Zhengzhou, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Located in the area of Xiaotun Village in Anyang, Henan Province, at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, it is the location of the Yinxu ruins. More than 3,300 years ago, the Shang Dynasty built the capital here, with the fall of the Shang Dynasty, the Shang capital gradually abandoned, turned into ruins and was submerged underground, known as Yin Ruins in history.
Yinxu goes west for more than 20 kilometers, that is, the mountains are undulating, the low hills stretching out from the front of the foothills, like the arms stretched out by the Taihang Mountain, forming a kei shaped basin, Yinxu is located at the exit of the basin, facing the boundless North Henan Plain. Yinxu is also nestled in the Huan River, a small river system in northern China.
As the first capital site of the late Shang Dynasty in Chinese history that can be examined and confirmed by archaeological excavations, Yinxu is also the ancient capital site with the longest archaeological excavation time, the largest number of times and the largest area in China.
Standing on the bank of the Huan River, looking around, people see a brilliant and magnificent great civilization.
In Yinxu, the prosperous urban civilization, the perfect ritual and music civilization, the world-renowned oracle bone inscription, and the highly developed handicraft industry jointly constructed the brilliant era of early China. In Yinxu, splendid and exquisite bronze vessels, a variety of luxurious jade carvings, and beautifully decorated carriages are the vivid interpretation of the Yin Shang civilization more than 3,300 years ago.
The new Yinxu Museum. Xinhua News Agency.
Walking into the new hall of Yinxu Museum, the high wall facing you is engraved with nine big characters of "Gou Rixin, Ri Ri Xin, and Ri Xin", which comes from the proverb on the inscription of the Tang Pan, the founding monarch of the Shang Dynasty, showing visitors the innovative attitude of a nation from ancient times to the present.
Tang, i.e., soup, was the founding monarch of the Shang Dynasty, and the inscription is a proverb engraved on the vessel to alert himself. This sentence is a motto engraved on the bathtub by Shang Tang, which means that if you can get rid of the old and update it every day, you must persevere, and always remind yourself to reflect and innovate in time. Li Xiaoyang, director of the Anyang Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, said that the ancients bathed in virtue and morality, which is an innovative attitude.
The Shang Dynasty was a highly innovative dynasty, and it was precisely because of the continuous innovation and inclusiveness of the Yin merchants that the Yin Ruins reached the glorious stage of the early civilization of the Chinese nation. He Yuling, deputy director of the Anyang workstation of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
The innovative and eclectic mix of Yin merchants is also increasingly confirmed by archaeology. In the museum, a large number of bronzes unearthed in Yinxu are displayed in a concentrated manner, and all kinds of utensils are exquisitely made and decorated, representing the level of the heyday of China's Bronze Age.
In the great Shang Civilization Exhibition Hall, a four-legged and two-eared Simu Xin Ding is particularly eye-catching. This is the largest bronze in the collection of Yinxu Museum, and the inscription "Simu Xin" is engraved on the inner wall of the tripod, which is the son of the queen of the Shang Dynasty to commemorate her.
Simu Xinding unearthed from the Yinxu site. Xinhua News Agency.
Yin merchants inherited the Xia people's technology in bronze casting, and carried forward the block model method through innovation and improvement, making the mold clamping technology more complex, the casting ware more rich and diverse, and the cast bronze body size more huge. In addition, in the bronze ornamentation, the creation of dragon pattern, bird pattern and other ornaments, and the first ground pattern, three-dimensional animal head, multi-layer ornamentation and other expressions, together formed a prosperous bronze ornament, forming the heyday of the bronze civilization. Zhao Qingrong, executive deputy director of the Yinxu Museum, said.
In the special exhibition hall of the relics of carriages and horses, 23 carriages are lined up in turn, which is the earliest carriage unearthed in China, through more than 3,000 years of time, you can get a glimpse of the magnificent scene of the chariot and horse Xiao Xiao.
According to He Yuling, according to the oracle bone inscriptions and existing archaeological excavations, the late Yin Shang carriage has been widely used in transportation, military and sacrificial activities, and the popularity of the carriage in the late Shang Dynasty cannot be sudden, it must be after a long period of technology accumulation.
Horse-drawn carriage is an important means of transportation and transportation in the ancient civilization of the world, businessmen learned the technology of horse-drawn carriage manufacturing, and adapted measures to local conditions, exerted the spirit of innovation, carried it forward, used for travel, war, greatly improved the productivity and military combat effectiveness. He Yuling said that the carriage unearthed in Yinxu has used a lot of bronze components, and the structure is exquisite and complex, which fully shows the machinery and bronze casting technology at that time.
Oracle bone inscriptions unearthed at the Yinxu site. Xinhua News Agency.
Yin merchants also created a mature writing system, which was engraved on oracle bones, cast on bronze objects, and written on jade objects, which have been passed down to this day. Zhao Qingrong said. In "Who is the Son - Special Exhibition of Oracle Bones in Zhuangdongdi of Yinxu Garden", many oracle bone inscriptions on display for the first time allow people to see the daily life of a little prince of the Shang Dynasty.
It can be clearly seen from the records of oracle bone divination that Yin merchants could also record solar eclipses, lunar eclipses and astrological phenomena, and formed early astronomical observations, celestial observations and calendar calculations to guide life and production.
It was this continuous power of innovation that enabled the Shang Dynasty to eventually develop into a great merchant in Banggi. Zhao Qingrong said that the innovative spirit and rich practice in the Yin Shang culture are the spiritual source of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, which is to reform the old and make the new, keep pace with the times, and be proactive.
*:Xinhua.