20 Tuesday July 30, 2019
LIFE
By Tao Mingyang in TaiyuanC
hina’s first provincial-level
bronze museum, the Shanxi
Bronze Museum opened to the
public on Saturday in Taiyuan, North
China’s Shanxi Province.
The Shanxi Bronze Museum has
more than 2,000 cultural relics on
display, most of them precious cultural
relics unearthed from archaeological
excavations or recovered by public
security organs while investigating the
illegal trafficking of cultural artifacts.Evolution of a civilization
A branch of the Shanxi Museum,
the new museum is located on a small
island in Taiyuan’s Chengfeng Culture
and Business District. It shares five
connected and independent inverted
cone buildings with the Taiyuan
Museum.
The unique modern design of the
Taiyuan Museum has earned it the
nickname “instant noodle bucket”
from locals and makes it one of the
city’s standout landmarks.
The new museum boasts an exhibi-
tion area 11,000 square meters in size.
Taking Bronze Brilliance as its theme,
the main display is divided into three
sections that show the development
and highlights of China’s Bronze Age:
Imprints of Chinese Civilization, The
Spirit of Rites and Music and The
Model of Skill and Art.
Imprints of Chinese Civilization
focuses on the special role Jin (an
ancient kingdom that existed in what
is now Shanxi Province) culture played
in the inheritance and development of
Chinese civilization.
The Spirit of Rites and Music cov-
ers the distinctive features of Chinese
bronze ritual vessels and their spiritual
connotations. The Model of Skill and
Art shows how bronzes were made in
ancient times.
In addition, exhibition areas Digital
Bronze and Exploring and Finding
provide visitors the opportunity to
experience the mystery of bronze cul-
ture in depth by means of digital and
interactive educational displays.Priceless treasures
The Bronze Age was a significantstage in human history.
China was one of the earliest
civilizations to enter the Bronze Age.
Archeological evidence indicates that
Bronze culture had already reached
maturity by the Xia Dynasty (C.2070–
C.1600 BC). It reached its peak during
the Shang Dynasty (C.1600BC–
1046BC) to Western Zhou Dynasty
(1046BC – 771BC), during which time
the area that is now Shanxi was the
heartland of Chinese
bronze civilization.
The Shanxi bronzes
on display bring
back to life the main
cultural currents of
the Shang and West-
ern Zhou dynasties,
reflecting the prog-
ress in the evolution
and development of
China’s ritual culture.
It also shows how geo-
graphic connections helped fuse the
agricultural and steppe civilizations of
the time and how that impacted the
design of bronzes.
Sun Qingwei, director of Peking
University’s Archaeology and Museol-
ogy College, affirmed the important
value of these Chinese bronzes.
“Previous research has proven
that the method of using molds to
make bronzes was learned from other
cultures, but the craftsmen mixed the
techniques from with local cultures
to create the brilliant Chinese bronze
culture,” said Sun.
Sun told the Global Times that
bronzes were used during important
political and religious occasions as
well as in people’s daily lives.
“There is an old saying zhongming
dingshi, which means eating using a
ding [a food vessel] and playing music
with zhong [a bronze bell]. This is
why we can see a giant set of Bronze
chimes and small tableware at the
exhibition,” said Sun.
“Another saying is that ‘the most
important things for the country
are the rites and the military.’ Many
delicate vessels used in religious cer-
emonies and weapons of war are on
display as well.”
What’s more, Sun said that he
believes these bronzes can help peoplegain a whole new understanding of
ancient times and the people they’ve
read about in history textbooks.
“Such as the Basin Made by Jin
Duke, one of the most important items
in the museum. It was part of the
dowry of Duke Wen of Jin’s daughter,”
Sun said.
Duke Wen of Jin is one of the Five
Hegemons that lived during Spring
and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC)
and was a successful leader of a strong
country.
“We can see many small animals
in the basin, which shows Duke Wen
of Jin’s soft side for his daughter
instead of his role leading armies on
the battlefield. The Basin Made by Jin
Duke allows people to see a more real-
istic image of the Duke Wen of Jin and
get to know his life with his family,”said Sun.Recovered relics
China’s bronzes
have important
historic, scientific and
artistic value, and are
an extremely precious
cultural inheritance.
At the end of 2018,
an exhibition of re-
covered cultural relics
was held at the National Museum in
Beijing. According to a report from
the Guangming Daily in February
2017, China has recovered about 5,
cultural relics from criminal cases
since 2013.
In the Shanxi Bronze Museum,
most of the items on display are
cultural relics recovered by the Shanxi
Department of Public Security in- A province with abundant
archeological sites,
Shanxi faces unique
challenges when it
comes to protecting
cultural relics.
According to the
Shanxi Department of
Public Security, Shanxi
Province has solved
more than 1,000 cul-
tural relic smuggling
cases and recovered
27,911 precious cul-
tural relics since 2018.
Among these lost treasures, the Basin
Made by Jin Duke, Wine Vessel Made by
Yi and a few other bronzes on display
were even recovered from abroad.
Luo Huining, the secretary of the
Shanxi committee of the CPC, praised
the public security organ saying that “a
campaign made a museum.”
From top: The Shanxi Bronze
Museum in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province
A reproduction of a set of ancient
bronze chimes
Bronze vessel Basin Made by Jin
Duke
Bronze vessel Lamp in the Shape of a
Wild Goose with a Fish
Photos: Tao Mingyang/GTMirroring the past
New Shanxi Bronze
Museum opens door to
ancient China
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