Discovering, Collecting and Studying of Bronze Ware

As the social system drastically changed after the Warring States Period, bronze ware manufacturing stopped. In the Western Han Dynasty, people couldn’t identify the bronze ware names mentioned in documents that recorded the daily life and rites of the past, such as The Zhou Rituals, The Rituals, and the Book of Rites.

Imperial courts of all dynasties collected bronze ware. The discovery of ancient bronze ware was considered as a lucky case in some places and the court changed the name of the year. In the summer of 116 BC,a bronze Ding was unearthed in Fenshui, so the Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty added the character Ding to the name of the year. Some rulers destroyed all bronze ware collected in the courts, because they took the odd models and patterns of the bronze ware as evil symbols.

The Song and the early period of the Qing dynasties are two periods when collecting and studying bronze ware were most popular. In the 20th century, archeological excavations and systematic research were carried out on ancient bronze ware relic.

hancheng

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