Four-Ram Square Zun: War, Destruction, and Renewal

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’ll talk about the Four-Ram Square Zun, a masterpiece of Shang Dynasty bronze art, which has endured centuries of turmoil and restoration, symbolizing the nation’s ancient cultural heritage and its rebirth in the twentieth century.

Transcript

Four-Ram Square Zun：War, Destruction, and Renewal

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’ll talk about the Four-Ram Square Zun, a masterpiece of Shang Dynasty bronze art, which has endured centuries of turmoil and restoration, symbolizing the nation’s ancient cultural heritage and its rebirth in the twentieth century.

On June 14, 2025, the Changsha Museum opened an exhibition called “The Endless Flow of the Yangtze River – The Yangtze and the Chinese Civilization,” as its main event for Culture and Natural Heritage Day. To engage visitors of all ages in exploring the Yangtze River, the museum prepared many fun activities, including exchanging an empty bottle for a cup of Yangtze water to symbolically join the river’s flow. A seemingly ordinary postcard surprises visitors by revealing the image of the Four-Ram Square Zun when sprinkled with water. The ancient zun pictured is a magnificent bronze vessel excavated in the 1930’s in Hunan Province.

This bronze masterpiece, prominently displayed in the core “Ancient China” section of the National Museum of China in Beijing, has long captivated audiences with its grandeur and intricate design. Cast during the late Shang Dynasty (circa 14th to 11th century BCE), the ritual wine vessel stands 58.3 cm tall, with sides measuring 52.4 cm and weighing 34.5 kg. Its exquisite craftsmanship, deep symbolism, and remarkable modern history have together secured its place as a legendary national treasure.

Its story begins in the spring of 1938, on an ordinary hillside in Ningxiang County, Hunan Province. In April 1938, as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression reached its most grueling stalemate, three local brothers, surnamed Jiang, were working in their sweet potato field on a hillside in the county. Suddenly, Jiang Jingshu’s hoe struck something with a clear metallic clang that sent a numbing jolt up his arm. Intrigued, the three brothers paused their work and carefully cleared away the surrounding soil.

As the covering earth was gradually removed, a massive bronze object with an unfamiliar form and a deep green patina emerged. The vessel was square in shape, with a vividly sculpted ram’s head protruding from each of its four corners. Although a small piece of the vessel’s rim was accidentally chipped off by the hoe during the excavation, the artifact – buried underground for over three millennia – was otherwise remarkably intact. According to archaeologists, this vessel is a zun – a type of ritual wine container used by Shang Dynasty nobility during ceremonial feasts.

News of the discovery spread like wildfire through the remote mountain village and quickly caught the attention of antique dealers in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, who had a keen sense for such rare finds. One such dealer, acting swiftly upon hearing the rumor, rushed to the county. After some bargaining, he purchased the uniquely shaped bronze vessel from the Jiang brothers for 400 silver dollars.

Once the Four-Ram Square Zun arrived in Changsha, its extraordinary size, unusual design, and exquisite craftsmanship immediately drew the attention of local cultural relic experts, as well as General Zhang Zhizhong, then Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government. Recognizing the vessel as a national treasure of immense value, General Zhang understood the grave risk it faced amid the chaos of war – potentially being smuggled abroad or destroyed in the fighting. Acting decisively, he ordered the provincial government to intervene.

The government paid the intermediary antique dealer about 30,000 silver dollars and formally brought the Four-Ram Square Zun under state ownership. The national treasure was then ceremoniously transferred to the Hunan Provincial Bank, where it was placed in a secure, secret vault under the special care of designated personnel, thereby safeguarding it from the ravages of war.

However, the cruel reality of war far exceeded what anyone had anticipated. In November 1938, the invading Japanese army advanced toward Changsha. Between the night of November 12 and the 14th, during the implementation of a so-called “scorched earth policy,” a catastrophic fire broke out in the city. The ancient city was engulfed in flames, and countless buildings were reduced to ashes. Immediately afterward, Japanese warplanes launched a sustained and violent bombing campaign against Changsha.

Amid this devastation, the building of the Hunan Provincial Bank – where the Four-Ram Square Zun was stored – was struck directly by a bomb. The powerful explosion instantly destroyed the reinforced vault. When the smoke finally began to clear, staff members, clinging to a final glimmer of hope, combed through the rubble. What they found was heartbreaking: the precious Four-Ram Square Zun had not escaped the disaster. It lay in ruins, shattered into more than 20 fragments of varying size.

