Hook kill as the main mode of injury "Bronze Gao" Appreciation

Ancient weapons "metamorphosis": to hook kill as the main mode of injury "bronze go" appreciation

Go is China's unique bronze weapons, the earliest bronze go appeared in the Erlitou period (which is often referred to as the Xia Dynasty), until the Qin Dynasty was the main weapon on the battlefield. Until the Qin Dynasty, the go was the main weapon on the battlefield.

One, the structure of the bronze go

Go ancient called hook soldiers, is a hook to kill as the main way of injury weapon, usually by the head of the go, bamboo handle, bamboo handle cap and butt end composition. The structure of the head of the go: the connection of the柲 for the "inner"; long blade for the "aid", is the main part of the go to kill, the front for the "front", the lower part of the "lower blade", and the "lower edge". "lower edge", the upper part of the "upper edge", therefore, the Go can both peck, but also hook to kill; aid the lower edge of the part of the curved downward called "Hu", Hu on the hole for the "through", Hu and through the role is to strengthen the connection between the head and handle, so that it is not easy to loose; "appendage" is the aid and the junction of the protruding convex prongs, its role is to block the head of the Go, so that it does not fall into the hook peck in the hooks, within the aid and the aid at the junction of the protruding aid part is called The upper and lower appendages.

Two, the development of the evolution of the bronze go

Henan yanshi erlitou site excavated straight within the go, about 3500 years ago, is the earliest bronze go found so far. Erlitou period of bronze go mainly by the inner and aid two parts, no upper and lower appendage; aid the sharp part of the front, the upper and lower edges are not developed, the function of the hook cut is weaker, mainly rely on the front of the pecking attack to kill and injure the enemy, it should be the use of infantrymen in close combat weapons.

The Shang Dynasty bronze go follows the characteristics of the Erlitou period, the upper and lower edges of the go are still not very developed, with the front of the go as the main part of the kill. However, with the advancement of technology, the style of go has also had a greater development, in order to overcome the head of the go in the battle easily into the defects, the Shang Dynasty bronze go began to appear up and down appendage, to ensure that the head of the go and the go handle binding more secure. In the late Shang dynasty also appeared a new form - axe within the go, this kind of go will be "inside" part of the casting into a round set, the go handle installed in the axe to prevent falling off, this installation method can effectively avoid pecking when the go head of the loosening and back of the sinking, so in the infantry-oriented Shang dynasty This method of installation can effectively avoid the loosening and sinking of the head when pecking, so it was popular for some time in the Shang Dynasty, which was mainly for infantry. However, this kind of go is very easy to fall off from the go handle when hooking and killing, so it gradually declined after the Shang Dynasty with the gradual popularity of chariots and the rising demand for the function of go hooking and cutting. The form of the Shang Dynasty bronze go to no hu go mainly with a small amount of hu go, hu's role is mainly to fix the handle, and does not emphasize the hook cut function, which with the Shang Dynasty to the infantry as the main form of organization of the army to adapt.

After entering the Western Zhou Dynasty, the chariot war gradually ascended to the stage of history, and the chariot became the core of the battlefield with its powerful impact and fast and swift mobility. The non-hugo used to equip the infantry was unable to adapt to the requirements of chariot warfare because the main part of the kill was the blade, and its attack was pecking, which was concentrated on one point, and was difficult to control in the high-speed chariots. Compared with the non-hugo, the hugo has a powerful cutting function, in the chariot can be swept across a piece of the enemy through the cutting, more conducive to play the killing power of the chariot, so the number of hugo casting is increasing, and gradually replace the non-hugo, become the basic configuration of the army.

The Spring and Autumn period is the heyday of chariot development, the car war has become the main way of army combat, so people often use "the country of 10,000 rides, the country of 1,000 rides, the country of 100 rides" as a large, medium and small vassal states, in order to cooperate with the car war, but also the formation of a complete set of car war etiquette. With the further development of social productive forces and the further popularization of chariot warfare, the non-hugo almost completely withdrew from the battlefield and was replaced by the hugo.

