Sometimes, you may come across several archeologists carefully working in a pit, who eagerly hope that a world acclaimed discovery may be made someday. They really need such "accidental" events to inspire them. Not long ago, some 20 bronze wares were unearthed "accidentally" in Shaanxi. What makes archeologists exciting is there are more than 1,000 inscribed characters on those bronze wares, which are very rare in previous excavations. Those inscriptions surely add some concrete evidence about the history of that time and historians are eager to define the time span of Chinese civilization from those inscriptions. But under the silence and paramount dignity of bronze wares, historians look extremely helpless.

I like that square din with the human face pattern. It is believed to be the only human figure bronze tripod ever unearthed. It looks more kind than those horrible, mysterious food pattern vessels. Who is this human figure? Is it ancestral tribe chieftain Yao or Yu or some king of the time? We have no answer. But looking at his sad but solemn face, I cannot help showing my worship. It is the face of our ancestor. His blood is running in our arteries and part of our genes was rendered by him.

With respect to gold and silver wares of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD), there is no mystery at all. The Silk Road, as we know, made the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) the most prosperous empire in the world at that time. Gold and silver wares are full of exotic features, which show inclusiveness and affinity of Chinese culture. But unfortunately, those exquisite arts and techniques have not been handed down, partly because Chinese people have not appreciated gold, which is quite different from Westerners. Chinese people like purea gold and cannot tolerate impurity. They look at gold more as a currency than as an artistic material. For Chinese people, stone may be more precious than gold, as confirmed by an old saying: "Gold can be priced, but stone is priceless." For centuries, Chinese people's concepts on material have always been sustained by mysterious beliefs and natural forces.

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