Suppressing their grief, those present reverently and meticulously gathered every recoverable piece. Each fragment was carefully placed into a specially made wooden box. This box, now bearing the broken soul of a nation, was then secretly transferred to a more hidden and deeper corner of another Hunan Bank warehouse – sheltered away with the hope that one day, in an era of peace, it could be restored.

And so, it remained hidden – for more than a decade. As war raged on and the nation was plunged into upheaval, the fragments of the Four-Ram Square Zun lay in silence, cloaked in darkness and dust, as if momentarily forgotten by the flow of history.

In 1952, as the wheels of history turned, the newly founded People’s Republic of China was in its infancy, with the nation embarking on a massive effort to rebuild from the ruins. Amid this restoration, the central government placed great importance on the protection and recovery of cultural heritage. Under the personal attention and directives of Zhou Enlai – then Vice Premier and Director of the Culture and Education Committee of the State Council – the national cultural authorities launched a systematic investigation to trace and recover invaluable artifacts that had been lost or damaged during the turmoil of modern warfare.

Guided by a few vague clues and the recollections of veteran cultural workers, investigators turned their attention to Hunan. After extensive searching, they finally located a long-forgotten wooden box hidden deep within a remote, unopened vault of the Hunan Bank. As the lid of the box was slowly lifted, the sight that met their eyes moved everyone present: a pile of bronze fragments – scarred, corroded with green patina, and of various shapes and sizes – lay quietly within.

Though sorrowed by the damage, those present also felt immense relief that the pieces had survived the chaos of war. After 14 years of silence and obscurity, the shattered remains of the Four-Ram Square Zun had finally seen the light of day again – ushering in the first rays of hope for its eventual rebirth.

Restoring this severely damaged national treasure was an extraordinarily difficult and daunting task – one that ultimately fell to Zhang Xinru, a seasoned cultural relic restoration expert at the Hunan Provincial Museum. Confronted with a chaotic heap of twisted, deformed, and fragmentary bronze pieces – many with blurred edges and virtually no clear clues for reassembly – Zhang felt the immense weight of responsibility upon his shoulders.

At the time, China’s restoration technology and equipment were extremely limited. Without the aid of advanced scientific instruments, restoration work relied almost entirely on the restorer’s deep experience, keen eye, exceptional patience, and deft hands. For Zhang, the process was akin to performing a meticulous surgical operation.

He began by thoroughly cleaning each fragment, delicately removing the soil, grime, and corrosive rust that clung to the surfaces. Then came the long and grueling process of reassembly – like solving an extraordinarily complex three-dimensional puzzle. Zhang carefully compared the shape, thickness, curvature, decorative patterns, and breakage edges of each piece, mentally reconstructing their original placement.

To ensure structural stability and visual integrity, he crafted many custom tools and employed the most reliable method available at the time: traditional tin soldering. With focused precision and unwavering attention to detail, he gradually welded each correctly matched fragment into place.

The entire restoration took nearly two years of painstaking effort. When the final piece was securely set, a miracle emerged: the once-shattered fragments – long deemed impossible to restore – were reassembled into the magnificent Four-Ram Square Zun. Thanks to Zhang Xinru’s masterful craftsmanship and ingenuity, the vessel’s awe-inspiring form and intricate beauty were brought back to life, restoring its original majesty and splendor.

In 1959, to grandly celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Museum of Chinese History was established on the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. This institution later merged with the Museum of the Chinese Revolution in 2003 to form the National Museum of China, which officially opened in its newly constructed building.

As the nation’s premier venue for showcasing the brilliant 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization, the museum required a collection of the most iconic and culturally significant treasures – artifacts that embody the essence of Chinese heritage. Among them, the successfully restored Four-Ram Square Zun stood out unequivocally. With its unparalleled artistic value, exquisite craftsmanship, and its poignant, legendary journey through national suffering and revival, it was rightfully chosen as one of the museum’s centerpiece exhibits.

The vessel was solemnly transported from Hunan to Beijing and placed in the newly established Museum of Chinese History. Thus, the Four-Ram Square Zun finally ended more than 20 years of displacement and uncertainty following its excavation. It found a permanent, well-protected home in China’s highest-ranking museum, becoming one of the most captivating treasures on display – continuing to tell generations of visitors from around the world the story of ancient China’s magnificent bronze civilization.

Well, that’s the end of part one of our podcast on the Four-Ram Square Zun. And we hope you’ll tune in next time for part 2. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Wang Yuyan, 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.