1965, archaeologists conducted a rescue excavation of an ancient tomb in the Spring and Autumn Period in Jiangling, Hubei Province, which was the first sword in the world. The appraisal of C- 14 shows that it has been buried underground for 2400 years, but it was still cold when it was unearthed. Later experiments also proved that it not only does not rust, but also is extremely sharp today.
The inscription on the sword
This sword is only 55.7 cm long, and its body is engraved with eight-character inscriptions. These eight characters use a special Chinese font-Bird Seal. Bird print is one of China's pictographic calligraphy. It has a long history and prevailed in Chu, Wu and Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Bird seal script is actually a deformation of seal script. Every word is written in the shape of a bird, which is as beautiful as a picture, so it is generally used as an artistic font. It is generally believed that bird seal script originated in Chu State, and there was bird totem worship in ancient Chu State. At present, many bronzes unearthed in Jingchu area during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are engraved with this font.
Ge Bird Seal in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty
After the sword was unearthed, top archaeologists and experts in ancient Chinese characters had a heated discussion on the words on the sword. Of these eight words, six are basically uncontroversial. They are "the king of Yue used the sword first", and the focus of the debate is mainly the two words behind the two sons of "the king of Yue".
Scholar Guo Moruo
The famous scholar Mr. Guo Moruo and others think that these two words should be "Shao Jian" from the glyph, and explain that "Shao Jian" is a person's name and should be a masterpiece given by Chu State to Yue State. After making meritorious deeds, he was made King of Yue by the State of Chu. Tang Lan, an expert in ancient Chinese characters, thinks that these two characters should be "dove shallow", which is a generic word just like "Zha", which means "Left" and "dove shallow" means "Gou Jian". It also shows that in ancient Vietnamese, "Hatoyama" and "Goujian" should be homophonic.
Yuewangjian
Mr Tang Lan's explanation has been recognized by many experts. Since then, the word "Gou Jian's own sword" has become a general explanation of the eight-character inscription on this sword, meaning "the sword made and used by Gou Jian himself"
Tang Lan, an ancient philologist
Although this sword has been officially defined as Gou Jian's sword, the explanation of the inscription on the sword is still controversial, but in any case, this sword is still well preserved after being buried underground for 2400 years, which has great historical significance, so it should also bear the reputation of "the first sword in the world".