Tomb of the Crown Prince of Guo State, Tomb M1052 of Guo State Graveyard
In the winter of 1956, led by Mr. Xia Nai and Mr. An Zhimin, the Yellow River Reservoir Archaeological Team conducted archaeological investigation and excavation at and around Shangcunling near Sanmenxia Reservoir. A total of 234 tombs, 3 chariot and horse pits and 1 horse pit were excavated.
M1052 was the first tomb they unearthed and the largest in scale. More than 970 burial objects were discovered. Of them 26 are bronze ritual objects, including food, wine and water containers/vessels, which form relatively complete sets. There are, in particular, two bronze dagger-axes, on which the inscription, “The dagger-axe of Yuantu, the Crown Prince of Guo”, can be discovered (Fig. 13 and Fig. 14). Based on this finding the tomb occupant has been determined as a crown prince of Guo State.
Fig. 13 Dagger-axe of Yuantu, Crown Prince of Guo
Fig. 14 Inscription of the dagger-axe of Yuantu, Crown Prince of Guo
The Guo State Graveyard was a public cemetery for the entire clan. Nobles’ tombs were arrayed from north to south according to the status. By his status, the crown prince of Guo State should have been buried in the core section of the cemetery. But as a matter of fact, he was buried at one corner. According to Burial, Chun Guan, the Rites of Zhou, “Those killed in war shall not be buried in the mausoleum region.” As speculated, the crown prince of Guo State might have been the commander of a force of Guo State and was killed in combat. According to the rites of Zhou, he could not be buried in the core area, but at one corner of the graveyard.
The yang-sui with tigers and birds unearthed at the Guo State Graveyard bears on its back the conspicuous image of two ferocious tigers. In the Chinese character for Guo there is a hu radical (“tiger”). So some scholars believe that the tiger had been the totem of Guo State. Do you think so?
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The yang-sui was derived from the casting of bronze mirror and can be said to have been a twin brother of the mirror. The earliest yang-sui so far discovered was made in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. A large number of yang-sui made in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods have been unearthed. After the Han Dynasty, the production of yang-sui gradually decreased. The Tang and Song dynasties also saw the invention of handled yang-sui, as well as the yang-sui mirror which combined the yang-sui and the bronze mirror. Because of it special use, the yang-sui was rarely used as a burial object. Hence a small number have been unearthed. Earlier, they were mistaken for concave vessels, vessel lids or bronze mirrors. In the 1990s, as people improved their knowledge and understanding, this type of implement started to be generally referred to as yang-sui.
In 1975, two yang-sui were unearthed from the Western Zhou Graveyard at Baifu Village, Changping District, Beijing. As dated, they were probably made in the early Western Zhou Dynasty[2].
In April 1995, a yang-sui[3] (Fig. 5) was unearthed at Tomb No. 60, a tomb of the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, at Huangdui, Fufeng, Shaanxi. Now it is in the collection of Zhouyuan Museum in Baoji.
Fig. 5 Yang-sui from Tomb No.60 of Huangdui
In October 1972, a yang-sui (Fig. 6) was unearthed at Liujiagou, Fufeng County, Shaanxi. Built in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, it features double-ring design on the back and a bridge-shaped knob[4].
Fig. 6 Yang-sui of Liujiagou, Fufeng
Two yang-sui were unearthed from the Western Zhou Graveyard at Zhangjiapo, Chang’an County, Shaanxi. They were made in the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty[5].
Yang-sui implements of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods have been found in slightly larger numbers. The areas they have been discovered are wide-ranging. Besides the Central Plains, they have also been found in Northeast China, North China and South China. Three complete sets of yang-sui moulds and broken yang-sui pieces were unearthed at the smelting plant of the site of the capital of Jin State in Houma, Shanxi.
In 1981, a small yang-sui (Fig. 7) [6] was unearthed at Tomb No. 306, a tomb of the Warring States Period in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. It is now in the collection of Shaoxing Museum.
Fig. 7 Yang-sui of Shaoxing, Zhejiang
At the Houshi Mountain Stone-coffin Tomb in the suburb of Jilin City, a yang-sui of the Warring States Period [7] was unearthed in 1979. In April 1990, a yang-sui was unearthed at a stone-slab tomb in Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province[8]. In 1963, eight “lid-shaped implements” were discovered in the stone-coffin tomb at Nanshangen, Ningcheng County, Joo Oda League, Liaoning Province. They are in fact yang-sui made in the Warring States Period[9].
In the collection of Hebei Museum, there is a yang-sui with three chi dragons (Fig. 8) made in the Warring States Period. It is decorated with chi dragons in bas-relief on the back and two circles of “bowstring” design. [10]
Fig. 8 Yang-sui with three chi dragons discovered in Hebei
In the collection of Xintai Museum in Shandong there is a yang-sui (Fig. 9), with a 9-character inscription around the knob base, which writes, “made on the day of Bing Wu in the 5th lunar month of the 4th year of Azure Dragon”. It is decorated with two rings of convex bowstrings around the inscription which are separated by a ring of “saw teeth” [11].
