Why are the "Ten Wonders" unearthed in Shaanxi called national treasures?

10 More than 300 years ago, a boulder of10 was unearthed in Chencang Mountain (now Shigu Mountain, Baoji City) in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province. It is puzzling that there are a lot of mysterious words on each boulder, and the brushwork is strange, so no one can read it. As a result, rumors are everywhere, and strange stories are frequent. Some villagers even rushed to burn incense and bow down, which was a godsend. In the first year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 627), an old shepherd discovered 10 strange granite in Beiban, Chencang Mountain (now Shigushan in Baoji City) in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province. Each one is a round square, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, about 3 feet high and slightly convex in the middle, which looks strange. Because it was shaped like a drum and was found in Chencang Mountain, people called these 10 stones "Chencang Stone Drum" at that time.

Although the words on Chen Cang's stone drum are a chapter of their own, they are related to some extent. The stories of hunting and sacrificial activities in Qin Dynasty are carved in the form of four-character poems, which are intended to "carve stones to show achievements" and "spread things far away". According to the content of this poem, these ten-sided stone drums were named Yu Ling Drum, Luanche Drum, Crown Crane Drum, Mianmian Drum, Chegong Drum, Five-person Drum, Dancing Water Drum, Ma Jian Drum, Shifu Drum and Zuoyuan Drum respectively.

In A.D. 1234, Mongolian allied forces attacked Yanjing (present-day Beijing) in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Wang Zhen, an imperial historian who came with the army, happened to find the 10 stone drum hidden in the ruins. Guiwang was born in Guo County, Shaanxi Province (now chencang district, Baoji City), and has the same roots as Shigu. Knowing its great significance, he kept it in the Confucius Temple and asked someone to take care of it.

Since the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shigu has never left Beijing. Kang Youwei praised it as "like a golden hill, like a cloud of grass, leaving me alone, with its own treasures", and proudly declared that these 10 boulders were "the first antique in China"!

The fate of Shigu's drift from place to place has always been closely related to the sufferings experienced by the Chinese nation. Its broken history and unsolved mysteries make it more unique and precious in the ups and downs of historical tide.