Houmuwu

NOW LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK...

The Houmuwu is a rectangular Chinese ding (vessel), or more precisely, a tetrapod fangding (square vessel). Unearthed in 1939 at a site in Wuguancun, Anyang, Henan Province in China, this ritual bronze ware dates back to the late Shang Dynasty, a period from approximately 1300 to 1046 BC.[1] The vessel stands at 133 cm in height, with a rim measuring 112cm in length and 79.2 cm in width, and weighs approximately 875 kg.[2]

The open-top vessel is comprised of four walls and a flat-bottomed base that rests on four columnar legs which, according to the NMC site, are hollow.[3] Each side features a blank rectangular panel at the centre bordered by designs in relief, which include animal masks and dragons.[4] Protruding from the rim of the two shorter sides of the vessel are erect handles, which also feature mythical animal motifs, notably two tigers facing one another in profile with their mouths holding a human head.[5] The legs also feature animal motifs, as well as thunder and cloud designs.[6] According to the NMC site, one of the interior walls bears three large inscriptions – ‘后母戊’ – after which the ding is named.[7]

Aside from some patina on the surface and one damaged handle, which has since been replaced, the condition of the object appears well-preserved.[8]

1939

The Houmuwu ding is thought to have been discovered by farmer Wu Peiwen in Wuguancun Village, Anyang, Henan Province, 1939. [9] During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), an enormous amount of tomb relics from the Yinxu site were excavated and looted.[10] Concerned that this vessel would meet a similar fate, the ding was said to have been reburied with the intent of protecting the vessel and he task was executed with the help of local people in the same year the discovery was made. [11] It was unearthed in 1946 after the war had ended and passed onto the provincial Henan provincial government.

1946

After the Second Sino-Japanese War had ended, the President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-Shek was to turn 60 years of age on October 31st, 1946. It was on that day that the Henan military government hand the Houmuwu to Chiang Kai-Shek as a celebratory gift.[12] This transportation of the object from village to presidential office marked a fundamental change in the meaning of the bronze vessel from an excavated object to a symbol of a nation.[13]

1948

Shortly after received the Houmuwu, Chiang Kai-Shek arranged for the vessel to be moved to the National Central Museum (now called Nanjing Museum).[14] It remained here until 1948 when the Chinese Civil War between the KMT and CCP forced an exiled Chiang to move the Houmuwu to Taiwan – the new base for the KMT. While a huge collection of relics - which include many bronze articles- were removed from the National Palace Museum and taken into Taiwan, the Houmuwu was simply too heavy to be transported and thus remained in China.[15]

1959

The CCP declared victory in 1949 and it was in 1959 that the "Houmuwu" was moved to the National Museum of Chinese History in Beijing. It was here that a new narrative and discourse was created around the Houmuwu to support the party line, that is, it symbolised "the achievements of the ancient laboring peoples."[17]

NOW

The building that contained the National Museum of Chinese History was remodelled and is now known as the National Museum of China. The Houmuwu ding currently resides there and continuing to be an arguably integral symbol of China's early civilisation and its ongoing national narrative.

To follow this journey on a map, click HERE.