Ordos News

Bronze is a great invention in human history and the earliest alloy in metallurgical history. Since the end of the 19th century, bronze, gold and silver products unearthed along the Great Wall in northern China have gradually attracted people's attention. The emergence of new bronze culture represented by Ordos bronzes not only opened the curtain of northern nomadic people's activities on the great stage of Chinese history, but also played a very important role in the development of ancient Chinese society and the cultural exchange between China and the world, and had a profound impact on the history of China and even the world.

Golden crown

In the winter of 1972, after a strong wind that lasted for several days and covered the wild, in the vast sand sea of Aluchaideng, Hangjin Banner, Ordos Plateau, the herdsmen who emerged in the morning found a piece of golden things shining in the light of the rising sun. On closer inspection, it turned out to be the white bone of a man blown by the strong wind. There are more than 200 precious cultural relics made of gold and silver scattered in the head, neck, chest, waist and other parts of the human bone. A large number of animal skulls such as horses and sheep have been found around the human bone.

The rarest of these relics is a set of gold crown ornaments. The gold crown is composed of two parts: the upper crown and the lower crown Band. The upper crown ornament is an eagle standing on a hemispherical base with its head held high and its wings spreading. On the semicircular sphere under the eagle's feet, the exquisite pattern of a wolf biting a sheep is embossed. The lower crown belt is composed of three semicircular pattern belts, and the main part is rope pattern. The two ends connected are respectively cast with relief tiger, horse and sheep. The tiger bares its teeth and looks fierce and fierce. The horse and sheep lie down in a gentle posture. The whole set of crown ornaments is majestic, lifelike and lifelike. It shows the majestic eagle in the sky, overlooking the vivid scene of tigers and wolves biting horses and sheep on the grassland, implying the heroism of the wearer in flying the sky and commanding the earth.

According to the results of the field investigation and the analysis of the unearthed gold and silver wares, the archaeologists speculated that these precious cultural relics should have come from a tomb. They were the personal belongings worn by an ancient resident living in Ordos during the Warring States period. They belonged to the Ordos bronzes which were well-known in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. Through the identification of human bones and burial objects, it is speculated that the owner of the tomb should be a tribal leader who gallops in the battlefield and has a prominent position. The gold crown he wears is the only rare and precious "Hu Guan" found so far. The birth of "Hu Guan" on the Ordos Plateau once again attracted people's close attention and strong interest in the bronze wares of Ordos.

Grassland bronze

Ordos bronzes mainly include swords with various animal shapes decorated on the handle, tomahawks with crane heads on the side, meteor hammers with many tumor like protuberances on the spherical surface, and relief, openwork and round carvings. There are various animal shaped ornaments, horse titles and horse surface decorations. Although the bronze wares of Ordos reflect some traces of the farming nationality bronze culture of the Central Plains, more of them show a feature consistent with the bronze culture of the animal husbandry nationality in Eurasia grassland.

Ordos bronze ware is an important part of China's bronze culture and a unique flower in the hundred flowers garden of China's bronze culture. The earliest bronze age found in Ordos can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, prevailing in the spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, and gradually reduced after the early Western Han Dynasty. Compared with the bronze culture of Xia, Shang, Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou dynasties, Ordos bronzes have the following obvious characteristics: first, most of them are easy to carry; second, they are decorated with a large number of animal models; third, most of them are made of bronze, and some of them are made of gold, silver and iron.

Most of the bronze wares in Ordos are practical ones, which can be divided into weapons, tools, decorations, living utensils and chariots and horses according to their uses. They are mainly short swords, copper knives, crane mouth axes, stick heads, and various animal decorative plates, ornaments and buckle ornaments, especially a large number of animal patterns. Animal patterns include tigers, leopards, wolves, deer, horses, sheep, birds and so on. They are mostly decorated with sculpture, relief and openwork, which are rich in content and skilled in craftsmanship.

The northern grassland style, represented by the Ordos bronzes with vivid shapes, distinctive features and profound implications, is like an exquisite chapter in the historical picture of the grassland ethnic groups in northern China, highlighting the simple, bold and vigorous ethnic customs. Each piece of Ordos bronze ware is full of unrestrained, wild and vigorous personality, which vividly reappears a scene happened in the grassland area of northern China more than 2000 years ago. Through Ordos bronzes, a unique and wonderful flower, people not only have a new understanding of the ancient northern nomadic civilization of China, but also have a comprehensive understanding of the diversified and integrated Chinese civilization. (reporter Sun he)