The King of Swords
Today's post features the most famous bronze sword of ancient China. Figure 1: The Sword of Goujian, Hubei Provincial Museum You may have seen many ancient swords in museums all around the world, yet this one remains the most distinctive in many ways. Firstly, it is one of the oldest of its kind in the world, dating back to the late Spring and Autumn period ( 770–476 B.C.). Throughout this period as China remained politically fragmented with dozens of states competing for dominance, the state of Yue on the southeast coast (today's Zhejiang Province) was renowned for making the best bronze swords. The Sword of Goujian, named after its owner, the most accomplished king of Yue, is the cream of the crop. Figure 2: The chronological timeline from Liangzhu (Neolithic Age) to Eastern Zhou Dynasty (end of Bronze Age) Figure 3: The map of Chinese states in the Spring and Autumn period The second special feature of this sword lies in the fact that it was s...