Warriors of Ancient Ba Tribe
In Chinese, this kind of architecture is called 鈥済anlan鈥.
The word 鈥済anlan鈥 originated from phonetic symbols of the Han language used by ancients of ethnic minorities in southern China. It referred to a house on piles. 鈥淕anlan鈥 is a general term for traditional wooden structures. Today, it is very difficult to see this type of building in the cities.
40/13/12
Here we can find many symbols called 鈥済anlan鈥. These are the bronze musical instruments warriors played on the battlefield thousands of years ago. Archaeologists confirmed that the patterns belonged to the 鈥済anlan-type鈥 pictographs. All these make one think of the ancient Ba warriors. Did they live in such houses, getting married and having children? Did they make the intimidating swords right in wooden buildings like these?
40/56/00
Many years later, we can still see the relationship this city has with the ancient warriors. In the beginning of 20th century, photographs of the city were exactly the same as the capital of Ba described in historical documents. The city was made up of houses built on piles. This is Chongqing, the city located on the western end of the Three Gorges area. According to historical accounts and legendary stories, Chongqing was the most important capital city of the Ba, called 鈥淛iangzhou鈥 at that time. It is hard to find any trace of the ancient warriors in the people who live there now. But many people are familiar with the legends about the ancient warriors.
42/10/00
In one of the city's museums, some excavated relics belonging to Ba warriors were kept for half of a century. They were excavated in the southern and northwestern suburbs. They were bronze weapons grouped together, with strange-shaped patterns. They are almost the same as the weapons discovered now in Three Gorges archeological site. The most important sign etched on the weapons is the vivid image of the tiger. More astonishingly, the bronze ware was placed at the side of the dead and put into boat coffins to be buried deep down the earth. Today, the large boats look as if they are cruising on the river. Are they boats or coffins?
43/17/00
Half a century ago, archeologists were astonished to find such an unusual tomb. They had never seen anything like it before. 77-year-old archeologist Wang Jiayou was one of the excavators.
