Bronzeware: The Story of Taibao Ding

Today, we’re going talk about a 3000-year-old piece of bronzeware from the Western Zhou Dynasty that distinguishes itself with its delicate design and fascinating story of survival through a peasant uprising and the tumultuous warlord era.

A Chinese Ding 鼎is a type of object used in rituals and important ceremonies to offer sacrifices. And since the Shang Dynasty of some 3,000 years ago, Dings have come to symbolize the power and wealth of their owner, and later even that of the nation.

You may still recall our previous episode on the Houmuwu Ding 后母戊鼎from the Shang Dynasty. As one of the main attractions at the National Museum of China, it weighs in at a whopping 832 kilograms. But the Ding we are going to talk about today is pint-sized by comparison, weighing only 26 kilograms, but this priceless artifact is considered to be the most treasured piece at the Tianjin Museum. Renowned both domestically and internationally, it has been classified as a national treasure for its exceptional historic and artistic value.

Taibao Ding 太保鼎 is a rectangular cauldron with a length of 35.8 centimeters, a width of 22.8 centimeters, and an overall height of 57.6 centimeters. It has four legs and upraised handles cast onto the edge of the shorter rim. But you wouldn’t want to grab these handles with your hands as each one has a pair of mythical beasts crawling up the sides and meeting at the top. The ding would have likely been carried by inserting a pole through the handles instead. The four sides of its body are decorated with plantain leaf patterns and designs of ferocious beasts called taotie 饕餮. The decorations on the legs are most notable, featuring flanges on the upper sections and rings around their mid-sections – decorations not found on any other Shang or Zhou dynasty bronzeware.

Judging from its shape and decorations, Taibao Ding should have been cast during the early Western Zhou Dynasty, which existed from 1046 BCE to 771 BCE. It was named so based on the inscriptions in the interior wall of its body. Taibao refers to the official title of the Grand Guardian, established in the Western Zhou for the high-ranking official who protected the emperor and assisted him with governing the kingdom.

It is believed to have been excavated around the 1820s to the 1860s at Mount Liang in the southwest of east China’s Shandong Province at some point during the reign of emperor Daoguang or Xianfeng during the Qing Dynasty. And lucky for us, there’s a little tale to be told about its excavation.

A gang of poor peasants living on the edge of starvation gathered at Mount Liang to plot a rebellion. They chose Mount Liang because they wanted to follow the example of the 108 outlaws made famous in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Set on Mount Liang, the novel details the trials and tribulations of the 108 “righteous bandits” who preyed selectively on the rich in the Northern Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1127.

Before initiating the uprising, they accidentally discovered what was later known as the “seven treasures of Mount Liang”, which included Taibao Ding, together with six other cooking and wine vessels. They divided up the bronzewares and broke up in an uproar. The seven treasures, which had been buried for thousands of years, have since been scattered in times of war and chaos. In the end, Taibao Ding came to be the only one of the seven that remained in China.

Textual research indicates that Taibao Ding was cast by the Duke of Shao to commemorate his appointment as the Grand Guardian (taibao) during the reign of King Cheng of the Western Zhou Dynasty.  The Duke of Shao was a brother of King Wu, the founding ruler of the dynasty. When King Wu died and his young son King Cheng assumed the throne, the Duke of Shao took over the regency, together with the Duke of Zhou. The former was appointed as the Grand Guardian and the latter the Grand Preceptor (taishi 太师). The two positions, together with the Grand Mentor (taifu 太傅), have been the three senior-most positions of the Chinese dynasties, which are jointly known as the Three Dukes.

The Western Zhou Dynasty followed the Shang practice of ruling through fiefdoms. The Duke of Shao ruled the state of Yan, one of the largest states in the northeast around modern-day Beijing. Over his regency, the Duke of Shao was responsible for supervising the western territories, which means that he was rarely in his own state in the northeast. So the question is, how come the Taibao Ding was unearthed in neither his fiefdom of Yan nor one of the western states, but instead at Mount Liang in the east?

There has been no solid historical evidence to answer the question. Some historians speculate that it might have to do with the Fengshan 封禅sacrifice ceremony at Mount Tai, the greatest of five sacred mountains located in the middle of Shandong Province, not very far away from Mount Liang. 

Since ancient times some 5,000 years ago, kings and emperors would come to Mount Tai to pay homage to heaven and earth at the moment they assume the crown or in years of peace and abundant harvest. Completing the ceremony would allow the kings and emperors to receive the mandate of heaven. High-ranking officials and dukes would follow the kings and emperors to attend the ceremony. They would also be conferred with a tangmuyi 汤沐邑, a fiefdom for accommodation and bathing before the ceremony. The tangmuyi of the Duke of Shao was probably at Mount Liang and the seven treasures might well be the family heirlooms of the Duke of Shao and his descendants.

Many coveting eyes have been cast upon the seven treasures since their excavation. However, there is an unwritten rule in the antique circle that for precious national treasures such as Taibao Ding, if you don’t have a strong vibe, once you own them, they will cause disaster to befall you rather than bringing you good fortune. Therefore, Taibao Ding finally went into the hands of Xu Shichang 徐世昌, who served as the Grand Guardian in the late Qing Dynasty in 1905.

Born in 1855 in central China’s Henan Province, Xu was the fellow countryman and closest friend of Yuan Shikai 袁世凯, one of China’s most significant political and military figures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1912, as the military commander of the Beiyang Army, Yuan forced the abdication of Puyi 溥仪, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and became the President of the Republic of China. Yuan extended his invitation several times before Xu finally agreed to assume the position of Secretary of State under Yuan’s presidency.

However, Yuan had no intention of shoring up the fledgling republic. He viewed the presidency as a steppingstone to the imperial throne. So, when Yuan attempted to revive the imperial throne and place himself upon it, Xu Shichang resigned his post in protest. Yuan’s imperial ambition was confronted with a storm of protest and the breakaway of several provinces, forcing him to abandon the restoration of the monarchy in 1916. When he died three months later, China entered the warlord era, fragmenting into a jigsaw of regional warlords and military cliques.

In 1917, Xu took Taibao Ding under his protection, and perhaps the bronzeware treasure did indeed bring him better luck because the next year he was elected the second president of the republic. His election was largely engineered by the then Prime Minister and Anhui warlord Duan Qirui 段祺瑞. Xu was chosen because as a civilian, he had close ties to the Beiyang Army and was neutral to the powerful rivaling warlords. Lacking any military power of his own, he had to play the warlords against one another to stay in power.

This lasted until 1922, when Xu was pressured out of office after Duan Qirui was defeated by a rivaling warlord coalition. His presidency lasted the longest during the warlord era. Since then, Xu led a retired life in Tianjin, devoting his time to his collection of paintings and calligraphy. Before his death in 1939, he had become one of the most famous collectors of his time. 

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, his daughter-in-law donated a number of his collections, including Taibao Ding, to the Tianjin Municipal Government. This is how a national treasure cast some 3,000 years ago was finally housed at the Tianjin Museum and became its most treasured piece.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Song Yimin, translator Yang Guang, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.