On August 1, the "First Person to Develop Lingnan - Zhao Tuo and the Cultural Relics of Nanyue Kingdom" was officially opened at the Zhengding County Museum in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. The exhibition is sponsored by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, the Shijiazhuang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, and the People's Government of Zhengding County, and organized by the Nanyue King Museum (Western Han Dynasty Nanyue National History Research Center) and the Zhengding County Museum.
This is the first large-scale display of cultural relics of the Nanyue Kingdom in Zhao Tuo's hometown, Zhengding County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. Through more than 200 exhibits, the exhibition embarks on a cultural legend journey that spans more than 2,000 years and 1,800 kilometers. The exhibition will run until October 31, 2024.
The Nanyue State was the first local government established in Lingnan by the Qin general Zhao Tuo. After the fall of Qin, Zhao Tuo defeated Guilin and Xiangjun and established himself as the martial king of Nanyue.
As the founder of the Nanyue State, Zhao Tuo maintained the peace and stability of the southern Xinjiang of the Qin and Han dynasties with superb political wisdom and outstanding military talents. He established the Nanyue State and opened a new chapter in the development and prosperity of Lingnan; He accepted the canonization of the Han Dynasty and maintained the unity of the Han Dynasty; While spreading the culture of the Central Plains, he vigorously developed maritime transportation and trade exchanges. The exhibition deeply excavates the contemporary values of openness, inclusiveness and innovation in Zhao Tuo's culture, and builds a bridge for cultural exchanges between Shijiazhuang and Guangzhou.
Three aspects show the achievements of Zhao Tuo, the "first person in Lingnan development".
The exhibition is divided into three parts: "Historical Records of Zhao Tuo", "Archaeological South Vietnam" and "Memories of the Millennium", which respectively present Zhao Tuo's contributions to maintaining Lingnan's social stability, ethnic unity, national unity, and promoting the development of Lingnan from three aspects: documentary records, archaeological discoveries, and relics of later generations.
The part of "History of Zhao Tuo" reproduces the legendary life of Zhao Tuo in simple terms through documentary materials, from the beginning and end of the establishment of the Nanyue Kingdom, political genealogy, surrounding relations, etc., outlining the basic appearance of Nanyue in the political and military aspects of the past century, and showing the historical development of Lingnan society into the pluralistic and integrated Chinese civilization.
The "Archaeology of Nanyue" section sorts out a series of major achievements made in the archaeology of Nanyue over the past century, focusing on the key relics of Nanyue - the ruins of the Nanyue National Palace Administration and the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, and shows the details of Nanyue's politics, economy, architecture, court life, cultural exchanges and other aspects from the perspective of "things", and shows the leapfrog development achieved in the Lingnan region during the Nanyue period.
The "Memories of the Millennium" section focuses on the profound influence of Zhao Tuo and Nanyue on future generations over the past 2,000 years through the recognition of relics, legends, poems, etc.
In terms of design, the prologue of the exhibition cleverly makes use of elements such as Nanyue wooden tablets and Qin and Han scripts to show Zhao Tuo's outstanding contribution to the development of Lingnan. The painting "Zhao Tuo's Return to the Han Dynasty" in the center symbolizes Zhao Tuo's vision of the Han Dynasty and his hometown Zhengding across the five mountains, interpreting the theme of the exhibition. The exhibition panels in the exhibition hall are mainly in the blue and green tones of the ocean, highlighting the "Maritime Silk Road Culture", a regional characteristic of South Vietnam, and at the same time incorporating the vermilion color of the Han Dynasty to create a color image of Han and Yue.
In addition, the height of the exhibition hall is changed according to local conditions to create a majestic Nanyue Palace, a Nanyue Palace representing Lingnan Gardens, and a scene of the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue where a large number of exquisite cultural relics have been unearthed. In terms of multimedia, the exhibition uses infrared sensing technology to design the "Pat Wall", and makes a number of digital interactive exhibits such as the "Luminous Tree" through touch screens and projections, enriching the form of the exhibition and making the "South Vietnamese Culture" visible, touchable, and taken away.
More than 200 exhibits reproduce the cultural features of South Vietnam
After the founding of the South Yue Dynasty, the capital was Panyu (now Guangzhou), and gradually established various policies for governing the country, and the South Yue State imitated the political system of the Qin and Han dynasties and introduced the advanced culture and technology of the Central Plains. Under the century-old management of Zhao Tuo and his four successors, the Lingnan region has achieved great development by leaps and bounds in agriculture, handicrafts, and transportation.
