Beijing This Month Publications (BTMP)

Hailed as a treasure of the prairie, the Xiongnu crown, also known as the Eagle-top Gold Crown, is the only gold crown of Xiongnu chieftains that has been discovered.

Ordos, meaning “many palaces” in Mongolian, is a beautiful and fertile city located in southwest Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in northern China. It is a magical place with a long history. In the Bronze Culture Square of the city stands a sculpture of the renowned Xiongnu crown, a golden structure with the characteristics of northern prairie culture.

Hailed as a treasure of the prairie, the Xiongnu crown, also known as the Eagle-top Gold Crown, is the only gold crown of Xiongnu chieftains that has been discovered. A symbol of power and crystallisation of ethnic art, it features a unique shape and exquisite craftsmanship, representing the highest level of precious metal workmanship of northern tribes in the Warring States Period (475–221 BC). The crown is the most precious exhibit in the Inner Mongolia Museum.

An Astonishing Discovery in the Desert

One day in January 1972, Wang Meizi, 76, was busy digging for ancient biological fossils in a barren sand pit, about 2 kilometres (km) south of Aluchaideng Production Brigade, Amenqirige Commune, Hangjin Banner, Ikh Juu League (today’s Ordos). From amongst the bone fossils he discovered many triangular prism bronze arrowheads and an iron stick. One end of the stick was decorated with gold flakes. He continued to dig, and discovered many gold and silver objects of ancient times, which pleasantly surprised the elderly man. The cold weather stopped him from continuing digging by himself. Moreover, the elderly man has a superstitious belief that pocketing treasures discovered underground without sharing them would cause disasters. Therefore, he went back home and asked a total of five people including his son, neighbours and relatives to join him. That day they unearthed more than 2.5 kilograms (kg) of gold cultural heritage items. Wang kept a large share and the other four equally divided the rest.

The villagers sold the gold and silver objects to the People’s Bank in Hangjin Banner several days later. Due to the poor awareness of cultural heritage protection at that time, many people had no idea

about the importance of cultural heritage. Consequently, the bank did not identify the purchased gold and silver objects as cultural heritage items or report them to the upper level personnel, but encouraged villagers to excavate more. To increase the purity of the gold, they even helped villagers remove the embedded agate, jade and turquoise and other stones. Later a bank clerk reported the find to the Culture and Education Bureau of Ikh Juu League. The bureau director highly valued this report and quickly forwarded it to the Culture Bureau of Inner Mongolia, which immediately sent Tian Guangjin and Li Zuozhi from the cultural relics team to examine the artefacts. With assistance from leaders of the commune, banner and league, they retrieved all cultural relics purchased by the bank and some gold and silver objects from villagers. In order to successfully recover these cultural relics, the team members also publicised the significance of cultural relic protection, conducted in-depth ideological work, and gave appropriate rewards to villagers according to the quantity of cultural relics they handed over and to their behaviour. At the same time, Tian Guangjin and Li Zuozhi checked the original location in a timely way to investigate and do more excavation. It was proved that the site was a group of cemeteries that were damaged and exposed by wind erosion because of their shallow burial depth.

Later the Culture Bureau of Inner Mongolia recovered more than 200 gold and silver ornaments with bird and animal patterns, which were identified as legacies of Xiongnu kings of more than 2,000 years ago. The patterns depict scenes of tigers eating oxen or sheep, or centre on horses, wolves, birds and other animals, which is rare in the archaeological history of the Xiongnu in China. The Xiongnu crown was among the recovered cultural relics and is now treasured by the Inner Mongolia Museum.

The crown was the most representative artistic masterpiece of the Xiongnu. It consists of two parts. The upper part is an eagle standing on a hemispherical gold pedestal and the lower is a gold hoop. It weighs 1.39 kg, while the eagle and the hemispherical pedestal measures 7.3 centimetres (cm) high in total, and the gold hoop 30 cm high, with a circumference of 60 cm. The crown creates a scene in which a proud eagle stands on a hemispherical pedestal, overlooking a wolf preying on a sheep. The eagle is lifelike, made of thin gold foil, hollow inside. Its head and neck were made of turquoise, connected with the body by gold threads. The tail was made separately and connected to the body. The headwear is splendid and magnificent, the eagle looking as if it may sway its tail under a breeze, ready to fly.

Gold Crown with an Eagle

The crown is of regal dignity. On the hemispherical pedestal there is engraved an exquisite relief of a battle between wolf and sheep. Made of gold, the hoop consists of three semi-circular belts, with two on the front. The main part was decorated with rope patterns with joints depicting tigers, horses and sheep in relief. The tigers are fierce and strong with their teeth showing, while the horses and sheep are docile with their heads lowered down. The entire crown reproduces a vivid scene of a fierce eagle flying high in the sky, overlooking tigers and wolves, preying on horses and sheep. The crown is beautifully crafted, made with advanced techniques such as casting, forging, hammering and metal filigree making. It belonged to an eminent chieftain of a northern tribe in the Ordos region during the Warring States Period.

