Bronze C-shaped man in Sanxingdui Pit No. 2
Historians were fooled by Qin Shihuang
At that time, I met Zeng Nian, a photographer living in France. The American "National Geographic" film introduced the Sanxingdui culture of Sichuan. I led him to see the Sanxingdui ancient jade hidden in a shabby house. During the chat, he mentioned "China's...", and Zeng quickly corrected the problem. The term "China" was very late in history. He was right about that.
"Book of Rites· Doctrine of the Mean" "overflows all over China", "Book of Han" "rules the world and governs China"... both refer to the Yellow River Basin in the Central Plains. At that time, one clan and one state, called Fang State, was the main form of social organization from the early Zhou Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, and gradually disappeared and became unified. This should be the first paragraph in Liang Rengong's "China Syllogism" - that is, "China of China", then China of Asia, and finally China of the world.
The so-called "China of China" refers to China during the exchange period between China and barbarians. Mr. Su Bingqi once criticized two strange circles in history education. The first strange circle is the "view of the great unity of China", which means that the history of the Han nationality is regarded as official history, and the history of minority areas is brushed aside. Therefore, in the pre-Qin period, Bashu had not yet entered China, and there were some problems, because in the past, "if you entered the barbarians, you would be barbarians, and if you entered Xia, you would be summer". There was no difference in the ethnic groups and the governance of Fang states in Sichuan, and the six barbarians, seven Qiang, and Jiu Di, There are many ethnic groups, they mix and multiply, so complexity becomes an important feature. The folk Sanxingdui jade artifacts, while more advantageous in solving the mystery of the Three Generations, seriously conflict with tradition, which also illustrates this point! No wonder Li Ji once made the famous conclusion: "For two thousand years, Chinese historians have been fooled by Qin Shihuang, thinking that Chinese culture and nation are things south of the Great Wall" ("The Beginning of Chinese Civilization"). Looking from the northwest, it is certainly wrong to give the entire area outside the Great Wall to the "foreigners". But if we turn around and look to the southwest, the idea of ??giving the "barbarians" to the "Chinese" is also "reckless destruction." .
Bronze Sui Gong Yu
Han and Yi scholars identify very different characters
Up to the 1930s, it was generally believed that the official artifacts of the Sanxingdui culture had no characters. However, when Yi scholars go to the museum, they can recognize many ancient Di Yi characters. Not only words, but also utensils, totems, symbols, and statues, the interpretations of Han and Yi scholars are very different. Even Han scholars could not identify the public characters, but this was solved by Yi scholar Ayu Tieri, who had deciphered many folk jade inscriptions. Interestingly, there is a research group at the Language Research Center of Peking University that is constructing the form of the ancient Tibeto-Burman language, and the bridges are in the ancient Yi language, while Yi scholars are constructing the Sanxingdui culture, and the bridges are also in the ancient Yi language, and the Sanxingdui jade inscriptions cannot be avoided. However, jade artifacts with pictures and texts have been circulating among the people for ten years. Therefore, the "Sanxingdui Jade Culture Seminar" in Xiamen was held not long ago. It was initiated by enthusiastic private sponsors and was attended by scholars from universities at home and abroad. I wanted to see if it could Find new avenues for research. Afterwards, some media outlets "dumbed down" her, causing an uproar and she suffered from "cultural" sensitivity!
Bronze Sui Gongyu Inscription
The "culture" here involves the most profound content. In my opinion, it is the jade inscription. Most of what is revealed to the world is in the public eye, which means there is no "hole". Although there are people who are eager to try it, they can only stay away. It is strange to say that the famous C-shaped dragon of Hongshan Culture, the bronzes of Ji Yugong of Poly Group and other important national artifacts have no flaws, but they can still be regarded as elegant. However, Sanxingdui among the people is outraged by using words to talk about things. I guess it is the background. They are different, but they take advantage of those who are good at fame. Of course they are weak. But the more than two thousand different texts found among the people - certainly do not show signs of weakness. Discerning experts believe that these jade inscriptions should be the largest ancient writing system discovered after the oracle bone inscriptions. Ayu Tieri, a scholar of the Yi ethnic group, even argued that "the Yi characters and Chinese characters become more homologous as they become older."
"The Monument of King Yu"
Is there any writing before the oracle bone inscriptions
The unearthed jade in Sanxingdui can be traced back to Yan Daocheng in 1927. Everyone knows the story.
