The Hsia Dynasty is still clouded in the legendary period of Chinese history. As geological researches have not yet established the exact date of the Chinese bronze age, we are in no position to say when the Hsia Dynasty began or ended; nor are we certain on anything belonging to that age in general, much less on the Tripods in particular. We have only two historical references, which can be used to indirectly prove that the Tripods were cast during the Hsia Dynasty: (1) Students of the oracle bones have discovered that during the Shang Dynasty, the Tripods were objects of sacrificial offerings and respected as holy as the spirits of the imperial ancestors. (2) There is no direct or indirect mention in any Chinese historical record which can be interpreted to mean that the Shang Dynasty itself cast the Nine Tripods which it did hold in such holy respect. Moreover, during the 640 years of the Shang Dynasty, no reference to the Nine Tripods can be found, while their origin and their removal from Hsia to Shang were mentioned by both Tso and Micius as stated above.
Records concerning the removal of the Tripods to Chou and their appearances during the Chou Dynasty are ample. To quote a few instances: (1) In Tso Chuan it is recorded that when in 606 B. C. Federal Lord Chuang Wang became interested in the possession of the Nine Tripods and asked Wang Sun-man about their weight, the latter curtly told him that kingly virtue should count more than the possession of the Tripods; (2) In Sze Ma Chien's History it is recorded that in 403 B. C. the Nine Tripods quaked violently; (3) In 307 B. C. Wu Wang killed himself by playfully lifting a Tripod above his head; and the last mention about the Nine Tripods is that in 273 B. C. Ma Fan (馬犯) admitted that he had advocated the removal of the Tripods to Liand Wang.
After the Chou Dynasty came to an end in 255 B. C., the Tripods suddenly disappeared and their whereabouts became an unsolved mystery in history. History does record that the Emperors of Chin claimed to have possession of these treasures; but the conflicting historical statements only prove that the Chin Emperors' claim was aimed at maintaining the superstition that they were the ordained successors to the Empire rather than a defacto government. If we look into Sze Ma Chien's History, we will find that he contradicted himself in many places. For instance, in his record of the Warring States, he stated, "The Nine Tripods were removed to Chin in 256 B. C.," but in another place he quoted various sources to the effect that the Tripods were sunk in the River Sze near Peng Chen. That the Tripods never went to Chin can be better proved by his History of Chin, in which he recorded, "When Shih Huang Ti toured East and passed Peng Chen, he ordered more than 1,000 men to salvage the Tripods in the River Sze." There still exists a stone tablet done in 147 A. D. which shows Shih Huang in this vain pursuit. These two facts are more conclusive proofs than anything else that the Tripods were never possessed by the Chin Emperors.
After Chin, the symbol of imperial authority was transformed to a grand imperial seal. Then, the perplexing question to historians is: Where are the Nine Tripods?
In the absence of better material proofs, we can only delve into historical literature for an answer. Our answer is: the Nine Tripods were destroyed by Nan Wang (314-255 B. C.) and sold as junk to pay his creditors between the probable years 273-256 B. C.
Our tentative conclusion - trivial and funny as it may seem-is inferred from the writings by three scholars of the Ming and Ching Dynasties, Yang Shen (楊慎), Shen Chin-Han (沈欽韓) and Wang Sien-chien (王先謙). Yang wrote in his book Tan Chien Shu Lu (丹鉛續錄) as follows:
"People often wonder why Sze Ma Chien recorded the removal of the Nine Tripods to Chin by Chao Hsiang Wang (255-250 B. C.) and, at the same time recorded Shih Huang Ti's (246-209 B. C.) attempt to salvage the Tripods from the River Sze. The reason is obviously that he had to take note of the earlier Chin record, and, not believing in the Chin record, he inserted the other episode just to defeat the truth of Chin's claim. Since the Tripods have been recorded to quake when the ruling emperor lost his virtue, why can't they hide themselves to avoid falling into the hands of the usurpers?" Shen's explanation is much less mysterious and is more direct. Said he, "My conclusion is that the Nine Tripods were destroyed by the Chou emperor himself, for fear that they might fall into improper hands. They were broken up and sold by him as metal." Wang traced Shen's conclusion by a clever research into the personal conditions of the last Chou emperor, Nan Wang. He referred to a record in Liu Po Chuang's Sze Chi Chen I (劉伯莊史記正義) which states: "Although Nan Wang was the emperor, he was always badly in debt like ordinary people. When creditors pressed him too hard, he always hid himself on a high terrace, which the people of Chou called 'Debtor's Terrace.'" Wang therefore concluded that since Nan Wang was so poor and was afraid to lose his imperial treasures to the enemy, it was only logical that he should have used them for paying his debts. Shen's conclusion is therefore the most logical and brilliant explanation yet offered on the Tripod mystery.
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Editor's Note: This is a condensed translation of a long article written in Chinese by Mr. Chao T'ieh-han and published in the Supplement of the Central Daily News on October 29, 1957. The Nine Tripods. said to be cast in bronze during the Hsia Dynasty (2205-1766 B. C.), were the symbol of imperial orthodoxy, but their whereabouts after the Chou Dynasty is a mystery in Chinese history. Mr. Chao offers an interesting explaination through his researches in historial literature.