Media group exploring Baoji Bronzeware Museum

On July 11th, the media group "Understand China from Cultural Relics" went to the Baoji Bronzeware Museum to learn about the bronze culture and uncover the earliest written form of the name "China."

Baoji Bronzeware Museum, located in Shi-ku Garden of China in Baoji City, is the largest bronze museum in China, and also the only featured museum named after bronze in China. The museum bears more than 480,000 cultural relics, known for the large number of bronzewares, the completeness of the varieties and the cruciality of the inscriptions on the bronzewares.

In the exhibition hall of the museum, you can see the word "China" formed in ancient characters under dim light. He Zun, the priceless historical treasure standing in the middle, tells the story of ancient China 3,000 years ago.

More than 3,000 years ago, He Zun was a luxurious bronze ceremonial vessel forged by the aristocrat "He" in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, famous for its inscription on the inner bottom including the earliest word "China". The word "China" first appeared in the inscription of He Zun as a complete phrase, meaning the hinterland of China.

The media group is visiting the Baoji Bronzeware Museum

Ning Yaying, director of the Baoji Bronzeware Museum, introduced that Baoji was known as Chencang and Yongcheng in ancient times, and was the birthplace of the Zhou and Qin dynasties. Baoji boasts many cultural relics and monuments, especially famous for the substantial excavation of bronzewares, thus honored as "Home of Bronzeware".

Ning Yaying said that written records are first-hand information to keep history. Various classic documents were lost as time went by, yet the inscriptions on the bronzewares enable people to see the original look of history in a physical form. Many bronzes stored in the cellars are crucial tools used by aristocratic families living in Baoji, and most of them convey long inscriptions, which summarize the core history of the Western Zhou Dynasty.