Warring States period, the bronze go and has made great progress, mainly in two aspects: First, the internal go began to open the edge, sharp open edge gives the internal greater lethality, in addition to fixing the go handle has a new role; Secondly, with the improvement of bronze smelting technology, Warring States bronze go aid has also had a greater change in the aid by the original more straight aid has become a long and narrow, and in the aid of the central girdle

Qinggo inherited the shape and characteristics of the bronze go of the Warring States, aid long and narrow, inside the open edge, increasing the lethality of the go, can hook, can peck, can thrust.

With the development of cavalry in the Han Dynasty and the improvement of the ironmaking process, the bronze go eventually withdrew from the battlefield, although the Han tombs occasionally bronze go, but most of the decorative ornate, not for actual combat.

Three, bronze go identification of forgery

Bronze go identification of forgery can be from the shape, inscription, decoration, patina four aspects. Get a piece of bronze go first need according to our above elaboration of the shape of the go to determine its general age, is the Shang or Zhou, is the Western Zhou or the Spring and Autumn and Warring States. And then combined with the form of the go for the inscription and decorative aspects of identification, from the inscription, generally speaking, the Yin Shang gold text is from the development of oracle bone writing, although the shape of the strokes than the oracle bone appears more rounded and fat, but closer to the later Western Zhou gold text is closer to the original text. The early Western Zhou to Yin end of the book style; to King Cheng when the formation of a unique style, the style of majestic and magnificent; after the Zhaomu, the strokes from the thick and thin and tend to uniform uniformity, the pen and the start of the pen from the square and the round is not the same into a round pen, appear more rigorous and upright. During the Spring and Autumn period, the 'Kodouwen' and the patterned 'Bird and Insect Script' were prevalent; during the Qin dynasty, the Small Seal Script was commonly used. From the decorative point of view, the Xia dynasty bronze go generally no decoration or decoration extremely simple decoration; Shang dynasty bronze go decorative ornate and elaborate, the overall style is more rugged; Western Zhou early decoration tends to be simple, simple; Spring and Autumn and Warring States decorations fresh and lively, rich in breath, often using misplaced gold, misplaced silver, inlaid with red copper, turquoise, and fine line engraved crafts, etc.; Qin and Han pattern less and more than the Shang dynasty and the Zhou fine. Finally, the author in the "discerning eye - bronze identification of the general method" mentioned in the article of the observation of the identification method, pinpointing the identification method, burning identification method and crystallization spot identification method of the four methods of patina identification, to determine whether the rust color is naturally occurring rust color.

Four, the bronze go and Chinese traditional culture

Go is China's unique bronze weapons, but also the main weapon on the battlefield in the pre-Qin Dynasty, the influence even beyond the weapon itself, penetrating into the ancient culture and rituals. Gao in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty not only used in combat, but also used for a variety of ceremonial activities, and even for the burial of the production of Ming ware Gao. The famous yin ruins women good tomb, buried with 39 pieces of jade go, jade aid copper within the go, which is hidden in the Chinese history museum embedded turquoise jade aid copper within the go, go aid the front of the jade, the base and within the copper, inserted into one piece, obviously not for the actual battle of the go.

The Western Zhou period is the most popular period of bronze go, go became a cultural element into every aspect of life, even writing and customs. We can often see the image of warriors holding bronze go in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions. In addition, during the Western Zhou period, it was common to see male burials in the Guanzhong area with go and shield, and go was often bent and broken artificially, and this custom of destroying the weapon and then burying it with the corpse is what we often refer to as the "destruction of the soldiers" burial custom, where go became an important part of the customs and traditions.

The Rites of Passage, one of the thirteen Confucian classics, is a compendium of Chinese rituals from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It covers various rituals such as crown, marriage, funeral, sacrifice, township, shooting, pilgrimage and hiring. In the records of the Rites of Passage, the go is often used as a ceremonial weapon, and the Rites of Passage - Shi Funeral Rites records that: "The ruler goes to ...... the two junior ministers to carry the go first. Two people after. Jun released to pick the door. The master opened."

Later, in view of the important position of the go in the war, the ancients often use the go to refer to the war, for example, we now often use the idioms "big move go", "the same room," "inverted go to war "This shows the great influence of Gog on Chinese traditional culture.

In a word, the gore is the earliest and most widely used bronze weapon in ancient China, and it is of great significance to understand the bronze gore for our study of ancient Chinese wars and ancient traditional ceremonial culture.