What is the earliest time when China made bronze ware

Generally the development of Chinese bronze culture is divided into three major stages, namely, the formative period, the heyday period and the transformation period. Formative period refers to the Longshan era, 4,500 to 4,000 years ago; heyday that is, the Chinese Bronze Age, the era of Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and the early Warring States period, the continuation of the time of about 1,600 years, that is, China's traditional system of the age of bronze culture; the transition period refers to the end of the Warring States period - the period of the Qin and Han Dynasties, bronze has been gradually replaced by iron, not only the number of large reduction The bronze was gradually replaced by iron, not only the number of greatly reduced, but also by the original ritual weapons and used in ceremonial rituals, war activities and other important occasions into daily utensils, the corresponding types of ware, construction features, decorative art has also undergone a turning point in the change.

I. Formative period

4500~4000 years ago, Longshan era, equivalent to the era of Yao, Shun and Yu legends. Ancient documents record that people had begun to smelt and cast bronze at that time. In the sites of the Longshan period in the Yellow River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, bronze artifacts have been found in dozens of sites through archaeological excavations. From the available materials, the bronze ware in the Formative Period has the following characteristics:

1, red copper and bronze coexist, and the appearance of brass. Dongxiang Linjia site in Gansu Province, unearthed a fan-cast bronze knife; Tangchengshan site in Hebei Province, Hebei Province, found two pieces of perforated red copper plaque ornaments; Dengfeng, Henan Province, Wangchenggang Longshan City, unearthed a bronze container containing 7% of tin fragments; Xiangfen, Shanxi Province, within the Taosi Cemetery, unearthed a complete brass bell, the Department of Red Copper; Jiaoxian, Shandong Province, three miles of the site of the two brass cones; Qixia, Shandong Province, Yangjia circle of the brass debris unearthed. The largest number of copper artifacts were found in the Qijia culture around Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia, where several cemeteries unearthed knives, awls, drills, rings, and copper realms, some of which were bronze and some of which were red copper. The production techniques, some of which were forged and some of which were cast in Fan, were relatively advanced.

2, bronze varieties are less, mostly belong to the daily tools and living class, such as knives, awls, drills, rings, bronze mirrors, decorations and so on. But it should be recognized that people at that time have been able to make containers. In addition, in the Longshan culture common red or yellow pottery quail, and flow mouth, belly crotch often imitation of the metal willow nail, if you think that this time the copper quail container and the summer and commerce copper quail, jennifer, jia container function the same words, then the bronze has been or began to turn to the ceremonial apparatus.

3, general small sites also unearthed bronze products, general residents also embrace bronze products. In addition, this period of bronze products more simple and undecorated, that is, there are decorative bronze mirror is only for the stars and stripes, triangular pattern and so on geometric decorations, by no means three generations of the mystery of the bronze ornamentation.

Two, the heyday:

The heyday that is the Chinese Bronze Age, including Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, the Spring and Autumn and the early Warring States period, the continuation of the time of about 1,600 years. Bronzes of this period were mainly categorized into ceremonial instruments, weapons and miscellaneous weapons. Musical instruments were also mainly used in clan and temple rituals. Ritual instruments were used in ancient red tape ceremonies, or displayed in temples, or used for feasting and washing, and some were specialized in making bright instruments for martyrdom. Bronze ritual vessels carry a certain degree of sacredness, and cannot be used in general life occasions. Among all the bronzes, ritual instruments are the most numerous and the most beautifully made. Ritual instruments can represent the highest level of Chinese bronze craftsmanship. The types of ritual vessels include cooking vessels, eating vessels, wine vessels, water vessels and idols. Bronzes of this period are the most beautifully decorated, and there are more types of textual ornaments.

One of the most common patterns on bronzes is the taotie pattern, also known as the animal face pattern. This pattern first appeared in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River 5,000 years ago on the Liangzhu culture jade, Shandong Longshan culture inherited this pattern. The taotie pattern, itself, has a strong mystical color. Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals - the first knowledge of the article cloud "Zhou tripod with Taotie, with a head without a body, eating people before swallowing, harm and its body", so, generally this animal face pattern called Taotie pattern. Taotie pattern in the Erlitou summer culture in bronze has been. The taotie pattern of the Shang and Zhou dynasties is of many types, some of which are like dragons, tigers, cows, sheep and deer; there are also birds, phoenixes and people. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the mysterious color of bronze decoration gradually faded. Dragons and phoenixes are still the mother theme of many bronze patterns. It can be said that many patterned floral motifs are actually derived from the two main types of motifs: dragon and snake, phoenix and bird.

Cicada pattern, is a common pattern in the Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty, to the Spring and Autumn Period, there are also deformed cicada pattern. During the Spring and Autumn period, chi dragon motifs were prevalent and gradually dominated, crowding out almost all other patterns.

