A New Study on the Bronze Inscription "Xuan Liu“
In the bronze inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, it is often mentioned about metal rewards, contributions, gifts, war profits, transportation, and casting. Among them, some terms referring to metals or metal raw materials began to appear, such as "lucky gold", "platinum", "aluminum oxide", "aluminum oxide", "red aluminum oxide", "Xuan", and so on. Since the Qing Dynasty, the trend of textual research has flourished, and these proper names have attracted the interest of many scholars. However, many of these names have never been recorded in later literature or literary works, to the extent that their exact meanings are still unclear.
One of the most common names is "Xuanyi". This name appears in inscriptions on weapons, musical instruments, containers, and other artifacts of the Zhou Dynasty. For example, on the famous Shu Yi Zhong Bo, there is an inscription on "Xuan Liu (aluminum)". This group of bronze bell and Bo was cast by Duke Ling of Qi of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period. It was unearthed in the ancient city of Qi in Ancient Linzi, Shandong Province in the Song Dynasty. The "Xuanhe Bogu Tu" and other books have been described. The most prominent thing is that the group contains 492 words of inscription, which can be called a great imperial work.
In the "Xuanhe Bo Gu Tu", it is recorded that there is also a "Shi Dai" bell unearthed near the Houtu Temple in Ronghe County, Shanxi in 1870 (originally written as "Qi Ge Shang Hei", temporarily replaced by "Dai" in this article), with 9 lines and 86 characters cast on both sides of the obverse, each of which forms its own piece. The sentence is completely the same, and there is also an inscription "Xuan Qi Qi skin aluminum, Da Zhong Ba Yu".
There are still a few cases of RH Dai Zhong Tuo Pian. For example, Zhu Gongkeng Zhong: "Zhu Gongkeng chose his auspicious gold. Xuan Liu skin (project skin) Lv (aluminum), used to cast his harmony bell." Zhu Gonghua Zhong: "Zhu Gonghua chose his auspicious gold. Xuan Liu red project skin, used to cast his harmony bell." Pai'er Goujie: "Choose his auspicious gold, Xuan Liu project skin aluminum, made his own hook knot。
In addition, there is also the famous sword of the State of Jin "Shao She". At least four bronze swords of the same name have survived. Among them, the bronze sword unearthed in Liyu Village, Hunyuan, Shanxi Province in 1923 is now hidden in the Palace Museum of China. The inscription is "auspicious day for the afternoon, at first it was used for Yuan Dynasty, and the bronze sword of the same name is called" little one ". The one found in Yuanping, Shanxi Province in 1991 is a broken Qianfeng, and the inscription lacks the words "auspicious day" and "鎛", which is now in the National Museum of China. The third little sword is housed in the Gimmie Museum in France, while the fourth sword is housed in the Robert Tang family and has been exhibited by the Nelson Atkins Museum in the United States. However, weapons such as spears and halberds are more concentrated in the appearance of the "Xuan Xuan" inscription. Ge was a type of weapon used from the Shang Dynasty to the Han Dynasty in ancient China. It consists of a dagger shaped blade with its handle mounted on a vertical wooden shaft. And the halberd combines the spear and spear into one, which can both pierce and strike horizontally. Regarding the relevant vocabulary of "Xuan", it can be seen that "Xuan" is the use of red skin "; The auspicious use of Xuanshufu aluminum; The use of a halberd by the Xuanwu people; The use of Ge in Xuanxuan; Xuanxuan, etc. The inscriptions mentioned above contain content such as "Xuanxuan", with a maximum of seven characters and a minimum of two characters, such as "Xuanxuan". Mr. Rong Geng once pointed out that "Bian" means "Xuan", so "Xuanxuan" means "Xuanxuan".
So far, Xuantango with clear archaeological information has appeared in at least fourteen sites across the country. For example, Changsha and Changde in Hunan, Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, and Nanyang in Henan, Baoding and Xingtai in Hebei, Suizhou, Jingzhou, and Xiangyang in Hubei, Xinzhou in Shanxi, and Shangluo in Shaanxi. These sites are almost all distributed in the Central Plains region, dating back to the late Spring and Autumn period and the early Warring States period. Another point worth noting is that gold jewelry is a common feature of the Xuan Ge or Xuan Ji, and inscriptions are often presented using intricate gold techniques. Therefore, Xuantango is considered a high-level sacrificial weapon of the aristocratic class. In addition, the Xuan Ge or Xuan Ji unearthed from the same tomb always have similar shapes and sizes. For example, the six Xuan Ji unearthed from Tomb 10 in Xujialing, Xichuan, Henan, have a fairly uniform shape and are likely products from the same batch.
The introduction on the official website of the Nelson Atkins Museum about the Shao Yan Sword, "Erya Shi Qi," states: "Gold is called Zhi Zhi, and those who are beautiful are called Zhi Liu." Guo Pu annotates that "Liu is purple grinding gold. Also, Shuijingzhu Wenshui: "The Chinese custom says that gold on the surface is purple polished gold." In Shuowen Jiezi, we can also find the meanings of "Xuan" and "鏐" respectively. The word 'Xuan' has been interpreted as' black with red ', and its meaning has not changed to this day. But the word "鏐" is interpreted as "the beauty of gold". Based on this, the Nelson Atkins Museum explained the inscription "On the auspicious renwu day, made for right use. Pure gold covers the spine. I have named it Little X. This viewpoint is similar to the idea proposed by some early scholars that "鏐" may refer to surface gold plating. Many ancient weapon enthusiasts have also been influenced, referring directly to the golden armor as the "Xuanwu armor". Many Chinese and foreign scholars have conducted serious discussions on the meaning of "Xuanyi". Due to the appearance of "Xuanxi" on bronze ware, which is an alloy of copper, tin, and lead in a certain ratio. Therefore, it is generally believed that "Xuanxi" refers to a certain type of raw material that is essential for the production of bronze. In summary, there are approximately the following viewpoints and explanations about "Xuanyi":
1. The name of high-quality copper raw material is represented by Guo Moruo, Tang Lan, Ronggeng and other early paleophilologists.
2. A certain alloy of copper was proposed by Huang Shengzhang, who believed that the difference between words such as "liu", "qifu", and "aluminum" should be the difference in the coordination and adjustment components of copper and tin, as well as lead. The sinologist Lothar von Falkenhausen also echoed this viewpoint when exploring the raw materials for making bronze chimes in his book 'Le Xuan'.
3. The name of a certain type of lead material, represented by Cen Zhongmian, Du Naisong, and others. They are based on the explanation of "lead, green gold" in "Shuowen" and combine the nature of lead to believe that the "green" of "green gold" has a black meaning. And the "Xuan" of "Xuan" is also black, so "Xuan" is equivalent to "lead".
4. The name of a certain tin material, represented by Hua Jueming, Huang Xiquan, and others. They believe that the color described by the character "Xuan" is similar to the color of tin material, so the explanation is that tin material is the most suitable.
5. The name of a certain tin ore, represented by Wen Guang. This viewpoint distinguishes the concepts of material and ore, particularly identifying tin ore as cassiterite, and specifically highlights the reddish tone in the "black and red" described by "Xuan".
Overall, previous speculations were mainly based on ancient literature and materials, without evidence from scientific research and research. When the study of Grammatology has reached a deadlock, researchers hope that scientific data can put forward different views from a new perspective. The flourishing modern technology in recent years can provide some innovative and profound descriptions of ancient bronze ware. The author's unit was fortunate enough to collaborate with the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology to conduct a series of testing and analysis on the Xuan Ge unearthed from the Xujialing Cemetery, in order to reveal the mystery of "Xuan Ge".
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