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The He ''zun'' () is an ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel of the '' zun'' shape.Xinhuanet.com.
Xinhuanet.com
." ''何尊.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-01.
It dates from the era of
Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong n ...
(1046–771 BC), specifically the early years of the dynasty, and is famous as the oldest artifact with the written characters meaning "Middle Kingdom" — : "China" — in a bronze inscription on the container.big5.7qiji.com.
China's 7 wonders (中國七大奇蹟)
" ''何尊.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-01.
Today it is in the Baoji Bronzeware Museum in
Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...
.


Dimension and significance

The vessel, dating to the 5th year of the reign of King Cheng of Zhou, is 38.8cm tall, 28.8cm in diameter and weighs 14.6kg. Inside the container, at the base, it contains 12 rows of 122 inscribed
Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...
. Of the 122 characters, 119 are identified while 3 are unknown. The inscription contains the phrase 宅𢆶𠁩或 () inscribed in early Zhou form, structurally different to the modern form of the characters. The term () here does not carry exactly the same semantic meaning as today, referring rather to the "central region" of the newly expanded Zhou dynasty political domain, but is the earliest occurrence in the Chinese corpus of the word , which gradually expanded in its meaning over the next millennium.Qkzz.net.
Qkzz.net
." ''“中国”一词的最早记录者——何尊.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-01.
The He ''zun'' is also the earliest known vessel bearing the character '' de'' (, "virtue"), and one of only 64 historical artifacts that can never leave Chinese soil.Wenbao.net.
Chinese cultural heritage protection official web list
." ''何尊 .'' Retrieved on 2010-05-01.


History

The construction of the city of
Luoyi Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyan ...
() is documented in two chapters of the ''
Classic of History The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetoric ...
''. The inscription of this vessel supports the textual claim.Li Feng.
006 Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film '' GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Ale ...
(2006) Landscape and power in early China: the crisis and fall of the Western Zhou, 1045–771 BC. Cambridge university press. 0521852722, 9780521852722. pg 63.
Historians believe
King Wu of Zhou King Wu of Zhou () was the first king of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BC and ended three years later in 1043 BC. King Wu's ancestral name was ...
was at Haojing () after the construction of Luoyi.News.chinavoc.cn.
News.chinavoc.cn
" ''西周何尊赏析.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-01.
The record shows
King Cheng of Zhou King Cheng of Zhou (), personal name Ji Song (姬誦), was the second king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The dates of his reign are 1042–1021 BCE or 1042/35–1006 BCE. His parents were King Wu of Zhou and Queen Yi Jiang (邑姜). King Cheng w ...
established his residence in
Chengzhou Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanya ...
() in his 5th year. Most scholars consider this was the 5th year after
Duke of Zhou Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou (), commonly known as the Duke of Zhou (), was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for actin ...
handed over the government. The inscription is (in Liding characters and with modern punctuations added): The inscription has been translated as follows:


Discovery

The lost artifact was discovered by a Chen family. Behind their house in
Baoji () is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a population of 3,321,853 accor ...
was a 3 metre tall cliff. One cubic metre of the piece was sticking out from the soil. In 1963 the second son of the family dug out the piece thinking that someone might be hurt by the protruding part. The piece revealed a
taotie The ''Taotie'' () is an ancient Chinese mythological creature that was commonly emblazoned on bronze and other artifacts during the 1st millennium BC. ''Taotie'' are one of the " four evil creatures of the world". In Chinese classical texts such a ...
design. The family did not grasp the value of the vessel, using it as a food storage container at home. On August 8, 1965, the family struggled with financial difficulties and sold the piece along with other unneeded items to a waste center in Baoji for 30 yuan. In September 1965 a worker in the waste center informed an expert about the bronze piece. The expert recognised it as a
Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
artifact and brought it back to a museum. In 1975, near the end of the
Cultural revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage sent the piece to the Shaanxi relic bureau. Ma Chengyuan, a bronze expert at the
Shanghai Museum The Shanghai Museum is a museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. Rebuilt at its current location in 1996, it is considered one of China's first world-class modern museums and fa ...
, recognised its significance. In 1976 the PRC cultural bureau organised an art exhibition to the United States. The US requested this piece join the exhibit and offered a US$30 million protection coverage.


See also

*
Names of China The names of China include the many contemporary and historical appellations given in various languages for the East Asian country known as ''Zhōngguó'' (/, "middle country") in its national language, Standard Mandarin. China, the name in Engl ...


References

{{Chinese bronzeware Zhou dynasty bronzeware History of Baoji Names of China 1965 archaeological discoveries