Tripod vessel site of the Yellow Emperor
( chinadaily.com.cn )
Updated: 2013-05-31
Tripod vessel site of the Yellow Emperor
This is located in the town of Pingyang, 25 km from Sanmenxia. Legend has it that it is the site where the ancestor of all the Chinese, the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), cast a copper ding (a tripod vessel with two handles, and a sign of power) as a sacrifice to heaven. The Book of History’s Worshiping Heaven and Earth section states, “The Yellow Emperor collected copper from the Shoushan Mountains and cast the Ding beneath the Jingshan Mountains. When the casting was complete, the Yellow Emperor died and an acolyte, Zuo Che, gathered up the emperor’s clothes and walking stick and made a sacrifice to the Yellow Emperor.” The name of the site is “Yellow-Emperor-tripod-vessel-casting” site.
It has a stone tablet with an inscription that describes the event, which dates back to 801 and is the oldest inscription of its kind, an indication of the site’ s history.
Edited by Roger Bradshaw