In fact, the real story tellers are not the Yan family, but those who focus on jade and stone artifacts and pay attention to the five thousand years of Chinese civilization history, including many foreigners, such as Sang Zhihua, De Charjin, Andersson, etc. The most important thing was Li Ji's excavations in Anyang and Erlitou, which made the oracle bone inscriptions the final fact and shut up Zhang Taiyan. Li Ji believes that oracle bone writing is by no means primitive, and there is undoubtedly a long period of historical development before it.
Tadpole Wenlong Seal
The excavation of Sanxingdui began to be very folk-oriented. In the 1930s, people including Pastor Dong Yidu, soldier Tao Zongbo, the antiquated Magistrate Luo, and an American professor from West China University Geologist Dai Qianhe, followed by American professor Ge Weihan, director of the BGI Museum, and Lin Mingjun, deputy director. Through the latter, Guo Moruo, who was far away in Japan, also learned about the matter and replied to the famous letter. The most important point in the letter is to emphasize the importance of exploring Sichuan's prehistoric culture and the cultural contact with surrounding areas. It also mentions that the oracle bone inscriptions have the name "Shu". Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a prophecy. Until now, most people who talk about Sanxingdui cannot escape this old nest, which is inconsistent with the glory of the artifacts.
Tadpole Wenlong Seal Rubbing (the text has not been deciphered)
In the author’s humble opinion, there are two reasons that hinder health research: one is related to ideas, the other is related to utensils, and the two are in conflict with each other. , which leads to an even worse cycle, and you can’t stop.
The so-called concept is the "View of the Great Unification of China" or the "Central Plains Cultural Prerequisite Theory." Many people like to use "The Anthology of the King of Shu" to prove this point: "The vertebrae are tied up with a bun on the left side, and the person knows no writing and no rituals and music." However, as far as the author has seen from south to north, the folk statues of playing the five-stringed qin, practicing clan rituals, and drumming and dancing are enough to dispel the theory that "there is no ritual and music". Yang Xiong said that he "didn't know writing" because of the age gap. Needless to say, Confucius, who was closer to Xia, also lamented the lack of information about Xia. It can be seen from this that the documents required for demonstration are important, including classics and artifacts.
The Jade Sculpture of the Divine Turtle Bearing Luoshu
The Shang and Zhou Dynasties were recognized by the West because they had oracle bone inscriptions, but the Xia Dynasty had to work hard because no writing was found. For this reason, Yiguo devoted all its efforts to Erlitou, Yanshi. However, except for hypotheses such as "the boundary between Xia and Shang" and "Xibo", no writing before the oracle bone inscriptions has been discovered so far. But if Xia cannot prove it, "Yi" will still be forgotten by "Hua". It is a pity that these concerns, due to the convenience of artifacts, quietly started among the people. Thinking about the embarrassing situation at the time when the oracle bone inscriptions were discovered, no one can be relieved.
The world’s earliest golden staff
The key to the mystery of Sanxingdui lies in text and illustration
From the Yan family to the present, folk collection can be divided into two stages: Part 1 The period from the 1920s to the 1990s is a period. There are 400 pieces unearthed from the Yan family, most of which are among the people, probably in other places and abroad. Chen Lifu, an important figure in the Republic of China, received a divine mask in Chongqing at that time, which was one of them. The Art Museum of Chicago has a binding figurine in its collection. There are three Sanxingdui jades in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, which were probably lost later. Including Japan, Singapore and Southeast Asian countries.
I am afraid I am wrong when I say that no words were found. The local cultural management office has collected bronzes with inscriptions. There is an "H" symbol on the forehead of the bronze C-shaped human head in Pit No. 2. According to research, it is a variation of the surname "Feng", which is also the character of the person who inscribed the title in "Yao's Teachings and Carvings of Shuyue" mentioned in ancient books. "Carving title" refers to the person who has words carved on his forehead. Wang Jiayou compiled more than 150 kinds of pictorial characters on cultural relics from the Warring States Period to the Western Han Dynasty, which were later called "Bashu Picture Language", but they are not in the same style as the jade characters I saw.
In addition to Wang Jiayou and Wei Juxian, those who studied Bashu characters include Meng Wentong, Li Xueqin, Li Fuhua, Tong Enzheng and Qian Yuzhi. Wang Jiayou and Li Fuhua wrote an article that the Bashu symbols have the function of conveying words through pictures, and proposed that the Bashu square characters are related to the Xia and are the culture of the Xiling clan, the ancestors of the Xia people. Qian wrote the paper "Pinyin script existed in ancient Shu" and believed that Bashu symbols are actually pinyin script and are related to ancient Yi script.