Another outstanding feature of ancient Chinese bronzes is the exquisite craftsmanship, which shows the creative talents of ancient craftsmen. With ceramic composite model casting production of bronze and Fan method, in ancient China has been fully developed. Pottery model of the material selection mold turned model, pattern engraving are extremely sophisticated, muddy casting, casting, casting, superimposed casting technology is very mature. Subsequently developed without the need to cast the lost wax method technology, is undoubtedly a great progress in the bronze casting process.

Inlaid on the bronze to increase the beauty of this technology appeared very early. Inlaid materials, the first is turquoise, this green stone, still used in jewelry. The second is jade, there are jade aid go, jade leaf of the spear, jade blade of the axe and battle-axe and so on. The third type of meteorite iron, such as iron blade copper battle-axe, iron aid copper blade, identified, iron blade are Shuo iron. The fourth is embedded red copper, red copper to form animal-shaped pattern. Spring and Autumn and Warring States period also used gold, silver to inlay decoration of bronze.

Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the metallurgical casting technology development is higher, appeared in the manufacture of bronze technology summarized literature "Kaogongji". The book on the production of bells and tripods, axe catty, Eagle halberd and other various artifacts used in bronze in the proportion of copper and tin made detailed provisions. Due to the frequent wars, weapon casting was developed rapidly. Especially Wu and Yue's swords were exceptionally sharp and famous all over the world, and there appeared some famous sword makers, such as dry generals, Ouzhizi and so on. Some swords have been buried in the ground for more than two thousand years, but they can still cut through stacks of paper. Some swords, such as the Yue Wang Goujian Sword, are exceptionally ornate with their surfaces having undergone certain chemical treatments to form rust-proof diamond-, scale- or flame-shaped patterns.

Another feature of Chinese bronzes is that no portraits have been found so far. Quite a number of bronzes use human faces as decorations, such as human-faced square tripods and human-faced battle-axes, but none of these faces are those of any particular person. More artifacts are the overall image of a person, such as a human-shaped lamp or pedestal; or the whole of a person as part of the artifacts, such as the bell frame has a sword wearing human figure with his hand raised to hold the beams, under the copper plate has several human-shaped foot and so on, most of these human figures are men and women to be from the attire, and not a specific maidservant's portrait. Sichuan samsung mound excavated three-dimensional like, human head, size are more than normal, are long ears and eyes, high nose and wide mouth, rich in mystery, should be mythological characters.

Tens of thousands of Shang and Zhou bronzes have inscriptions on them, which are now generally called Jinwen. For historians play a role in proving and supplementing history.

Chinese bronze inscriptions, the text to cast more. Recessed characters, called yinwen, and a few raised characters, called yangwen. During the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, it can be said that the inscriptions were all cast, with only very few examples of inscriptions carved with sharp tools.

In the late Western Zhou, inscriptions that were entirely carved began to appear. In the middle of the Warring States period, most of the inscriptions were already engraved, and even the three extremely important ceremonial vessels in the Han Tomb of King Zhongshan in Pingshan, Hebei Province, were all deed-engraved, with unusually rounded knives of high artistic value.

The ancients believed that the bronze is extremely strong, the inscription can be passed on immortal, so to long-term circulation of matters must be cast on top of the bronze things. Therefore, the inscription has become an important material for the study of ancient history today.

Third, the period of transition;

The period of transition generally refers to the period from the end of the Warring States period to the end of the Qin and Han dynasties. After hundreds of years of wars of annexation and political, economic and cultural reforms aimed at enriching the country and strengthening the army, the county system was used to replace the feudal system, and a feudal society of a centralized nature was finally established; the traditional ceremonial system had been completely dismantled, and iron products had been widely used. All areas of society underwent radical changes.

The status of bronze in social life gradually declined, and most of the artifacts were used for daily use, but specific to certain bronzes, there are still a lot of beautiful works. Such as in shaanxi lintong qin shihuang mausoleum excavated two ride bronze carriage. The first ride driving four horses, the car has a shed, the emperor is sitting. These two carriages are bronze casting composition, size and actual proportion, extremely exquisite. There are also a lot of gold and silver ornaments on the carriage, the whole body painted. The second horse, 3.17 long, 1.06 meters high, can be said to be the excavation of the huge shape, structure and the most complex bronze.

Toward the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ceramics have been greater development, the role of social life is becoming increasingly important, so that the daily use of bronze utensils from the life of the further crowded out. As for weapons, tools and other aspects, this time iron has long dominated. Sui and Tang dynasties of bronze is mainly all kinds of beautiful bronze mirror, generally have a variety of inscriptions. Since then, in addition to bronze mirrors, it can be said that there is no longer any development, and thus the development of this web site on the development of ancient Chinese bronze, to the Sui and Tang Dynasty.