Riding the wind of rebirth

"There may be two reasons why it was unearthed in Tang County: not far to the west of Dongyao Village in Tang County is a place called Beichengzi. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Beichengzi was a famous and prosperous town. In the 1970s and 1980s, a large number of tombs from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States Period were still preserved near Beichengzi in Tang County, and bronze artifacts including tripods, beans, pots, plates, basins, cauldrons, or combinations of tripods, beans, pots, vases, and gui were often unearthed. There is a road running from east to west nearby. It is the only way for Tang County to enter the frontier of the Taihang Mountains from the west. The terrain is dangerous and the hills are undulating."

"Before the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, most of Tang County belonged to the State of Yan, but Yan mainly controlled the area north of the Tang River. It is possible that the area south of the Tang River often formed a tug-of-war with the State of Jin. Beichengzi happened to be south of the Tang River."

"Therefore, it is possible that this was a major passage that Guifu often passed through when he was on a diplomatic mission. The many exchanges may have allowed Guifu to maintain good personal relationships with the senior officials of Jin and Yan."

"Political allies are often the most threatening enemies. It is conceivable that if the King of Qi had a close relationship with Guifu and was at odds with the Jisun clan who drove Guifu away, Guifu would be safe. However, if a new king came to the throne of Qi or for other political reasons, and Qi and Lu were on good terms, then Lu might demand the extradition of Guifu back to his country for trial."

"Qingfu, the eldest of the three Hengs, once fled to Ju State, but was bribed by the third brother Jiyou, who extradited him back to Lu State and executed him. So under the circumstances at that time, Guifu was very likely to choose another big country with which he had a good relationship to seek refuge, such as Jin State."

"Of course, Jin could take Guifu in, but it also had to take into account its relationship with Lu, so it was unlikely to arrange for Guifu to go deep into Jin's interior. So they arranged him in Beichengzi, Tang County, so that he could occupy the throat of Taihang Mountain in the west and Qi and Lu in the east, so that he could be ready to return to Lu at any time."

"But in the end, Guifu died in a foreign land before he could regain power. After his death, his family buried him and his favorite items, including the bronze, in a cemetery east of the city, south of today's Dongzhao Village."

“This is the history that this bronze vessel carries.”

This is the importance of bronze ware with inscriptions. If there were no more standard inscriptions appearing in the same period, this bronze ware would be enough to become a "dating device" for the Xi, Wen and Xuan dynasties of the State of Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period, and could be accurately dated to around twenty years around 634 BC.

Behind these short eleven words is the brutal clash between the old and new ruling forces in a local vassal state under the turbulent historical and political background of the Spring and Autumn Period. Underneath it is the deep-seated social evolution of that era, the replacement of the old and backward social production methods by the emerging and advanced social production methods.

The appearance of Guifu Dun can be used in another way, in the form of physical evidence, to very accurately calculate the exact time when this change occurred on the land of China. Its importance is certainly not comparable to that of countless bronzes without inscriptions.

"Then how did this bronze artifact end up in Hong Kong Island?"

"This mystery has not been completely solved, but at least we have discovered a general outline." Zhou Zhi took out two printed materials from his bag: "Guifulun was discovered one day in the autumn of 1982. At that time, Yin Zhiguo, a farmer from Dongyao Village, Tang County, Hebei Province, was digging soil in the south of the village to pad the pigpen. Suddenly, the shovel hit something hard and could not dig any further."

"He subconsciously put down the shovel and used his hands to dig at the loose loess. Then, an oblate spherical object with green rust appeared in front of him." "According to the records at the time, Yin Zhiguo said that the object was not big, about 17 or 18 centimeters high and more than 20 centimeters in diameter. The object consisted of a lid and a body. The lid also had a trumpet-shaped handle and two ring ears on the side of the body. There were some strange words like insects inside the lid. There was a metallic sound when it was knocked."

"He felt that he had dug up a treasure, and seeing that there was no one around, he quickly hid the thing on the soil-carrying cart. He quickly ended a busy day and returned home with the treasure he had dug up. After searching for a long time with his family, he still couldn't figure out what the treasure was. After wiping off some of the green rust, he found that the treasure was made of copper. Considering its flat, round shape, similar to that of a frying pan, they named the treasure 'Little Copper Pot'."

"Tang County is located in the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain in the central and western part of Hebei Province. It is half mountainous and half plain. It has a long history. It was the place where Emperor Tang Yao was granted the title of Marquis. The people are simple and honest."

"However, Tang County was still a well-known poor county in the early days of reform and opening up, and the people's lives were very difficult. Farmers like Yin Zhiguo, after digging up treasures from the ground, first thought of selling them for money to improve their family's living conditions. But it seems a bit of a loss to sell such a complete thing as scrap copper and rotten iron. If you want to sell it for a good price, you have to choose the right time, so the treasure temporarily stayed in Yin's family."

"It's been more than a year since then."

"Yin Zhiguo has two daughters. The eldest is Yin Gairu, who married a young man named Mu Wenjie from CZ City. Once, when the couple was shopping, they came to Xiaoshi Street in Cangzhou and saw a government compound with the words 'Cangzhou Regional Administrative Bureau of Culture' written on the door. They had heard that the Cultural Bureau was the country's cultural relics management agency. They thought that the small copper pot that my father dug out from the ground might be an ancient cultural relic, so they discussed it and decided to go back to Tang County to persuade my father to bring the treasure to the experts of the Cultural Bureau for identification. Maybe it is a valuable cultural relic, and if it is suitable, they can sell it for money."

"So on November 1983, 11, Yin Zhiguo used his position as a brigade committee member to issue a letter of certification from the production team at the time, proving that the brigade agreed to the Yin family selling the unearthed small copper pot. Then on November 21, Yin Zhiguo's eldest daughter Yin Gairu and youngest daughter Yin Cairu brought the letter and the small copper pot to the Cultural Bureau of the Cangzhou District Administrative Office."

"After reading the letter of certification, Mr. Wang Minzhi from the Cultural Relics Group of the Cultural Bureau and Ms. Lu Ruifang, who had just graduated from the Archaeology Department of the History Department of Peking University, warmly received them. After preliminary identification, they believed that the unearthed artifacts were cultural relics from the Western Zhou Dynasty of my country, with high historical, artistic and scientific value, and were national precious cultural relics of level 2 or above."

"According to the provisions of my country's Cultural Relics Law, all cultural relics remaining underground, in inland waters and territorial waters within the country belong to the state. Unearthed cultural relics owned by the state cannot be bought or sold. However, if ordinary people accidentally discover unearthed cultural relics in their daily lives and are willing to donate them to the state, the state can give appropriate rewards in accordance with the law."

"So the comrades of the cultural relics group patiently and carefully explained the country's laws and policies to the two sisters. The two sisters also understood the greater good and expressed their willingness to donate the cultural relics to the country in accordance with the country's laws. So the cultural relics stayed in the Cangzhou Cultural Bureau. Wang Minzhi and Lu Ruifang also gave Yin Gairu a receipt in the name of the Cangzhou Cultural Bureau, which read, 'We have received a 'copper pot' (name of the certificate) (mouth diameter 23.3 cm) from Comrade Yin Gairu of Dongjiao Village, Tang County, Baoding.' At the same time, they gave them a bonus of yuan."

"If that's the case, this cultural relic already belongs to your country, and there is an institution that manages it, so how did it get lost?" (End of this chapter)