The earliest metal smelted and used by humans was bronze. With this, humans bid farewell to the Stone Age and entered the Bronze Age. Chinese bronze culture is the most glorious and distinctive in the ancient world. The bronze wares made by our ancestors are extremely exquisite, rich and noble; they are not only daily utensils for nobles, but more importantly, they have been promoted to "ritual vessels" with some sacred significance, used for sacrifices, banquets, Funerals and other aspects of social life at that time were used to bring blessings to the gods, and became artifacts expressing the status, power and status of the nobility. This is a significant symbol of Chinese bronze culture and is different from other bronze cultures in the world.
The tripod is the most representative artifact among ancient Chinese bronze ritual vessels. Its basic shape may be familiar to everyone, with erect ears, round belly, and three legs, or erect ears, square body, and four legs. Its basic function or use is to dress up the sacrifices offered to God and ancestors in ceremonial activities (there are also rice wine and rice grains). To be precise, the bronze tripod was the main sacrificial vessel.
Since at that time, the power to communicate between heaven and earth and to worship ancestors was exclusive to the aristocratic class in the upper class of society, the size and number of tripods became a symbol of the aristocratic identity, rank and status. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the number of tripods used was strictly regulated: the emperor had nine tripods, the princes had seven tripods, the officials had five tripods, and the Yuanshi had three or one tripod. Different statuses not only have different numbers of tripods, but also different sacrifices. Jiuding is divided into "Nine Laos" for cattle, sheep, hogs (pig), fish, bacon, fresh fish, fresh wax, etc.; Qidian is divided into "Seven Laos" for cattle, sheep, hogs, fish, bacon, etc.; Five Tripods is for sheep, Pork (pig), fish, bacon, and skin are called "five prisons"; three tripods contain dolphins, fish, and bacon, and one tripod holds dolphins, which are called "three prisons" and "one prison" respectively.
Since the emperor exclusively used the nine tripods and performed the nine-lao ceremony when offering sacrifices to the ancestors of heaven and earth, the tripod naturally became a symbol of national power and then became a treasure passed down to the country. "Zuo Zhuan·Xuan Gong Three Years" records: "(Xia) Far away, nine pieces of gold were cast as a tripod as a tribute... Jie had a bad virtue, so the tripod was moved to Shang... Shang Zhou was tyrannical, so the tripod was moved to Zhou." "Emperor Century" records: "Tang became the emperor, so he moved Jiuding to Bo." "Zuo Zhuan·Huan Gong's second year" also records: "King Wu conquered Shang and moved Jiuding to Luoyi." Therefore, "Historical Records·Zhou Benji" tells : "This tripod determines the survival of the country, so whoever becomes the king must fight for it." Then the very famous story of "asking for the top spot" happened in history.
The so-called "aspiration" actually refers to seizing the throne. In 606 BC, King Zhuang of Chu defeated the Rong and led his army in Luoyang to conduct a military parade. King Zhou Ding had no choice but to send Wang Sunman to comfort the Chu army. Chu Zhuangzi asked the Zhou royal family about the size and importance of the nine tripods with ulterior motives. Wang Sunman was very clear about King Zhuang's intention, so he told King Zhuang of Chu righteously that the foundation of a country lies in virtue and not in cauldron. This story certainly reflects the historical facts of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when feudal princes disputed, and rituals collapsed and music collapsed, but it also illustrates the status in people's minds at that time.
