In July 1991, old farmer Tran Hai Quy in Long Trung village, Sa Dien town, Ha Chau city, Guangxi province, China, was very angry when he discovered that the peanut plants in his field that were about to be harvested had been destroyed by animals. Despite trying many methods, the situation of the peanut fields being destroyed still did not improve.
One night, Mr. Tran finally saw the "culprit" destroying his peanut field. It was a pack of foxes.
Old Tran did not understand why these foxes ate his peanuts. At that time, he rushed forward with a hoe, the foxes saw people and were so scared that they turned and ran away. They quickly disappeared and in the end, only a trace of one fox remained.
Mr. Tran chased after it, but because it was late at night, he did not dare to run deeper into the forest. However, the farmer saw the fox enter a cave on the cliff and disappear. When he reached the place, Mr. Tran blocked the cave entrance with a rock, marked it, and then decided to go down the mountain.
The next day, Tran Hai Quy called his son and a villager to follow the previous night's trail to the mountainside to find the fox's den again. The three of them brought flashlights and some other tools.
When they arrived, the cave was dark, the walls were slippery, and the ground was rough. Luckily, all three of them had flashlights with them, so they could use them to navigate inside the cave. There were traces of man-made structures on the cave walls. This cave did not appear to have been formed naturally.
Mr. Tran, his son and a villager went to catch foxes in a mysterious cave. (Illustration photo)
When Mr. Tran shined his flashlight deep inside the cave, he was surprised to see something strange. At first, Mr. Tran thought it was a fox and intended to use his hoe to teach the animal a lesson. However, after getting closer, he realized that it was not a fox or a living creature. Instead, it was a large old bronze pot.
Strange ancient vase
Therefore, the three of them did not dare to go deeper into the cave. However, Mr. Tran felt that the vase in the fox cave might be a treasure, so he brought it back to the village at the foot of the mountain.
The news of Mr. Tran finding the strange vase in the fox cave quickly reached many people in the village. At this time, a group of antique and relic traders came to him and asked directly: "800,000 NDT, will you sell it?".
In the early 1990s, 800,000 yuan (about 2.6 billion VND) was a large sum of money. Faced with this attractive offer, Mr. Tran still hesitated to sell. Later, another group of people came to ask to buy the vase. At this time, Mr. Tran thought that the vase he found in the fox cave could be a valuable treasure, because it attracted so many antique dealers. Therefore, this farmer decided not to sell the vase.
While Mr. Tran did not know what to do with the ancient vase, information about him and the incident spread and attracted the attention of officials and experts on cultural relics.
Under the guidance of the villagers, the experts found Mr. Tran Hai Quy and did some ideological work. After listening to the experts, Mr. Tran took out the vase. When the experts saw this bronze vase, they were very surprised and asked Mr. Tran where he found it.
Mr. Tran honestly recounted the details of the process of finding this special bronze item. After listening, the experts burst out laughing and even joked: "Then we have to thank that fox!".
This mysterious cave is actually an ancient tomb dating back about 2,500 years.
Who is the owner of the antique vase?
There is no way a bronze object like this could have appeared naturally in a cave. Archaeologists judged that there must be some secret hidden in this cave.
Under the guidance of Mr. Tran Hai Quy and others, experts found the mysterious cave. No foxes were found, but at the place where Mr. Tran found the bronze vase, after investigation, experts discovered that this was actually an ancient tomb from the Warring States period, with a history of about 2,500 years.
Experts immediately began excavating the cave. As a result, they found 33 valuable cultural relics, including many items made of bronze, pottery, and shell coins.
However, the most valuable object in this fox cave is the oddly shaped vase found by Mr. Tran.
Although the outside of the vase has a layer of rust, it still cannot hide the simple yet majestic and sophisticated shape. In particular, experts found that the carving art on the body of the vase is extremely skillful, the patterns are also very delicate and vivid.
This ancient bronze vase is about 53.7 cm high, 28 cm long, weighs 21.5 kg, has a unicorn head, a dragon embossed on its back, a phoenix attached to its tail, and many unique, sophisticated patterns on its body. These details show the superb craftsmanship of ancient craftsmen.
The combination of three legendary creatures such as dragon, phoenix and unicorn in one vase shows that this is a rare masterpiece in the archaeological world.
Most experts agree that this is the first time the three mascots of dragon, phoenix, and unicorn have been combined on the same vase like this. The fact that it is decorated with mascots such as dragon, phoenix, or unicorn shows that the status of the owner of this ancient vase is extremely high.
With the help of experts from the National Museum, experts all agreed that the owner of this unicorn vase was a prince from the Warring States period.
This unicorn-shaped vase was used as a vessel for fine wine. In addition, according to the curator of the Xiazhou Museum, this bronze vase was also a ritual object used in major sacrificial ceremonies. To date, this is the only bronze vase that combines the dragon, phoenix, and unicorn mascots found in China.
According to experts, finding such a delicately crafted vase in Ha Chau shows that there was extensive cultural exchange here.
Thanks to the ancient vase, experts have found many cultural relics in Ha Chau city.
Ancient vase becomes national treasure
In addition, the discovery of this vase is like a key that helps experts open the treasure trove of cultural relics hidden underground for thousands of years in Ha Chau. Specifically, after expanding the scope of investigation and excavation, in just a few months, Ha Chau Museum has seized more than 30,000 cultural relics.
Although Mr. Tran and other villagers voluntarily handed over cultural relics without asking for any reward, the local cultural heritage authority awarded each of them a certificate of merit and a bonus of 200 yuan.
The ancient bronze vase in the shape of a unicorn has been recognized as a national treasure of China. This treasure has also been displayed in many places in this country since 1993. In addition, the strange-looking vase has been brought to many countries around the world such as Denmark, France, the Netherlands and many countries in Europe. Currently, the ancient vase is kept at the National Museum of China.
(Source: Vietnamese Women)
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