In the 1990s, the ban on cultural relics was lifted, and Sanxingdui jade artifacts continued to flow into the society, thus entering the second stage. Initially there were several collectors in Guanghan. Later, Zhang Siyong in Chengdu became the largest. Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong have more collections from other places. There are about thirty people in Chengdu and Chongqing. The first thing that drew attention to the jade inscriptions was the unpublished "Selected Collection of Jade Inscriptions from Ancient Shu" co-authored by Zhang Siyong and Liang, which showed that the people had a clear understanding that the key to solving the mystery of Sanxingdui culture lies in text and picture recognition. . The lack of official research artifacts is precisely the result of many people being stubborn, ignoring the efforts of the public, and denigrating private collections.
Sanxingdui Ancient Cultural Site
The Mysterious Dragon Seal of the Xia Dynasty
Slavoj ?i?ek talked about an interesting thing in "The Plague of Fantasy" Phenomenon, in daily life, in fact, there are many external manifestations that directly turn ideology (in a broad sense) into materiality, but we turn a blind eye and are still gloating about what we think is a "sudden discovery". In fact, the truth Already there. For example, Michael Jackson's immoral behavior (referring to pedophilia) was not exposed after the incident, but was already revealed in the two albums "Thriller" and "Awesome". "The subconscious is on the outside, not hidden in some unfathomable abyss. To quote a famous quote from the movie "The X-Files": The truth is out there." ("The Plague of Fantasy").
With sociological descriptions, we might as well say that the truth about the Xia Dynasty writings may have been there for a long time.
Oracle bone script is a very mature writing, and it must have undergone a long evolution before it. From the original characters at the Jiahu site in Wuyang, Henan, to the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there are as many as five thousand years. This point is not controversial. The main focus of the debate is, did Xia have writing? Yes, what form is it? And to what extent? Guo Moruo and Xu Zhongshu were skeptical, or thought there was no such thing. Tang Lan believes that there is, because according to the detailed records of the lineage, years, and historical events of the Xia and Shang dynasties in the Bamboo Chronicles, Historical Records, and Shangshu Yu Gong, Xia should be among the trusted historians, and Confucius believed in Yao. The descriptions of , Shun and Yu are not false. "Shangshu·Duoshi": "The ancestors of Yin had canons and books; Yin revolutionized Xia's orders." It shows that the Xia Dynasty before Yin was recorded in canons, and although it was successively evolved, it was closely related. What's more, the bronze Sui Gong Cup in the Poly Art Museum is an artifact that dates back nearly 3,000 years. Its 99 inscriptions record Xia Yu's great achievements in flood control earlier than the "Shang Shu" written hundreds of years later. Yu Zhen, Xia is Zhen, without Xia, there is no beauty, this is not an exaggeration. The Xia Dynasty lasted fourteen generations and seventeen kings, which shows that in its prosperous age, it was impossible not to have writing, and it was even quite mature. Therefore, there was a prototype before it, which involved Cangjie; and before that, Fuxi established the way of humanity and created the book deed ( Including wooden boards and jade boards, each side of the book is called a contract, so as to test each other), draw eight trigrams, use knotted ropes to govern, regulate the sky as a map, take laws from the ground, and use turtle divination to make changes... This is not a trace of the evolution of writing. What is it? The "Cangjie Script", "Xia Yu Script" and "Jiangsi Script" left by later generations are also widely circulated and becoming increasingly popular because they can bring people closer to the truth of the Xia Dynasty writing.
In particular, the "壣嵝 stele" (also called the Yu Wang stele) deserves the most attention, not because of its legendary nature, but because it has been deciphered by many people since it was interpreted by Yang Shen and others in the Ming Dynasty, which is very time-consuming. Several years, up to ten years, the interpretation and interpretation are different, but the mainstream view is that it records Yu the Great's flood control, which is the same as the view of Zhang Yi, a man of the Three Kingdoms Wei Dynasty, and Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is similar in content to Suigong Yu, but it is earlier. , there is nothing wrong with boldly confirming that it is from the Xia Dynasty. There are two points to support this view: First, the font of the inscription on the Gongji inscription is "tadpole inscription". Concerning this style of writing, Kong Anguo has the most direct description in the preface to "Shangshu", a compilation of Sikuquanshu, the imperial decree. The truth is there, and it must be read:
"...and the Qin Shihuang's destruction of the ancient classics , Burning books and trapping Confucian scholars, the world's scholars fled and dispersed. My ancestors hid their family letters on the wall of the house. The Han Dynasty Longxing opened a school and sought elegance to explain Dayou. He was over ninety years old and lost. The scriptures were passed down orally, and were divided into more than 20 chapters. They were called Shangshu. When he lived in Guangzhou, he found ancient texts collected by his ancestors in the wall, including the books of Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou, and the Analects of Filial Piety, all written in tadpole writing. The king was promoted to the Confucius Hall and heard the sound of gold, stone, silk and bamboo. "The Tadpole Book has been abandoned for a long time, and people at that time were incapable of knowing it. Based on what they heard about Fu Sheng's book, they studied its meaning and determined what can be known..."