The gold crown is decorated with lifelike depictions of the animals of northern China. The eagle was made with the circular engravure technique, and the proportionally exaggerated hook-shaped beak reflects the fierceness of the bird of prey. The other animal patterns are in relief, featuring proportionally exaggerated animal bodies and delicate details, for example the tiger showing its teeth, the coiled horns of the sheep, and prostrate horse. These patterns were realistic and unique, forming the style of Ordos decorative art.

The animal patterns are a physical representation of the lives of the prairie tribes in northern China and the artistic techniques created by them during longterm production practice. The horses and sheep on the gold crown were domestic animals raised by the Xiongnu for ages. The eagle overlooking the wolf’s preying on the sheep vividly reflects the hunting life of the grassland people. The entire gold crown is full of grassland atmosphere, showing the strong and valiant character of the Xiongnu and their worship of valour and proficiency

in hunting. Importantly, this gold crown is the only "non-han crown" discovered in China so far. It was a decoration for military officers. The chieftains of Xiongnu were all capable military generals.

The making techniques of the crown include hammering, engraving, metal filigree making and embedding among others, representing the craft level and artistic accomplishments of the royal court of the Xiongnu in the late Warring States Period. From artistic composition to the metalworking techniques, the crown reflects virtuosity of craftsmen, representing that the gold and silver working techniques of Xiongnu were quite developed in the Warring States Period, in addition to bronze and ironware manufacturing.

Story of the Xiongnu

During the long history of the Chinese nation, the Central Plains dynasties had an adversary in the north, a bellicose nomadic people who frequently came to the south to threaten the stability of the Central Plains dynasties. Of the nomadic tribes in the north, there was one which unified Northern Asia during the Qin and Han dynasties and dominated the grassland for several centuries as the nightmare of the Central Plains. The tribe was the Xiongnu.

The Xiongnu were a nomadic nation in ancient northern China, rising from the foothills of the Yinshan Mountains in today’s Inner Mongolia. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, “The Xiongnu were distant descendants of the former Xiahous, called the Chunwei. Before the times of Sage Yao and Shun, the tribe was named Shanrong, Xianyun and Xunyu, living in the north and moving with animal husbandry.” The Classic of Mountains and Seas claimed, “Quanrong and Xia people were from the same ancestor, the Yellow Emperor." These records show that the Xiongnu were believed to be descendants of the Chunwei of the Xia Dynasty (c. 2070– 1600 BC), and merged with Yuezhi, Loulan, Wusun, Hujie and people of the 26 states in the process of westwards migration. In the Study of Guifang, Kunyi and Xunyu, Wang Guowei systematically summarised name changes of the Xiongnu, and held that Guifang, Hunyi, Xunyu in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1046 BC); Xianyun in the Zhou Dynasty (c.1046–256 BC); Rong and Di in the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC); and Hu in the Warring States Period (475–221 BC) all referred to the Xiongnu. “The Xiongnu” in the ancient Chinese books referred to the powerful nomadic tribe in the north at the turning of the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty.

Descendant of Huaxia, A Privileged Tribe

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Xiongnu grew stronger, especially during the ruling of Modu Chanyu. Modu was an ambitious chieftain who was recorded as “killing his father with a whistling arrow.” He was the eldest son of the first chanyu (a type of leader) named Touman. When Modu was the crown prince, Touman wanted to appoint the son of his love Yanzhi (queen of the Xiongnu) as the crown prince instead. Therefore he captured Modu and sent him to the Yuezhi nomads as a hostage. Then he immediately sent troops to attack the Yuezhi, hoping to cause Modu’s death. The Yuezhi were furious and wanted to kill Modu, but he stole a fine horse and fled back. Seeing that he was so brave, Touman appointed him to command the cavalries.

Resentful against his father, Modu determined to train the troops into absolutely loyal army for his coup. For this purpose, he made a whistling arrow and ordered “whoever does not shoot at what the whistling arrow shoots shall be killed.” He exercised the order repeatedly. While hunting, he shot the whistling arrow and followers who did not shoot the same thing were killed. First he shot his own steed with the arrow, and those who dared not to shoot the horse were killed. Then he repeated the practice by shooting his wife and the disobeyers were killed too. Next he shot Touman Chanyu’s steed with the whistling arrow and the entourage followed him. He knew the troops had become absolutely loyal to him. While hunting with Touman, Modu shot Touman with the whistling arrow, and the entourage followed him, killing Touman. Modu then killed his stepmother, half-brothers and dissident ministers and ascended to the throne.

