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3,000-year-old artifacts - in the Sanxingdui

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Chinese relics, bronze mask from Sanxingdui 三星堆.

Dec, 2019, National Museum of China.

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The Mysterious Sanxingdui（part2)

Another important belief of the ancient Shu people was sun worship.

古蜀人的另外一项重要信仰，是太阳崇拜。

Since ancient times, the ancestors believed that in the easternmost, central and westernmost parts of the sky, there were three sacred trees connecting heaven and earth, named Fusang, Jianmu and Ruomu.

从上古时代起，先民们就相信，在天的最东边、最中央和最西边，分别有三棵连通天地的神树，名为扶桑、建木和若木。

In the easternmost Fusang divine tree, there are ten more golden crows inhabiting the tree, which are ten suns.

在最东边的扶桑神树上，又栖息着十只金乌，这十只金乌，就是十个太阳。

Every day at dawn, one of the golden crows will rise from Fusang in a six-dragon chariot and sail to Jianmu, whereupon the sun rises in the east.

每天黎明时分，其中一只金乌会乘六龙车从扶桑起驾，驶往建木，于是太阳东升；

By the time the Golden Crow reached Jianmu, it was midday

当金乌到达建木时，就到了正午时分；

Then the golden crow sailed again from Jianmu to Ruomu, the sun set in the west, and the day thus turned into night.

随后，金乌又从建木驶往若木，太阳西落，白昼由此转入黑夜。

The sacred tree and the golden crow, together control the change of day and night, which for the first people who had to rely on the sun for their labors, meant life itself.

神树与金乌，共同掌控着昼夜更替，这对于必须依靠太阳进行劳作的先民来说，就意味着生命本身。

On the other hand, legend has it that in the location of the Fusang tree, a huge tribe was derived, named Dongyi, with the divine bird as a totem for generations, worshipping the sun god. The leader of the Dongyi tribe, Shao Hao, was also the ancestor of the ancient king of Shu, Cancong.

另一方面，传说在扶桑神树的所在地，衍生了一个庞大的部落，名为东夷，世代以神鸟为图腾，崇拜太阳神。而东夷部落的首领少昊，也正是古蜀王蚕丛的祖先。

So we can understand why such exquisite and huge bronze sacred trees, as well as a large number of sun-shaped artifacts, were unearthed from the site of Sanxingdui.

所以我们就能够理解，为什么从三星堆遗址中会出土如此精美、庞大的青铜神树，以及大量的太阳形器物了。

There are a total of eight bronze sacred trees, of which the most completely restored one is 4 meters high and is the world's largest known single bronze relic, named the "No. 1 sacred tree".

青铜神树一共有八棵，其中修复最完整的一棵高达4米，是目前全世界已知最大的单件青铜文物，被命名为“一号神树”。

On this bronze sacred tree, there are nine downward curving branches, and on each of them stands a divine bird with its head and wings spread, a metaphor for one of the ten golden crows flying from Fusang to Jianmu after the sun rises in the east.

在这棵青铜神树上，有九条向下弯曲的枝干，每条枝干上都伫立着一只昂首展翅的神鸟，喻示着十只金乌中的其中一只从扶桑飞往建木以后，太阳东升。

This is exactly the scene of "nine days in the lower branch and one day in the upper branch" as stated in the Shanhaijing.

这正是《山海经》所言“九日居下枝，一日居上枝”的场景。

There is another artifact that more directly reflects the sun worship of the ancient Shu ancestors, and it was just as stunning to everyone when it was unearthed: the gold leaf of the Sun God bird unearthed at the Jinsha site.

还有一件能更直接反映古蜀先民崇拜太阳的文物，它出土的时候，也同样惊艳了所有人，那就是出土于金沙遗址的太阳神鸟金箔。

We'll talk more about this next time

to be continued....