Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui
Chengdu, August 4th, Xinhua News Agency - Question: Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Ding and Tong Fang
Chinese jade culture has a long history and profound cultural connotations, characterized by the use of jade to connect with the gods, the use of jade to worship the heavens, and the use of jade to compare virtue. As one of the sites with the most unearthed jade artifacts in the country, the beautiful jade in Sanxingdui also contains profound genes of Chinese civilization.
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/25a935a988f6a7163ffeb55f10f92fe2.jpg)
On September 2, 2021, a jade artifact was captured at No. 7 "Sacrificial Pit" at the Sanxingdui archaeological excavation site in Guanghan City, Deyang, Sichuan Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xi
Jade Zhang, Jade Bi, Jade Cong, Jade Ge, Jade Chisel, Jade Axe, Jade Yuan, Jade Knife, Jade Ring, Jade Pearl, Jade Tube... Walking into the new hall of Sanxingdui Museum, the beautiful jade is overwhelming, with a variety of types, huge quantities, diverse forms, and breathtaking beauty.
Zhu Yarong, Deputy Director of the Sanxingdui Museum, told reporters that over 2000 jade artifacts have been unearthed in Sanxingdui. The Sanxingdui people use important sacrificial vessels and intermediaries such as jade zhang, jade spear, jade cong, and jade bi to worship heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers, communicate with the ancestors of gods, and carry the idea of using jade to worship heaven and communicate with the gods.
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/3651a0e6489cca5ddb44bf753594617f.jpg)
This is a jade artifact taken on July 26th at the new building of Sanxingdui Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xi
As early as 1934, Guo Moruo believed after reviewing archaeological excavation materials from Sanxingdui that "Yubi, Yuzhang, and Yugui are all similar to those discovered in North China and Central China. This is evidence that ancient Western Shu had cultural contact with Central China and North China."
The divine tree patterned jade cong exhibited in the new Sanxingdui Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xi
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/f8636192cf215817aee93be0ae6606ce.jpg)
Guo Moruo's initial impression of Sanxingdui has been continuously confirmed in subsequent discoveries and studies. Wang Fang, deputy curator and researcher of Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum, believes that most types of jade wares in Sanxingdui are inherited from other regional cultures in China, and together they form a splendid river of ancient Chinese jade culture. It has typical northwest Qijia culture style. "
The jade artifacts displayed in the new Sanxingdui Museum not only shine with multicultural charm, but also demonstrate the unique creativity of the ancestors of Sanxingdui thousands of years ago based on inheritance and reference. Even these "original works" still contain the cultural connotation of "worshipping the sky with jade" during the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.
This is a bronze turtle shaped grid shaped vessel captured on July 26th at the Sanxingdui Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xi
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/0fdf5071e0caa92c8284140e820a6cb4.jpg)
The bronze turtle shaped grid shaped vessels displayed in the exhibition hall of the new hall are original creations of Sanxingdui people in terms of design and production. The oval shaped turquoise jade is placed in a hollow bronze grid, wrapped with copper straps and decorated with dragon heads at the four corners. The latest research also found that at that time, the surface of this object was still wrapped in silk. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze was referred to as "auspicious gold". Such exquisite "gold inlaid jade" was like a "moonlight treasure box", containing treasures offered by the Sanxingdui people to the gods, expressing their piety towards the gods.
Wang Fang told reporters that most of the jade artifacts from Sanxingdui were unearthed in sacrificial pits. These high-grade and exquisitely crafted jade artifacts are mostly not practical items, but ceremonial tools closely related to important religious and sacrificial activities in the ancient Shu Kingdom. They have the functions of worshipping, worshipping, and communicating with gods, which is consistent with the use of jade artifacts unearthed from other contemporary sites on the land of China.
The three hole jade artifacts exhibited in the new Sanxingdui Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xi
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/4a501f8aead1a65de4003458c1840313.jpg)
"Jade artifacts are very important in Sanxingdui, including those placed in 'bronze boxes' and those placed in Zunhelei. These jade ritual artifacts, along with rare treasures such as gold, bronze, ivory, and silk, are devout offerings, reflecting the people's appreciation for jade in Sanxingdui." Wang Fang said.
This is a jade artifact taken on August 3rd at the new building of Sanxingdui Museum. Shen Jizhong
Professor Sun Hua from the School of Archaeology and Culture at Peking University believes that both Zun and Lei are containers for wine. The Sanxingdui people may believe that the combination of jade and wine fragrance can transmit human thought to the gods and gods. The types, forms, and usage of jade artifacts by the Sanxingdui people are similar to those of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, demonstrating that Chinese civilization is both rich and diverse.
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/6707dbbbe11379f66df984c9e27abbeb.jpg)
This is a jade artifact taken on July 26th at the new building of Sanxingdui Museum. Shen Jizhong
This is a jade square with animal faced phoenix bird patterns taken on July 26th at the new building of Sanxingdui Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xi
This is a photo of Yuzhang taken on July 26th at the new building of Sanxingdui Museum. This is currently the largest jade zhang unearthed from the Sanxingdui site. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tong Fang
![Listening to Cultural Relics and Telling Stories, Decoding Sanxingdui | Sanxingdui Jade Artifacts: The Same "Password" in the River of Splendid Culture | Culture | Sanxingdui](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/c6a506ceaea82daa350b69df9292fda5.jpg)