The Changxin Palace Lamp | A lamp that lit up the long nights of the Han palace

Visiting the Hebei Provincial Museum was mainly for the Changxin Palace Lamp and the gold and silver inlaid Baoshan Furnace, both of which have been featured in the CCTV documentary series 'If National Treasures Could Talk' (which I've been revisiting recently, highly recommended, with four seasons, 25 episodes each season, one relic per episode, with superb writing and narration that is not only rational but also emotional, giving life and feelings to the artifacts, making them even more touching). Seeing all the artifacts introduced in the documentary series is a small goal for the future, with the next stop likely being Hunan or Henan. The Western Han Changxin Palace Lamp, unearthed in 1968 from the tomb of Liu Sheng's wife Dou Wan in Mancheng County, Hebei Province, was named after the Changxin Palace where it was once placed, which belonged to Empress Dowager Dou (Liu Sheng's grandmother). As for the original owner of the palace lamp, there is no consensus among scholars. One theory, based on the inscription 'Yangxin family' on the body of the lamp, speculates that it originally belonged to the family of Liu Jie, as there are indeed six instances of the 'Yangxin family' inscription on the lamp. Another group of scholars believes that according to the records of bronze artifacts from the 'Yangxin family' during the Han Dynasty, including the Changxin Palace Lamp, a large number of 'Yangxin family' bronzes belonged to Princess Pingyang (Princess Yangxin), the sister of Emperor Wu of Han. The Changxin Palace Lamp is famous for its smooth and beautiful shape, ingenious design, and environmentally friendly concept, and is one of the treasures of the Hebei Provincial Museum. A lamp, its mission was to illuminate the long nights of the Han palace. Its background is that dynasty, those people, those stories. Today, through time, it touches us in the modern era, and the dynasty, people, and stories it represents have become the background of our time. The significance of cultural relics lies in connecting the past and present, in not being forgotten. As history brushes past, the traces are faint yet enduring.