Fig. 9 Yang-sui of Xintai, Shandong
In the collection of Tianjin Museum there is a yang-sui of the Han Dynasty (Fig. 10), decorated with four rings of “bowstrings” on the back and with a 26-character inscription forming two rings[12].
Fig. 10 Yang-sui in the collection of Tianjin Museum
In the collection of Yangzhou Museum and the China Block Printing Museum, there is a yang-sui of the Western Han Dynasty (Fig. 11). It is decorated with a three-ring knob at the centre of the back and with panchi dragons at the inner section, separated by grass-leaf design. The outer section of the back is a plain wide edge. [13]
Fig. 11 Yang-sui of Yangzhou Museum
In the collection of Ezhou Museum there is a yang-sui mirror made during the period of the Three Kingdoms. Whereas the concave side is a yang-sui, the flat side is a mirror. It was a practical utensil. [14]
In March 1986, a yang-sui mirror was unearthed from a Song Dynasty tomb in Huaining, Anhui[15]. Bonze Mirrors Unearthed in Acheng County has records of two Jin Dynasty yang-sui implements. One of them is plain and free of any decoration on both sides, with a bottle-shaped handle. It was unearthed at Ashihe Commune in 1973 (Fig. 12).
Review and comparison has revealed that the evolution of the yang-sui had the following features:
1. Yang-sui implements discovered archaeologically were all unearthed from tombs, whose occupants all held high social status.
2. Earlier yang-sui implements mostly have plain surfaces, with relatively few bearing designs. Those made in and after the Han Dynasty have more patterns; some of them bear inscriptions embodying good wishes for good fortune, happiness and prosperity.
3. Earlier yang-sui implements were mostly unearthed in the north. After the Warring States Period, yang-sui started to be made in the south.
4. Influenced by bronze mirror, earlier yang-sui implements mostly feature a round shape with a knob. Their diameter ranges from 7-11cm. Besides, handled yang-sui implements were also made in the Tang and Song dynasties.
5. Earlier yang-sui had only one function: lighting a fire. The Tang and Song dynasties saw the invention of the yang-sui mirror, with the convex side used as a mirror and the concave mirror for fire lighting. More yang-sui mirrors were made in the Song Dynasty; and they were also used in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. In later times, the yang-sui mirror had evolved into a Taoist instrument, because it gave people a sense of mystery by “borrowing fire from Heaven”.
The use of fire is an important sign of human civilisation. There were four ways for ancient Chinese to make fire: first, with a flint; second, by rubbing firestone against wood; third, with a yang-sui; and fourth, by striking a flint with a steel sickle(huo lian火镰). However, it was the third way that best represents human wisdom. It was an invention by ancient Chinese, which enjoyed great acclaim in the world history of science and technology.
According to some ancient books, the yang-sui is in fact a concave mirror made of bronze. Hence it is also known as jin-sui (lit. “metal flint”), or ri-sui (lit. “sunlight flint”), or fu-sui (lit. “husband flint”). The Chinese character sui (燧), with “fire” (火) as its radical, is pronounced “sui”. Originally it means “implement for lighting a fire in ancient times”. According to Qiu Guan (Office of Autumn)in the Rites of Zhou, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, si-xuan-shi, an official position in charge of the yang-sui, was set up, responsible for “lighting a fire in sunlight”, mainly at religious occasions such as sacrificial ceremonies, to show respect for ancestors and deities, as well as to dispel disasters, invite blessings and ward off evil spirits. Besides, in ancient times, people also had a yang-sui with them when they marched or hunted or in everyday life.
During the Warring States Period, people had grasped the percentage of the materials for the making of the yang-sui. The Kao Gong Ji or Book of Diverse Crafts accurately states that the ratio of copper and tin should be 2:1 when the yang-sui was made. After it was made, it needed to be polished so that its surface became smooth and bright and could reflect light efficiently.
Shen Kuo, a great scientist of the Song Dynasty, developed a clearer and better understanding of the light-focusing function of the yang-sui and the principle for lighting a fire. He points out that the yang-sui is not merely a mirror, but a concave mirror; that when it is exposed to the sun, sunlight will be reflected and focused 1-2 cun off the concave, where fire can be lit (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 How a fire is lit with a yang-sui
Centre
Focal point
China is the first state in the world to use the concave mirror to focus light and start a fire. It was not until the 13th century—more than 2,000 years later than in China—that British philosopher Roger Bacon made the first concave mirror in the West with metal.
The yang-sui was unearthed at M1052, the tomb of the crown prince of Guo State (Fig.1). With a diameter of 7.5cm, the concave mirror features a silver-coloured front and a “high-nose” knob, behind which there are motifs of two tigers following each other’s tail, two two-headed hui dragons and ferocious birds (zhi). The the yang-sui mirror and its realistic images are meticulously crafted and exquisitely cast (Fig. 2). The excavation report claims the discovery of a concave implement, which is in fact a yang-sui, a tool used by ancient Chinese to focus sunlight and build a fire. In the 1990s, the Guo Culture Institute made a replica, which, after some technical treatment such as grinding and polishing, could cause cotton to burn within seconds in sunlight (Fig.3).
Fig. 2 The design on the reverse side of the yang-sui mirror
Fig. 3 Building a fire with the yang-sui
