He zun

The He zun (何尊) is an ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel of the zun shape. It is more than 2,700 years old from the era of Western Zhou, and famous as the oldest artifact with the written characters meaning "Middle Kingdom", that is, "China" (中國) in a bronze inscription on the container. Today it is in the Baoji Bronze Museum (宝鸡青铜器博物院) in Shaanxi.

The vessel is 38.8cm tall, 28.8 cm in diameter and weights 14.6kg. Inside the container, at the base, it contained 12 rows of 122 inscribed Chinese characters. Of the 122 characters, 119 are identified while 3 are unknown. Among the characters is the phrase (宅茲中國) inscribed in Zhou era form. This is the earliest known artifact to contain the word "Middle Kingdom/China (中國)". It is also the earliest known vessel bearing the character de 德. He zun later became one of only 64 designated pieces of historical artifacts that can never leave Chinese soil.

The construction of the city of Luoyi (洛邑) was documented in two chapters of the Classic of History. This vessel also supports the claim. Historians believe King Wu of Zhou was at Haojing (鎬京) at the time after the construction of Luoyi. The record shows King Cheng of Zhou established his residence in Chengzhou (成周) in his 5th year. Most scholars consider this was 5th year after Duke of Zhou handed over the government.

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