64 cultural relics in China that are forbidden to go abroad (border) for exhibition, and was made by the nobles surnamed "He" during the Western Zhou Dynasty. He Zun has a trumpet-shaped open mouth, a slight drum at the abdomen, and a high circle foot; there are four ribs around it, the upper part is decorated with banana leaves on the base of the thunder pattern, and the abdomen and the lower part are relief animal face patterns, which is a common "three-layer flower" decoration on bronze ware at the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, and it exudes a prosperous atmosphere in the symmetrical norms.
He Zun's discovery is also quite legendary, in 1963, Chen Dui, a farmer in Jia Village, Baoji County (belonging to Baoji City), got up early to go to the toilet, found that there was something on the collapsed cliff surface of the backyard, and moved the ladder to actually plan down a piece of bronze by hand. Later, due to natural disasters, in order to make a living, Chen Dui's brother Chen Hu sold this bronze ware to the waste collection station, just when the museum's experts went to the acquisition station to find treasures, he Zun was bought back by the state. In 1975, the "National Exhibition of Newly Unearthed Cultural Relics" was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing, and He Zun was also seconded to participate in the exhibition. When Mr. Ma Chengyuan, an expert in bronze, cleaned up the rust, he found a 122-character inscription in his abdomen, which doubled the value of He Zun.
As a bronze ceremonial vessel in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, in addition to its majestic and exquisite shapes and ornaments, he Zun really made him famous in the inscription in his abdomen. This inscription records that King Cheng of Zhou inherited the legacy of King Wu and built the eastern capital Luoyi in Chengzhou, and King Cheng admonished the sons of the clan and rewarded 30 friends with "He" bei coins, and He Zhuzun was honored as a memorial. The inscription "Yu Qizhaizi China, Zi Zi Qimin" is the earliest written record of the word "China" in history. Some time ago, the front and back sides of the medal buckle part of the 14th National Games held in Xi'an used the word "China" in He Zun's inscription. In addition, the design idea of the "Zhong" character of China Post's logo also originated from He Zun.
Medals/Jade Bi
The medals of the Beijing Winter Olympics echo the medals of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, "Golden Jade", and the image is derived from the ancient Chinese jade bi. The medals of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games are based on the concentric circle jade bi of the tomb of the King of Nanyue in Guangzhou and the five-stringed jade bi excavated from the tomb of Yin Xu's women, etc., and there are five rings in total. The ring is concave and lightly engraved with decorative patterns. Although this kind of concave treatment is said to be imitation of the string pattern on the jade bi, it is actually more similar to the concave string pattern on the ancient copper mirror. It is worth mentioning that Gao Yitong, a member of the design team, was indeed inspired by the concentric circles on ancient bronze mirrors and designed the medals of the three-ring concentric circles.
Jade bi is generally a flattened circle with a perforation in the center, and is one of the most important sacrificial jade in ancient China, which is recorded in the Zhou Li Chunguan Dazongbo: "With jade as six instruments, with the four sides of the heavens and the earth: with Cangbi to the heavens, with Huang Qi, with Qing Gui to the east, with chi zhang to the south, with the white amber to the west, with Xuan Huang to the north." "Cangbi is a circular celestial offering, and The jade is generally an inner circle and an outer square place, which is consistent with the cosmology of the ancient Chinese "heavenly circle place". In addition, the figure of yubi can also be seen in the ancient group jade pendant and funeral jade, and there are a large number of jade bi hanging on the coffins excavated from the tombs of the Nanyue King and Dou Xuan.
The design based on Yubi not only has Olympic medals, but also Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin at the beginning of the founding of New China also designed the national emblem pattern with Yubi as the main body. In October 1949, the national emblem Tsinghua design team submitted a design pattern, the whole is the style of a bronze mirror of the Han Dynasty, written in the Name of the Country in the Han Bafenshu, the outer periphery is a circular jade bi, the inner ring is a five-pointed star, surrounded by gears and Jiahe, and the wrinkles are taken from the clothing of the statues made during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The design did not pass the primary election after competing with the Tiananmen Square pattern of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Later, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin continued to submit design patterns in the Tsinghua design group to integrate the Tiananmen square pattern, and the finished product was finally selected as the national emblem plan. Although Yubi's design plan did not pass, it can also be seen from the side that the design masters favor the elements of ancient Chinese cultural relics.
In addition to the Tinder Platform, Tinder Lights and Medals, the Shougang Ski Jump, which undertook snowboarding and freestyle ski jumping events during the Beijing Winter Olympics, was designed with the concept derived from the flying image in the murals of Dunhuang, China. As the bearer of traditional Chinese culture, cultural relics are increasingly used in the design of large-scale events, vividly telling Chinese stories.