According to the "Warring States Policy", during the Warring States Period, the Qin State had also coveted the Jiuding of the Zhou royal family for a long time, and actually supported the army to seize the Nine Tripods. The very panicked King Zhou adopted the strategy of Minister Yan Lie and asked Qi for help. Defeat Qin, and promised to keep the Jiuding in Qi afterwards. The State of Qi sent troops to repel the Qin army, and asked the King of Zhou for the Jiuding. Seeing this, Yan asked, if the Jiuding is given to you, how will you carry it back to the country? The King of Qi said that it would have to pass through Daliang. Yan Shui said that Wei had already tried to seize Jiuding. If he passed by Daliang, Wei would definitely detain Jiuding. The King of Qi said, "Then we will pass through Chu." Yan Shui said that Chu State was even more eager to seek the tripod. King Qi asked, which way should we take? Yan Shu then slowly told the King of Qi a story about the time when Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty and relocated the Jiuding. He said that the King of Zhou used as many as 99.81 million people to transport the Jiuding. At this time, King Qi finally understood Yan Su's intention and had to give up. Yan Shu's intention here is actually very clear, that is, all countries are coveting Jiuding. If Qi State really transports Jiuding away, the result will be unrest forever.
It is said that the Qin Dynasty moved the Jiuding of the Zhou royal family westward to Xianyang in the second year after it destroyed the Zhou Dynasty. But when Qin Shihuang destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world, the whereabouts of Jiuding were unknown. Some people say that Jiuding sank in Pengcheng, Surabaya, so when Qin Shihuang visited this place, he sent thousands of people to dive and salvage it, but it was in vain.
From King Zhuang of Chu to the First Emperor of Qin, the story of Jiuding is both false and true, hinting at the social turmoil here.
In short, the tripod indeed had an irreplaceable position in people's hearts at that time. Therefore, the people of Zheng "cast a punishment book on a tripod and made it the common law of the country" (Du Yu's note in "Zuo Zhuan: Zhaogong Sixth Year"); For a long time ("Zuo Zhuan: The 29th Year of Duke Zhao"), "Ji Wuzi got the troops to build a tripod", sold the troops to make a tripod, and specifically expressed peace and stability ("Lu Spring and Autumn") and so on. To this day, words related to tripod generally have the meaning of being prominent, noble, grand or prosperous. Ding Yun, Ding Ming and Ding Zuo are metaphors for the position of the emperor or the destiny of the country; Ding clan, Ding clan, Ding Gui and Ding Jia refer to prominent and noble disciples; Ding industry refers to the great cause of the emperor; Ding metaphor refers to the emperor's will; Ding Ci refers to a very important reward; Ding Qi refers to a sign of prosperity for the country; Ding flavor refers to national politics, Ding refers to the founding of the country, Ding theory refers to the strategy of great governance, etc. Others include Ding Sheng, Ding Zhong, Ding U, Ding Xing, Ding Help, Ding Ding famous names, etc., too numerous to mention.
Tracing back to its origins, it turns out that the tripod is just a daily cooking utensil. It was originally made of pottery. The initial model had three legs underneath the container, and wood was added underneath to make a fire for cooking. This kind of utensils originated very early. Bowl-shaped and basin-shaped tripods have appeared in the Peiligang Cultural Site in the early Neolithic Age in the Central Plains. A pot-shaped tripod was unearthed from the Daxi Cultural Site in the Yangtze River Basin. Later, various forms of pottery tripods were unearthed from Dawenkou Culture in Shandong, Qujialing Culture and Longshan Culture in Hubei.
It is precisely because the tripod is an important cooking utensil that cannot be separated from people's daily life, especially the tripod itself "cooks itself without cooking"; that is, it integrates the stove and the cooking utensils into one, and has the appearance of being stable and stable. After entering the Bronze Dynasty, its status was improved, and it finally became a ritual vessel for nobles to banquet and worship God and ancestors. "Shuowen Jiezi" says: "The tripod has three legs and two ears, and is a treasure of five flavors."
"Han Shi Wai Zhuan" says: "Yi Yin carries the tripod and mixes the five flavors to form the phase. ” It can be seen that after entering the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, most of the bronze tripods with two ears no longer served as cooking utensils, but were used openly as important containers for seasoning the five flavors. We know that bronze is an alloy of copper and tin or zinc, and tin and zinc are metals with very low melting points and are not resistant to high temperatures. As for the newly emerged four-legged square tripod, it would be even more incredible to regard it as a cooking utensil.
