Dings---Chinese Culture of Ding

As a unified, multi-ethnic country, China, witnessed Ding, coming to be one of the cultural representation in the course establishment of Chinese civilization. As early as 8,000 years ago, terra cotta Ding was firstly made to be used for cooking food, which brought a great leap to Chinese cuisine culture. Legendary says that Yellow Emperor manufactured three Dings to represent “Heaven, Earth, Human”, and Yu the Great, cast the “Nine Dings(Nine Tripod Cauldrons)” to symbolize the “Nine Zhous (Commanderies, ancient provinces in China)”. Around 4,000 years ago, with the founding of the first formalized regime in China, Ding was endowed novel cultural significance, the sign of the supremacy. Followed by the successive improvement, the Ding-related culture, had been deeply rooted the Chinese traditional cultural system, and Ding, has become the spiritual emblem of Chinese nation.

With the cooperation from about 30 prestigious museums in China, Henan Museum host the unprecedented Ding-themed exhibition, which features nearly 140 pieces/sets Ding(tripod cauldron) of diversified medium, unearthed or survived in China with time span from the Neolithic Age to Qing Dynasty. The exhibition is divided into six parts that cover the whole progress, roles, significance of Ding in Chinese history, and the show has attracted a great quantity of viewers since it opened to public. The exhibition will be closed on Jan. 5th, 2014.