| He zun | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Material | Bronze |
| Size | 38.8 cm tall, 28.8 cm in diameter |
| Weight | 14.6 kg |
| Created | 1038 BCE – c. 1000 BCE[1] |
| Discovered | 1963 Baoji, Shaanxi, China 34°21′47″N 107°14′17″E / 34.363°N 107.238°E |
The He zun (Chinese: 何尊) is an ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel of the zun shape.[2] It dates from the era of Western Zhou (1046–771 BC),[3] specifically the early years of the dynasty,[4] and is famous as the oldest artifact with the written characters meaning "Middle Kingdom" or "Central State" — 中國: "China" — in a bronze inscription on the container.[5] Today it is in the Baoji Bronzeware Museum in Shaanxi.[2]
- ^ Khayutina, Maria (May 2019). "The Story of the He Zun: From Political Intermediary to National Treasure". Orientations. 50 (3): 55. The He zun inscription describes events reliably dated to 1038 BCE, the fifth year of King Cheng of Zhou, but the vessel itself is not necessarily contemporaneous, and may have been cast several decades later. See Khayutina, Maria (2019). "Reflections and Uses of the Past in Chinese Bronze Inscriptions from the Eleventh to Fifth Centuries BC: The Memory of the Conquest of Shang and the First Kings of Zhou". Historical Consciousness and the Use of the Past in the Ancient World. pp. 157–180.
- ^ a b Zhang Aiping (张爱平), ed. (4 March 2005). "He zun" 何尊. Xinhuanet.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
- ^ Wolfgang Behr (2004). "'To Translate' is 'To Exchange' — Linguistic Diversity and the Terms for Translation in Ancient China". In Michael Lackner and Natascha Vittinghoff (ed.). Mapping Meanings: The Field of New Learning in Late Qing China. Brill. p. 176. ISBN 9789004139190.
- ^ Rawson, Jessica (1990). Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Vol. 1. pp. 15–73.
- ^ For a transcription of the vessel's text, see Academy of Chinese Social Science Archaeology Research Institute, ed. (2001). 殷周金文集成釋文 [Transcribed Texts of Collected Shang and Zhou Bronze Inscriptions]. Vol. 4. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Chinese Culture University Press. p. 275. ISBN 962-996-039-7. no. 6014. This differs from the reading offered on the vessel's Chinese wikipedia article. See also Shirakawa Shizuka (白川靜) (1962). "48.1". 金文通釋 [Complete Explanations of Bronze Inscriptions] (in Japanese). Vol. 6. Kobe: Hakutsuru bijutsukan. pp. 167–80.