After becoming leader, Modu exerted all his efforts to develop the country and later defeated the Hu on the east and the Yuezhi on the west, conquered more than 20 states, including Loulan and Wusun, and controlled most area of the Western Regions. He also conquered Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling and other states in the north, merged the areas of Loufan and the Baiyang Henan Chieftain, and recaptured area south to Hetao. Eventually, the Xiongnu governed a vast territory from the Yinshan Mountains on the south to Baikal on the north, Liaohe River on the east and the Congling Mountains on the west. They had more than 300,000 cavalrymen, becoming the most powerful nation in the north.

In 215 BC, the Xiongnu were defeated by General Meng Tian of the Qin Dynasty “repulsed to retreat by more than 700 li (350 km) and feared not to graze horses in the south again” and leaving the Hetao Area and Hexi Corridor. In the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220), the Xiongnu grew strong again and frequently invaded the border areas, threatening the Western Han Dynasty (202–8 BC), and controlled the Western Regions. One historical book recorded, “The Xiongnu became stronger and nibbled at neighbouring states, utterly defeated the Yuezhi and conquered other small states.” Thus the Xiongnu unified the northern nomadic nations. Since then Xiongnu called themselves “Hu” and “privileged sons of Heaven.” Their leader sent a letter to the emperor of the Han Dynasty, claiming “Great Han is in the south and strong Hu in the north. Hu is a privileged son of Heaven and does not bother itself with trifles of etiquette.”

During the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu were defeated, retreated north to the desert and split into five parts. In 119 BC, Huo Qubing (140–117 BC, a distinguished military general of the Western Han Dynasty), attended by Han troops and surrendered Xiongnu people, held “grand ceremonies to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth in Langjuxu Mountain and Guyan, respectively, and visited Hanhai (today’s Baikal).” The Xiongnu completely retreated from the area south, into the desert. In 53 BC, Huhanye Chanyu surrendered to the Western Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Yuandi, Huhanye made an offer of marriage to the Han court in his third homage visit. Emperor Yuandi married Wang Zhaojun, a palace lady-in-waiting, to him, inspiring the renowned story of “Zhaojun Going out of the Frontier Pass.” The Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty thus maintained a peaceful relationship for more than 60 years. In this period, the Han enjoyed restored national strength and growing population. It was recorded that “since the reign of Emperor Xuandi, there was not any alarm of beacon fire for several generations at the northern border. People were prosperous and the animal husbandry was developed with numerous horses and cattle.”

During the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25–220), the Xiongnu split into a southern and northern group. The Southern Xiongnu sought refuge with the Central Plains dynasties. The Northern Xiongnu moved westwards from the area north to the desert to Hexi Corridor over about 300 years. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, the leader of the Southern Xiongnu surrendered and was relocated to the Hetao area. The fluctuating attitude of the Northern Xiongnu made the Eastern Han Dynasty decide it was safest to smash it. In AD 89, General Dou Xian defeated the Northern Xiongnu, and Ban Gu erected a stele on the south hillside of Yanran Mountain (today’s Khangai Mountains in Mongolia) to record the meritorious services, which was known as the “Yanran Inscription.” Two years later, the Han troops utterly defeated the Northern Chanyu in today’s Altai Mountains and the majority of the Northern Xiongnu fled to Central Asia. Later, the Xianbei in the north grew stronger and gradually occupied the former land of the Xiongnu. Thus, hundreds of thousands Xiongnu people eventually called themselves Xianbei.

After the decline of the Xiongnu in the north, the Xianbei rapidly occupied Mongolian Plateau. The Xiongnu and Xianbei intermarried and their descendants were called Tiefu. Helian Bobo, a Tiefu, sought refuge with the Later Qin Dynasty (AD 384–417) of the Qiang people after being defeated by the Tuobas of Xianbei. Later Helian Bobo defeated troops of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317–420), occupied the Guanzhong area, established the Xia Dynasty (AD 407–431) and made Chang’an its capital. In AD 425, Helian Bobo passed away and his son Helian Chang succeeded to the throne, but was soon captured by the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386–534). His brother Helian Ding declared himself emperor of the Xia Dynasty in Pingliang. Three years later, the Northern Wei captured Helian Ding and the Xia Dynasty came to its end. Tongwan City, capital of the Xia, was the only relic left by the Xiongnu in Eastern Asia. Since then, the Xiongnu, as a nation, have disappeared from northern China.

The Xiongnu culture showed strong regional characteristics. They acquired the metal smelting technology during wars and trade with the Central Plains, including their most representative craftsmanship of gold and silver. The exquisite and gorgeous Xiongnu crown unearthed from Ordos represents the advanced artisanship of that time and proves that the nation had a rich culture.

Though hidden in the desert for more than 2,000 years, the Xiongnu crown is still glittering despite abrasion by sand. The eagle on the crown still looks alert and spirited. It witnessed not only the rise and fall of the ancient nation, but also thousands of years of ethnic integration.

In AD 89, General Dou Xian defeated the Northern Xiongnu, and Ban Gu erected a stele on the south hillside of Yanran Mountain (today’s Khangai Mountains in Mongolia) to record the meritorious services, which was known as the “Yanran Inscription.”