九鼎 / Jiuding
九鼎 / Jiuding enters the wiki through 《资治通鉴·周纪》76丨谁给了楚顷襄王的自信？ as the ritual trophy that may tempt 楚国 to attack the diminished 周王室. In 东周武公’s argument, the ding are valuable less as usable assets than as dangerous symbols.
The source treats the Jiuding as a legitimacy object. If Chu only wants Zhou land or population, the gains are too small; if it wants the Jiuding, the act of moving them to Chu could advertise an assault on the Son of Heaven and invite wider opposition. The object therefore anchors 周王室象征威慑: a powerless-looking institution can still make its ritual property politically costly to seize.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》102-2｜孔子在鲁国的身世之谜 adds the terminal transfer as a source-scoped chronology note. The episode says Qin destroys 东周国 and moves the Jiuding to Qin in the same Qin Zhaoxiang Wang fifty-second-year frame used to explain 鲁国’s fall. This conflicts with the Qinji 102-1 framing of Eastern Zhou’s destruction under 秦庄襄王, so the wiki treats it as a source tension rather than a resolved chronology.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》122-3｜秦始皇竟和神仙撕起来了！ adds the Qin Shi Huang recovery attempt after the ding have already become a dynastic legitimacy object. At Pengcheng / 徐州, the episode says one ding was believed to have fallen into the Si River, so Qin Shi Huang fasts, prays, and sends more than a thousand people to dive and search, but finds nothing. The failed search keeps the Jiuding as a missing symbol: Qin possesses the empire but cannot physically recover every inherited sign of Zhou-world authority.
Connections
- 周王室, 周赧王, and 东周武公 - holder, ruler, and defending envoy.
- 楚国 and 芈横 / 楚顷襄王 - reported target of the deterrence argument.
- 周王室象征威慑 and 天命合法性 - symbolic-cost and legitimacy frames.
- 东周国, 秦国, 鲁国, and Qinji 102-2 - terminal-transfer chronology tension.
- Qinji 122-3, 嬴政 / 秦始皇, 彭城 / 徐州, and 帝国巡游政治剧场 - failed recovery attempt during the eastern tour.