Inscriptions on Bronze Objects

Another type of early Chinese script in its long history of development is represented by the inscriptions cast or carved on ancient bronze objects of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It is called Jinwen (literally, script on metal) and, as ancient bronzes are generally referred to as zhongding (bells and tripods), it is also called zhongdingwen.

The ding, originally a big cooking pot with three (rarely four) legs, became a ritual object and a sign of power, and the owning of such tripods, as well as their sizes and numbers, was a status symbol of the Shang slave-owning aristocrats. At the beginning only the names of the owners were cast or engraved on the tripods. Later the tripods (and other bronzes) began to carry longer inscriptions stating the uses they were put to and the dates they were cast. Towards the end of the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), the ducal states of Zheng and Jin had their statutes promulgated and cast on tripods.

Thus the inscriptions on the bronzes grew longer, from a few characters to a few hundred, from simple phrases to detailed accounts.

Many bronze objects bearing inscriptions have been unearthed in China and can be seen in a large number of museums

A priceless tripod is the Dayuding (Large Tripod Bestowed upon Yu) dating from the early Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century to 256 B.C.), now kept at the Museum of Chinese History in Beijing. About one metre high and weighing 153.5 kilograms, it has on its interior wall on inscription of 291 characters in 19 lines, by which King Kang summed up the experience in founding a new nation and drew lessons from the failure of the preceding Shang Dynasty. The inscription also mentions that the King awarded his aristocrat follower Yu 1,722 slaves of various grades and large numbers of carriages and horses.

Another important bronze called Maogongding, now kept in TaiwanProvince, belongs to the late Western Zhou. It bears an inscription of 497 characters, the longest ever discovered on any bronze hitherto unearthed. It is an account of how King Xuan admonished, commended and awarded Maogong Yin; it also reveals the instability of the Western Zhou regime at the time.

Both tripods furnish rare and valuable information to throw light on the slave society under the Western Zhou.

The ancient bronzes reflect not only the high level that Chinese metallurgy attained in their time. The inscriptions they bear may well be regarded as “books in bronze” which fill important gaps left by the scanty written history of that remote age.