According to Netease.com's inquiry, the sword of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, was written with a bird print: "The king of Yue is shallow, and I will use it as soon as I see it." Translating these eight words into today's modern words is "Gou Jian, the king of Yue, acts as a sword." The bird seal script that appears here is also the predecessor of Chinese characters today, and it is a commonly used Chinese character writing method in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Gou Jianjian, a national first-class cultural relic of the State of Yue, was unearthed in the Chu Tomb of Wangshan, jiangling county, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province in the winter of 1965. Through nondestructive scientific testing, its main alloy components are copper, tin, lead, iron, sulfur and so on. This pattern contains high sulfur, because copper sulfide can prevent rust.