The Many Faces of the Kingdom of Shu

Archaeology Magazine ^ | November/December 2024 | Ling Xin

[SunkenCiv]

The fourth-century a.d. Chronicles of Huayang, the oldest surviving Chinese geographical survey, records that Sichuan was once the domain of the Kingdom of Shu. According to these chronicles, one Shu king, who is described as having bulging eyes, taught his people how to cultivate silkworms, while another had the ability to communicate with fish. For thousands of years, the Kingdom of Shu was known only through such semilegendary accounts. Then, in 1927, a father and son dug a ditch at the site of three earthen mounds near the banks of the Yazi River in central Sichuan, 25 miles northeast of present-day Chengdu. They found that the mounds, known locally as Sanxingdui, or "three-star mounds," concealed hundreds of jade artifacts, including ceremonial tablets and scepters. Archaeologists who excavated the site soon thereafter discovered that the mounds were, in fact, remnants of a wall that surrounded a Bronze Age city that had existed around the same time as the Shang Dynasty. Perhaps, they thought, Sanxingdui had been the capital of the elusive Kingdom of Shu.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Courtesy Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

[SunkenCiv]

A tale no tongue can tell. /rimshot

[Larry Lucido]

Sichuan chicken

[Larry Lucido]

“one Shu king, who is described as having bulging eyes, taught his people how to cultivate silkworms, while another had the ability to communicate with fish.”

Fortunately, they figured out that you eat the fish, and make fabric from silkworms, and not vice versa.

[Does so]

As one who collects bronze items for their “melt value”, I see reservoirs of raw metal for new bronze carvings and castings.

[SunkenCiv]

I wonder if anyone had the ability to communicate with the silkworms?

[Larry Lucido]

Just Karen Silkworm.

[dp0622]

Dam Now I have to go look up what the heck a silkworm is.

[Larry Lucido]

If you’ve ever worn a silk tie or a silk shirt, now you know.

[Long Jon No Silver]

[SunkenCiv]

He was in The Last Remake of the Kingdom of Shu, if memory serves.

[dp0622]

Sometimes it’s embarassing what you don’t know, until you know :)

[Long Jon No Silver]

Young Shustein

[SunkenCiv]

I figure there was also a Florsheim involved in this kingdom.

[Ezekiel]

I figure there was also a Florsheim involved in this kingdom.

That's what I came in here for.

Or a stir-Frye.

(Running off now before I get the boot..)

🏃‍♀️ . . . .

[chajin]

“All God’s chilluns got Shus”

(a later description by the Song dynasty)

[Adder]

another had the ability to communicate with fish.

I can do that...they do not have a lot to say.

[Larry Lucido]

Makes you wonder what goes into French Silk pies!

[SunkenCiv]

It's really about communicating with many at the same time, a matter of scale.

To teach communication with fish, the Kingdom of Shu had a school.