The earliest bronze we have so far appeared in the Erlitou Xia cultural site in Yanshi, Henan. It has double ears, a deep belly, a round bottom, and a three-cone-shaped hollow foot underneath. The walls are thin and the shape is relatively primitive. , very close to the pottery tripods of the Longshan Culture
The casting technology of bronze tripods in the early Shang Dynasty has significantly improved. The walls of the bronze tripods are thicker and more uniform, and the surfaces of the vessels are generally decorated with complex patterns such as animal masks. The abdomen is still deep and generally has conical hollow feet. The newly appeared square tripods have hollow columnar legs. The bronze tripods in the middle and late Shang Dynasty have generally thicker walls, many larger shapes, and more mature shapes. The feet are mostly columnar, and the patterns tend to be fine and tapered.
In 1938, a large square tripod was unearthed in Wuguan Village, Anyang, Henan Province, which caused a sensation throughout the country. This was the famous Simuwu. It was 133cm high, 110cm long, 78cm wide, and weighed 832.5 kilograms. The heaviest tripod in the world so far can be called a wonder of Chinese bronze culture, and its shape can also be regarded as a representative of the late Shang square tripod. Just imagine, if the capacity of the crucible for melting copper at that time was 12.5 kilograms, then more than 70 crucibles would be required to work together to cast such a huge object. If each crucible required three or four people, then at least 250 people would be needed during casting. Work simultaneously. If additional processes such as design, mold making, model translation, model assembly, disassembly, and trimming are added, the production scene can be imagined.
Bronze tripods from the Shang Dynasty appeared in large numbers and were distributed over a wide area, stretching from the Shandong Peninsula in the east, to northern Hebei in the north, to central Shaanxi in the west, and across the Yangtze River in the south. They were found in a large area. The famous square tripod with human face pattern was discovered in Ningxiang, Hunan.
The shape of the Zhou ding did not change significantly compared to that of the Shang Dynasty. Because the Zhou people learned from the merchants' drunkenness and ruined the country and banned alcohol, the status of the dining ding has been unprecedentedly improved. The Zhou people finally established a system of bronze ritual vessels headed by the tripod, which was a heavy food vessel.
A number of large tripods appeared with majestic shapes, huge lower abdomens, and thick pillars. The "Da Yu Ding" can be regarded as a typical representative of the tripods at that time.
In the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the bronze ritual system of the Zhou people was completely established, and the status of the tripod in it became more stable and its shape became more stable. The more important ones are "Mao Gong's Cauldron" (see Figure 9). The popular shapes in the late Western Zhou Dynasty were erect ears, round bottoms, and short animal hoofs, such as "Duoyou Ding".
The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were a period of great cultural turmoil in the history of our country. With the Great Awakening of Humanities, the sacrificial culture finally began to enter its old age, and the tripod system inevitably declined. Due to the collapse of rituals and disputes among princes, the bronze system gradually disintegrated. There are two most prominent manifestations. First, there are obvious regional characteristics. At this time, the tripod can basically be divided into two major series: the northern and southern series: the northern series is represented by the Three Jin Dynasties, with a round cover, round belly, and high or short feet; the southern series is based on the Chu style. Representative, deep belly, flat bottom, flat cover, and three high legs that are turned outward. Second, a large number of imitation copper pottery ritual vessels have been unearthed, especially pottery tripods.
With the emergence of iron tools and cattle farming, as well as the collapse of the lord feudal system and the establishment of the bureaucratic autocratic system, bronze ritual vessels finally completed their history. This kind of ritual vessel that had a long history of glory, The museums of history gradually disappeared after the Western Han Dynasty.
