Ding (vessel)

Ding
A ding from the late Shang dynasty
Chinese	鼎
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin dǐng Wade–Giles ting3 IPA [tìŋ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization díng Jyutping ding2 IPA [tɪŋ˧˥] Southern Min Hokkien POJ tiáⁿ (col.) téng (lit.) Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *tˤengʔ Zhengzhang *kleːŋʔ

Ding (Chinese: 鼎; pinyin: dǐng) are prehistoric and ancient Chinese cauldrons standing upon legs with a lid and two fancy facing handles. They are one of the most important shapes used in Chinese ritual bronzes. They were made in two shapes: round vessels with three legs and rectangular ones with four, the latter often called fāng dǐng (Chinese: 方鼎; lit. 'square ding'). They were used for cooking, storage, and ritual offerings to the gods or to ancestors.

The earliest recovered examples are pre-Shang ceramic ding at the Erlitou site,^[1] but they are better known from the Chinese Bronze Age, particularly after the Zhou deemphasized the ritual use of huangjiu alcohol practiced by the Shang kings.^[2] Under the Zhou, the ding and the privilege to perform the associated rituals became symbols of authority.^[3] The number of permitted ding varied according to one's rank in the Chinese nobility: the Nine Ding of the Zhou kings were a symbol of their rule over all China but were lost by the first emperor, Shi Huangdi in the late 3rd century BCE.^[4] Subsequently, imperial authority was represented by the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, carved out of the sacred Heshibi; it was lost at some point during the Five Dynasties after the collapse of the Tang.