The He ''zun'' () is an ancient

Chinese ritual bronze From , elaborately decorated bronze vessels were deposited as grave goods in the tombs of royalty and nobility during the Chinese Bronze Age. Documented excavations have found over 200 pieces in a single royal tomb. They were produced for an indi ...

vessel of the ''

zun The ''zun'' or ''yi'', used until the Song dynasty#Northern Song, 960–1127, Northern Song (960–1126) is a type of Chinese ritual bronzes, Chinese ritual bronze or ceramic wine vessel with a round or square vase-like form, sometimes in t ...

'' shape. It dates from the era of

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to 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 in 77 ...

(1046–771 BC), specifically the early years of the dynasty, and is famous as the oldest artifact with the written characters meaning "Middle Kingdom" or "Central State" — : "China" — in a bronze inscription on the container. Today it is in the Baoji Bronzeware Museum in

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

Dimension and significance

The vessel, dating to the 5th year of the reign of

King Cheng of Zhou King Cheng of Zhou (; 1055–1021 BC), personal name Ji Song, was the second king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The dates of his reign are 1042–1021 BCE or 1042/35–1006 BCE. Ji Dan, Duke of Zhou served as regent during his minority. His pare ...

, is tall, in diameter and weighs 14.6kg. Inside the container, at the base, it contains 12 rows of 122 inscribed

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

. Of the 122 characters, 119 are identified while 3 are unknown. The inscription contains the phrase () 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. 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.

History

The construction of the city of

Luoyi Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengz ...

() is documented in two chapters of the ''

Classic of History The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, an ...

''. The inscription of this vessel supports the textual claim. The record shows

established his residence in

Chengzhou Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River (Henan), Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial ...

() 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 acting as ...

handed over the government. The inscription is (in '' liding'' characters and with modern

punctuation Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of writing, written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, c ...

added): The inscription has been translated as follows: He Zun transcription

Discovery

The lost artifact was discovered by a Chen family. Behind their house in

Baoji Baoji ( zh, s= , t= , p=Bǎojī; ) 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 ...

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 BCE. ''Taotie'' are one of the Four Perils in Chinese classics like the ''Classic of Mountains an ...

'' 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 ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

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 Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, the

State Administration of Cultural Heritage The National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA; ) is a national bureau managed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China. It is responsible for the national protection of cultural relics and the regulation of museums. History After ...

sent the piece to the Shaanxi relic bureau. Ma Chengyuan, a bronze expert at the

Shanghai Museum The Shanghai Museum is a municipal public museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. It is funded by thShanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau Reb ...

, recognised its significance. In 1976, the PRC cultural bureau organised an art exhibition to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The US requested this piece join the exhibit and offered a

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

30 million protection coverage.

References

{{Chinese bronzeware Zhou dynasty bronzeware History of Baoji Names of China 1965 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in China 11th-century BC works Chinese cultural relics forbidden to be exhibited abroad

Dimension and significance

History

Discovery

See also

References