BAOJI, Sept. 10 (WSH) — On the morning of September 10, the 2025 “Chasing the Chinese Dream, Continuing the Chinese Civilization” overseas Chinese media delegation, organized by the Shaanxi Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, visited the China Bronze Museum. Amid the patina of age and intricate bronze patterns, participants traced the veins of bronze to rediscover the living source of Chinese civilization.
Baoji, located on the western edge of the Guanzhong Plain, holds a distinguished place in Chinese archaeology for the sheer abundance, diversity, and artistry of its bronze relics. The city is not only a repository of bronze artifacts but also a cradle of China’s bronze civilization — where the Western Zhou dynasty laid its foundations and the Qin people rose to prominence. Here, Zhou ritual traditions and Qin legal principles intermingled, forming part of the deep cultural genes of the Chinese nation.
“Bronze is not merely a metal, but a marker of an era,” explained the museum guide, helping the delegation appreciate the weight of bronze culture. From ore to artifact, early ancestors reshaped raw metal with ingenuity, opening a new chapter in human civilization, advancing the evolution of early state forms, and expanding humankind’s capacity to engage with nature.
At the core of the museum’s exhibition stands the national treasure He Zun, whose interior inscription bears the four characters “Zhai Zi Zhongguo” — the earliest known written reference to “China.” This inscription serves as a symbolic key, opening the gateway to the origins of Chinese culture and offering overseas Chinese media participants a tangible connection to the nation’s millennia-old legacy.
“Every bronze vessel is a dialogue across the ages,” members of the delegation remarked, as they paused before the intricately decorated ding, zun, and jue. Each artifact conveyed the craftsmanship and inscriptions of antiquity, revealing Baoji’s rich role as a birthplace of Chinese civilization.
The visit was not only an immersive cultural journey but also a spiritual homecoming, linking the emotions of Chinese communities at home and abroad. On these ancient bronzes, the continuity of Chinese civilization flows like an unbroken current, offering fresh and moving testimony to the enduring legacy of the Chinese nation.
(By our staff reporter :Tao Lin)