This exhibition brings together a large number of rich cultural relics of the Nanyue Kingdom, showing the material culture and lifestyle of the Lingnan region during the Nanyue period, such as: shovels, iron shovels, iron adzes, iron hammers and other production tools, as well as pottery tripods, pottery pots, pottery pots, pottery net pendants, bricks and tiles and other living utensils and building materials, which truly reflects that in agricultural production, the managers of the South Vietnamese country have changed the original state of "slash-and-burn" in the Lingnan region by actively introducing iron farming tools from the Central Plains, which has greatly promoted the development of agricultural economy; In terms of handicrafts, a large number of skilled craftsmen who went south made the handicraft production of Nanyue a breakthrough development compared with the pre-Qin period.
It is worth mentioning that a number of bricks and tiles with pottery inscriptions unearthed from the site of the Nanyue National Palace Administration are exhibited this time, which contain information such as the official agency responsible for pottery making, the identity of the potter and the name of the potter. According to the "Book of Rites· Yue Order" contains: "The name of the work is used to test its sincerity, and if the merit is improper, the crime must be carried out, and the affection of the poor is poor", these pottery inscriptions of the Nanyue Kingdom reflect that the Nanyue State imitated the Central Plains and implemented the system of "the name of the worker".
In addition, the South Vietnamese Kingdom actively developed overseas trade, and the glazed cylinder tiles, octagonal stone pillars, frankincense, and golden flower bubbles on display bear witness to Guangzhou's active overseas trade activities during the Qin and Han dynasties, and they are important material evidence that Guangzhou was the starting point of China's "Maritime Silk Road" more than 2,000 years ago.
Appreciation of some cultural relics:
Exhibits: "Long live" text tile
Western Han Dynasty (203 BC-111 BC)
The site of the Nanyue National Palace in Guangzhou was unearthed in the collection of the Nanyue King Museum
In ancient times, tiles were mostly used in palaces, government offices, temples and other high-level buildings. It is located at the very front of the tube tile, that is, at the eaves, and its main function is to protect the timber roof truss from the sun and rain, and also to make the building more beautiful. In the palace and imperial garden of Nanyue Kingdom, a large number of "long live" text tile was unearthed, the diameter of the tile face is generally more than 15 centimeters, the body size is larger, "long live" in the Han Dynasty means longevity, also as a blessing language, belongs to a kind of text tile in the Qin and Han dynasties.
Exhibits: Hollow brick bear ornaments
Hollow brick is a kind of building component popular in ancient times in the mainland, it is large in size, hollow inside, so it is called "hollow brick". The existing archaeological materials show that hollow bricks first appeared in the late Zhou Dynasty, and were used to build large-scale high-platform buildings during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Among the remains of palaces or government buildings in the Qin and Han dynasties, hollow bricks used to build steps or treads have been found. Similar stampedes are often found in Qin and Han architectural sites, but those decorated with bear patterns at both ends are only found in Nanyue. The side of the stomping is stamped with a delicate bear pattern, the main body of the bear pattern reflects the pattern of the bear's head, the bear eyes are looking straight ahead, blazing, mighty and powerful, both simple and cute, and majestic and mighty.
Exhibits: Golden Flower Bubbles
Western Han Dynasty (203 BC-111 BC)
The tomb of King Wen of Nanyue in Guangzhou was unearthed in the collection of the Museum of King Nanyue
A number of welded beads were found on the chest of the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, and the bubble noodles were welded into a variety of three-dimensional patterns such as round, heart-shaped, and braided cord-shaped with gold wire, which was the earliest gold product of the "beading" process found in the mainland. "Beading" is the process of making small round particles of gold or copper and soldering them onto the surface of the gold object as decoration. This craft originated in West Asia, was later mastered by ancient Egypt and Greece, and was introduced to India, Pakistan and other places after Alexander's crusade in the 4th century BC. The origin of the gold flower bubbles excavated from the tomb of King Wen of South Vietnam may be related to Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Exhibits: "Fanyu" Bronze Tripod (Replica)
This copper tripod with the inscription "Fanyu" is engraved with inscriptions such as "Shao Nei" and "Fan Yu" on the lid of the tripod. "Shao Nei" is an official position, which proves that the hundred official system of Nanyue State imitates the Han Dynasty; "Fanyu" is the place name, which was first seen in the historical materials such as "Historical Records", it is the capital of Nanyue, that is, the predecessor of Guangzhou, and is an important material evidence of the construction of ancient Guangzhou.
Southern Net, Guangdong Study Reporter Zhou Cun