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Mystery and Dignity, Chinese Traditional Metal Art
Ancient Chinese metal art are represented by two
styles: bronze wares in the Shang (c 1700-c 1100) and Zhou (c 1100-256 BC)
dynasties and gold and silver wares in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).
Thousands of years of Chinese civilization in the
primitive age has long been sealed in green rust-ridden bronze vessels and
modern people have yet to find the key to opens them. Though we know legends and
myths of our ancestors are kept in those vessels, we have no courage to open
them whenever our eyes touch on horrible appearance of those bronze wares.
While we are eager to unfold the mystery of bronze wares, we may wonder how
significant the Bronze Age is to Chinese civilization. In fact, the time-honored
five-thousand-year Chinese civilization embraced its first peak in Bronze Age,
which set the course for Chinese history. If the history of Egypt is a history
carved on stone, the history of China is a history cast in bronze wares.
Why awe-inspiring bronze wares have always
triggered out in-depth thoughts of us? There is no definite answer so far.
Throughout Chinese hisotry, bronze wares have kept incredible silence. But even
today, historians, archeologists and experts on fine art history have not give
up their study of the mystery of bronze wares.On the remains of the Shang
Dynasty in Henan, you can see no sign of miracle but peaceful villages, familiar
livestock and farmers busy with harvesting. It is hard to believe that
underneath the soil ploughed every year are buried residences of our ancestors.
What you can see is nothing but only shallow square holes dug by archeologists;
there is no sign of ancient bronze ware production. Near the village there is a
stream. According to archeologists, the stream has existed for thousands of
years. How lucky the villagers are! They drink the same water with our
ancestors. In the distance, through the swaying crops and trees, you seem to
envisage smoke rising from the kilns where bronze wares were cast by our
ancestors.
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