We mentioned that in the "Zuo Zhuan·Xuan Gong Three Years", Wang Sunman responded to the words of King Zhuang of Chu, "Distant pictures, nine pieces of tribute gold, cast tripods and elephants." What does this mean? ? The king of Xia painted various objects in the distance and used the tribute gold from Kyushu to cast the tripod. Casting the objects on the tripod actually revealed an important issue, that is, the patterns and patterns decorated on the bronze tables had specific content and special meaning.
We can further confirm this from the following passage of Wang Sunman. Wang Sunman went on to say: "Everything is prepared to make the people aware of the evil gods. Therefore, when the people go to the mountains and forests of Sichuan, they will not encounter bad luck. There are only two chi monsters and no one can meet them. Use energy to coordinate the superior and the inferior to inherit the rest of the world." . This means that the bronze vessels are decorated with images, and objects from all over the world are complete, aiming to enable the people to identify what gods are and what evil is. In this way, no matter where the people go, they will not encounter bad things, and they will not encounter mountains, spirits, and water monsters.
In this way, society can be peaceful and harmonious, and receive the blessings from God. Therefore, we see such rich, luxurious and colorful patterns on the bronze ritual vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, headed by tripods. Such as animal patterns, dragon patterns, phoenix and bird patterns, fire patterns, cicada patterns, silkworm patterns and other pictographic patterns, as well as geometric patterns such as curves, twists and turns, connecting thunder patterns, etc., are rich and colorful. These patterns, especially dragons, phoenixes, cicadas, silkworms, etc., have very profound cultural significance and connotations. Simply put, regarding the dragon pattern, "Kaogong Ji" says: "Dragon uses water", which is obviously a unique product of China's agricultural civilization.
Finally, we have to talk about the inscriptions on the inner wall of the bronze tripod. The appearance of inscriptions on bronze vessels began in the late Shang Dynasty. At first, it was just the title of the author's father, ancestor, mother or brother or even the family emblem. Later, it developed into a longer inscription with three or four characters praising the nature of merit. For example, "Naisun Zuzujiding" has eleven characters. One of the biggest differences between the bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the bronzes of the Shang Dynasty is the emergence of a large number of long historical inscriptions, such as the "Xiao Yu Ding" which records the historical facts of King Kang's massive conquest of ghosts; Zhou Xing's "Da Yu Ding" based on historical experience and lessons, etc. Another example is "Xian Hou Ding", "Zuo Shu Dafang Ding", "Wei Ding", "Shi Tangfu Ding" and "Song Ding", etc., all have long inscriptions.
The inscription on the "Mao Gong Ding" from the period of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty is actually 499 words long, making it the bronze with the most inscriptions to date. These inscriptions can undoubtedly make up for the lack of historical documents. The study of the history and culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty is of irreplaceable importance. By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, long inscriptions were rare. For example, the "Zeng Zhuzi Ding" and "Ruigong Ding" collected in the National Palace Museum in Taipei have only four or five characters inscribed on them. They are nothing more than the wishes of the princes and officials in troubled times to cast the tripod to pray for longevity and health.
Chinese culture is a metaphysical culture and a culture of rituals and music. The ancient Chinese philosophers experienced the secrets of the universe with the attitude of "tacit knowledge." (Tagore said) This secret is rhythm and harmony, and rhythm is order, the basic spirit of etiquette; harmony is music. Spirit.
The Chinese not only penetrated this spirit into real life, but also decorated it on the utensils used in daily life, so that the physical utensils revealed the metaphysical way.
Giving lofty meanings and beautiful forms to the most realistic utensils makes them not only practical utensils, but also capable of communicating with people and communicating with them, thus achieving a kind of unity between man and nature. realm. In history, the tripod, which was extremely ordinary at first and then became extremely brilliant, is just such a cultural product that embodies rhythm and harmony and is based on the unity of nature and man. Therefore, even though it has long faded from the stage of history today, as the direct carrier of Chinese culture, it will always be glorious in the real society and in the hearts of the Chinese people, and will always play an irreplaceable special role.