At this point, if you listen to someone's interpretation of the Tadpole Book now, it is The official writing of the Xia Dynasty is called Xia Zhuan. It is not surprising to say that it is the same for the time being. I just lament that the Nanyue Guanji Monument has been forgotten and has been copied all over the world. It can be regarded as a kind of memory for the ancestors at the end of the road. There is also a tadpole-shaped stele of King Yu in Qiangyu Cave in the west of Beichuan in Sichuan. Its origin is unknown. There were inspection pictures before the earthquake. Only about twenty characters were left in it. It is not known whether it has been destroyed or not. Although we know that Tadpole is a calligraphy style of Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, we have no way of examining its origin.
Luckily, the east is not bright and the west is bright. Among the Sanxingdui jade artifacts collected by the people, there is a seal, 50 cm high, with a long handle like a dragon climbing column, which seems to represent a tall and independent person. posture. The dragon's head is the head, and the head is the only one, who knows everything about the beginning. The founder of Chinese culture was the one who died for the sake of the country without working for the world. Among the emperors of heaven, earth, and human beings, only Dayu met this standard. The late Mr. Ding Shan, a master of mythology, authored "A Study of Yu Ping's Water and Earth Skills". He speculated on its meaning. Since we compare the Babylonian flood myth, Hebrew Noah's Ark, and Indian divine fish to teach people to avoid floods, China should also use the flood legend to teach people to avoid floods. It is the starting point of national history. When there is a disaster, there is a leader to deal with it, and it is none other than Yu Gong. Among the ancient records, “all are traces of Yu”, whether it is the Book of Songs or the inscriptions of Ding and Yi, “from the early Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the credible historical materials that have been circulated for hundreds of years are all about Yu’s water and soil. Traces" ("Ancient Myths and Nations"). What was said earlier can be proved by Sui Gongyu. Of course, the most important thing is that the spread of the story of Dayu "does not begin with the Zhou Dynasty, but should be dated before the Yin and Shang Dynasties", and should be regarded as the Xia Dynasty.
But what does this have to do with the Sanxingdui Dragon Seal? - Ding started with the oracle bone inscriptions and examined the word "Yu", which belongs to the dragon and snake, and is the symbol of the rain master. That’s it.” Because "Yinglong is Julong, Julong is Jiulong (evolved as Yu dominating the nine states), Jiulong is the nine-headed snake, and the nine-headed snake is Yu. In terms of the original meaning of the word, Yu is indeed like a dragon and a snake." Yu is Si's surname, and Si's seal script resembles "a snake's body is ringing around itself". This symbol often appears in Sanxingdui jade inscriptions, and can correspond to ancient Yi script. Obviously, the snake is the national totem of the Xiahou clan, and it is no accident that the dragon and snake are the main totem symbols in the Sanxingdui jade statues. Wen Yiduo and Tong Shuye have long researched and concluded that "Du Yu", the king of Shu, is "She Yu" (see Sun Zuoyun's "Chi You Kao, Research on the Snake Clan System in Ancient China·New Exploration of Xia History"), and "Bie Ling" is "Gun" , if this is true, then Shu is Xia, and the Sanxingdui writing system we see today is also Xia writing. No wonder Sanxingdui confuses so many experts who are not big fans of books.
More and more attention has been drawn to the similarities between Erlitou and Sanxingdui - for example, according to carbon 14 determination, it is in line with the Xia Dynasty's first recommendation for the two; the artifacts are similar, including Yazhang, bronze medals, Tao Dou and Tao Zhi; some of the characters and symbols are similar and are earlier than Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which leads to another topic - if these characters can be interpreted in ancient Yi script, what is the relationship between Yi and Xia? Can you listen to this explanation: the Yi people were the rulers of the Xia Dynasty, and the ancient Yi script was the official text of the Xia Dynasty. After the Yin Dynasty abolished the Xia Dynasty, the Yi people (who?) moved to the Nanyi Highlands, leaving behind the glorious Sanxingdui?
Can this hypothetical decline explain the continuity and integrity of the Sanxingdui culture during the "Li Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties"? For example, can conventional words disappear without a trace like people? ——Because, so far, there is no news that the same characters as the Sanxingdui jade inscriptions have been found in Erlitou and the surrounding Xia Dynasty archaeological core area. Where is this "Xia-Yi" discourse circle? The Sanxingdui writing is self-contained. Regardless of the quantity and the diversity of writing methods, it is unique before and after the oracle bone inscriptions, and even after the Xia and pre-Xia. Otherwise, how can we explain the extra seven hundred years? The tadpole essay might be a clue.
