The Discovery And Research History Of Ancient Chinese Bronzes

Chinese ancient bronzes are the famous cultural heritages in the world.The bronzes are three thousand years from the prehistoric times to the Warring States Period.The study of bronzes is almost a thousand years nowsince the Northern Song Dynasty.There is an urgent need for us to make a summary of the bronzes research.In this paper,the method of time staging is used to analyze the characteristics and methods of bronzes research in each period,and describes the development and evolution of bronzes studies in the past thousand years.There are five stages.First,the Germination period is befor the Song Dynasty.People still think that the bronze is an auspicious sign.There is a little research on the bronzes,and a little literature records.Second,The embryonic period of the bronzes studies is from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.The scholars,who have denominated and classified to the bronzes make a greater contribution to the bronzes.The basic feature is the emphasis on inscriptions.what is creating a first research paradigm of bronzes research,set a good example for future generations.The bronzes are the object of academic research actively,to correct the common name and the proper name in Song Dynasty.Third,the metamorphosis period of the bronzes studies in The Republic of China.The division method of the standard bronzes is proposed.The denominating is more clearly and the classification ismore rigorous.Especially after the introduction of western archaeology,which is the application of stratigraphy and typology,making the bronzes research has produced a huge transformation.This has become a branch of the archaeology.Fourth,the fusion period is from 1950s to the end of 1970s.The study of the bronzes has truly become a branch of archaeology.Staging system is more perfect,research achievements,and focus on the question of the origin of the bronzes,extended to the category of research tools,weapons,tools etc...Fifth,the mature period is from 1980s to 2010s.A comprehensive study of the bronzes has become a consensus.There is the "multi-factor comprehensive analysis method'.The partition basic construction of Chinese bronzes culture pedigree categories of more detailed research.The research of the bronzes,which focus on interactions with other cultures,in-depth study of bronze culture,nationality and civilization and the world civilization.There are three reasons for the development of the history of the ancient Chinese bronze ware research.The first is the material reason.In July 1925,Mr.Wang Guowei on the speech in Tsinghua University pointed out:"The new knowledges are mostly due to the new discoveries." It is precisely because of the continuous discovery of bronzes,especially the advent of archaeological bronze,which has promoted the newborn of the bronzes studes.The second is the academic reason,mainly the intervention of archaeology.After the introduction of Western archaeology,the application of stratigraphy and typology made great changes in the study of bronzes,and really become a branch of archaeology.Since then,the research of bronze ware is completely new in terms of purpose,object,content,method and so on.In early period,the purposes is to explore the truth of things,to the metamorphosis period,the purposes turn into investigate the human social life at that time from bronzes relics and related sites.During the period of germination and embryonic,the study object is confined to the occasional scattered the bronzes.During the metamorphosis period,the study object is the bronzes which are handed down from ancient times and the bronzes which is the newly unearthed.During the fusion and mature period,the study object is the bronzes which are unearthed in the world,including the bronzes instruments,weapons,tools,and etc...The research content is summarized as "the three levels and six lines".The three levels are Archaeology,Art,and Technology.The six lines are the shape,decoration,inscription,stage,regional and casting.The three levels are relatively independent,while the six lines is crossing examined.On the method,the bronzes research is from simple to complex.The bronzes research is from single objects to groups,and then promoted to culture and other deep-seated aspects.The bronzes research not only combines historical documents with unearthed discoveries,but also observes them from an archaeological point of view and conducts multidisciplinary studies.The research paradigm is basically mature.The germination and embryonic period of the classification of bronzes is the method of epigraphy.The metamorphosis period is the method of typological in archaeology.The fusion and mature period is the method of multilevel taxonomy.Finally,there is the change of the scholar.During the period of Germination and embryonic,the scholars most are the paleographies,scribes and epigraphies.From the embryonic period to the mature period,for scholar it has a change to divide into two group.One is paleography and historian,and another is archaeologist.At the same time,there are many natural scientists involved.The two research groups learn from each other,and work together to create a new era of Chinese ancient bronze research.In addition,I will point out a few things.This paper studies include bronze ware,bronze weapons and musical instruments,tools,etc.,not including bronze coins,bronze mirrors and other categories.Because of the research monographs on inscription,this paper do not introduce too much.As a result of the time and my capacity,this paper don't discuss much of bronze casting technology and overseas bronze research.I hope I have the opportunity to comple them in the future.