Page 15 - 2020 Nov 30 Christie's Hong Kong Scholars Art Of China

LAYING DOWN THE DAGGER,

UPHOLDING BENEVOLENCE

Edited by Hsiung Yi-Ching from an interview with Chang Wei-Hwa

Jade weapons, principally the dagger, are symbols of power and
status of the ruling class, and are very important amongst the
jade artifacts of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The toppling of
Shang by the Western Zhou, and the turbulence in the Spring
and Autumn and Warring States periods turned many rulers
to pursue peace. It is recorded in Zuozhuan that after the Chu
Kingdom won the battle against the Jin, minister Pan Dang
suggested to King Zhuang of Chu to raise a monument by
piling corpses of the Jin army as a warning to the people of Jin,
and to show the other states the military might of the Chu. The
King disagreed, saying: ‘Do you not know that the character wu
(military) is made up of zhi(to stop) and ge(the dagger)?’ It is to
say, therefore, that the true purpose of martial power is to stop
conflict and deter the use of arms. King Wen of Jin once wrote
a letter to Sun Hao, ruler of Wu, to coerce him to surrender: ’…
I intend to lay down the dagger and uphold benevolence, to
spare the lives of my subjects …’, emphasising the urgency of
ceasefire and the importance of benevolent policies.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the start of the Republic,
a significant amount of antiquities were dispersed to foreign
countries due to turbulent warfare. Since the 90s, I have been
collecting these fine Shang and Zhou jades in the hope of
returning them to China. The title ‘Laying down the dagger,
Upholding Benevolence’ occurred to me while looking
through these ceremonial jade weapons with the perspective
of art history. I hope to share these pieces to fellow collectors
and aficionados this fall at Christie’s Hong Kong, and through
these beautiful pieces, we can further understand the profound
artistic and cultural meanings behind them.

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