So, this Sanxingdui Dragon Seal is extraordinary. Its commemorative nature is very obvious, like a sculpture, not like a seal. The base is square and convex, with four characters on the bottom. Compared with the inscription on the "壣嵝" published in "Yishi", the strokes are thick at the beginning and thin at the end, with twists and turns, all of which are standard tadpole inscriptions. On both sides of the column and on all four sides of the base, there are calligraphy styles that are completely different from the tadpole script. This also shows the mixed nature of the writing rumors of the Xia Dynasty. Judging from the degree of albinoness, the possibility is quite high that it belongs to the Xia Dynasty. It is the earliest seal that our country has made public to the world. It is not an exaggeration to say that the first seal of the Xia Dynasty is of great significance. This unique national treasure dragon seal jade seal, like a jade candle, provides a ray of light for the exploration of Xia's text and its background, allowing us to follow it and return to the issue of jade text in Sanxingdui.
Since there are tadpole inscriptions on Sanxingdui jade, but not in Erlitou, Longshan, Hongshan, Qijia, or Liangzhu, there is no need to avoid suspicion of Yan Xia. The dividing line between China and China is not Huayi, but the Fuxi and Yanhuang writing systems of the northern writing system, and the more mature and active southern writing system—actually the Gun Yuxia queen of the northern writing system, which is what Sun Zuoyun calls the "dragon-tiger struggle." ——In fact, it is a battle between the bear totem in the north and the snake totem in the south. The blood relationship is superimposed with writing, and the Dongyi who have no writing are also involved (the Liangzhu Cong at the Jinsha site and the large number of Liangzhu culture jades in the northwest illustrate this) , so there is a mixture of speeds. In the Sanxingdui jade statues, it is not difficult for us to understand the sociological significance of a large number of mixed totems of dragons, snakes and birds, and the iconic textual event is "Hetu ordered the cook, Luo Shu bestowed Yu". And this is precisely confirmed by another bottle sculpture collected by the people.
This bottle sculpture is of a crowned god, standing on a platform with bare legs and holding a scroll in both hands - which is the anthropomorphic representation of the divine turtle carrying Luoshu. Because, on the back of the statue, there is an image of a turtle engraved on it. The most direct explanation is the symmetrical large fish patterns on both sides of the platform base, which confirms the description of Xia Gun in "Shi Yi Ji": Gun failed to control the water, "from sinking into Yuyuan, he turned into a black fish and crossed the waves. , those who see it call it 'River Spirit'". The divine turtle was the messenger of the river spirit and presented Yu with the Luo Book containing the secrets of water control. The language legend is solidified into a perfect sculpture in three-dimensional space. It is people-oriented. This has not been found in Hongshan Culture, Qijia Culture, and Liangzhu Culture. It is extremely precious and is therefore a masterpiece of Oriental jade culture. The reason why this sculpture can be regarded as a typical sculpture is that it expresses for the first time the melancholy spirit of the "failed hero" of a patriarchal society. This spirit has been mixed and transformed over thousands of years (just like the myth of the dragon itself), spanning north and south, and must penetrate into other provinces. The centrifugal force of the tribe. In the Xuanyuan era of the Yellow Emperor, the dragon and horse emerged from the river, and in the era of Gun and Yu, the tortoise carried the book of Luo, so "the sage followed it", and the essence of it is here. Therefore, through it, in addition to understanding the story, we should also see clearly the narrative nature of the tragedy behind the sculpture - that is another possibility inferred by bold historians: Gun and Yu's Xia clan, that is, snakes The Totem tribe first occupied the Central Plains (this point is hard to agree with), and after the country was overthrown (Chi You was killed) was punished with hard labor. Through water control, they mixed the three Miao, Jiuli, snake, bird, pig, and turtle tribes, and finally became strong again. The Sanxingdui jade culture is the world picture projected on this background, and its words will also slowly tell the true meaning of the origins and evolution of Chinese local art. However, all of this has been confused by latecomers, or in other words, Forgotten.
"The Mystery of Sanxingdui" - "Bashu Pictures and Texts", in addition to seven puzzling "ancient text" books: "Cangjie Book", "Tadpole Book", "Xia Yu Book", "Red Book" "Yelang Tianshu", "Yelang Tianshu", "Dongba Scripts" and "Xunji Stele".