The Spear of Fuchai () is the
spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
of King
Fuchai
Fuchai (reigned 495–473BC), sometimes also written Fucha, was the last king of the state of Wu during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. His armies constructed important canals linking the Yellow, Ji, and Huai River systems of t ...
of
Wu, the
archrival of King
Goujian of
Yue. It was unearthed in
Jiangling,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...
in November 1983. The script on it is
bird-worm seal script
The bird-worm seal script () is a type of ancient seal script originating in China.
Names
The Chinese character (''Niǎo'') means "bird" and the character (') means "insect", but can also mean any creature that looks like a "worm", includin ...
, a variant of
seal script
Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of se ...
that was commonly used in the southern states such as
Wu and
Yue. The inscription mirrors the text of
King Goujian's Sword, except changing the name of the owner and type of weapon. In this case, the text reads, "吴王夫差自作用矛" or "King Fuchai of Wu made for his personal use, this spear."
Archaeological artifacts of China
Chinese melee weapons
Wu (state)
1983 archaeological discoveries
Ancient weapons
Spears
Individual weapons
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