Hi Members,

Here's another Chinese phrase that I need to understand its meaning, preferably in English. Can anyone elaborate please. Thanks!

In the old days, this idiom referred to fighting for the throne (of China). 鼎 or 九鼎 symbolizes the throne, and 中原 refers to China proper. Now it can refer to striving for number one.

Like you can say the founder of the Ming Dynasty 朱元璋 fought for the throne of China with 陳友亮 and 張士誠 before the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown.

We also say 逐鹿中原 to mean the same thing.

Tim

一言九鼎的鼎跟問鼎中原的鼎是同樣意思? and 鼎是啥? Could you show us the pics?

一言九鼎的鼎
問鼎中原的鼎

The both 鼎's are different in meanings.
The former is an usually three-legged ancient Chinese cooking vessel. It's heavy, so 一言九鼎 means an absolutely unchangeable, irrevocable promise or claim.

As to the latter, this is what I found in Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary:
(2) As symbol of dynasty:
鼎祚，鼎運 the destiny of a state;
鼎革 change of dynasty.
This supports Tim's explanation that 鼎 represents the throne.

The following links should give enough information for those who want to know more.

http://k-fung.net/viewtopic.php?p=139051&sid=2c135489d2fda18ea3b21f898ce10103

http://www.chinalane.org/hist001/bookstore/fun/00000309.html

http://140.111.1.22/clc/chengyu/pho/fya/fya00089.htm

Tim

大禹將《山海圖》鑄在九鼎之上，代表了九州，莊王「問鼎小大輕重」，表明了他有滅周的野心，欲成為中原的霸主。
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ccms.ntu.edu.tw/~hroklga/teahc.htm
(And click on "鼎1" & "鼎2")
"鼎" = ["tripod" (especially for three-legged ones; "ding" (general)]

鼎的基本形制：多為圓腹中虛，三足如柱。早 期鼎多無蓋，故二耳立於唇邊上稱為立耳；晚 期則鼎多附有鼎蓋，故耳在唇外稱為附耳。出 土文物中亦常見有方形，長方形之四足方鼎。
鼎足亦有不做柱體而呈扁平狀者。
鼎的用途：主要用於烹煮肉食，實牲祭祀和燕 享等用途上。如《儀禮‧士昏禮》言：「期初 昏，陳三鼎于寢門外，東方北面北上」即是。 所以其腹中虛用以受納烹煮之物，鼎下三足承 空則用以升火炊爨。大型的鼎在搬運時，則利 用扃（音炯）貫穿鼎耳以扛舉。如無鼎蓋，則 使用鼏（音密）覆蓋。鼎內烹煮的食物，則利用匕（音比）盛至俎上。

由於各種禮儀場合，鼎皆是最重要的食器，因此古代社會中，常被當作明尊 卑，別上下的標誌，而君王亦常以鼎賜予臣下作為榮寵，或在祭祀時用以述 紀先祖功烈，為此在鼎上常銘刻著重要的銘文。銘文的位置，主要在腹內近 口之處。內容主要有宗族徽記、祭辭、冊命、訓誥、記事及追孝等數種，對
於後人研究商周的歷史制度、文字風俗皆有重要的參考價值。
正因鼎具有相當的政治意義，所以古代社會中用鼎大小及數目皆有嚴格的規 定，稱為列鼎制度。而鼎亦做為政治權力的象徵，如《左傳》宣公三年就記 載著楚國君主陳兵於周王室邊境，向周天子質問鼎大小、輕重的故事，顯示 楚國欲取而代之的企圖、而傳世的青銅器，也常以樂器的鐘及食器的鼎所合
稱「鐘鼎」來代稱。
《淮南子‧說山篇》「嘗一臠肉知一鑊之味。」高誘注：「有足曰鼎，無足 曰鑊。」後世廚灶的發展已甚為進步，不再以鼎做為直接烹煮器具，而只做 為承裝貢祭的禮器。然而廚中所使用的「鑊」，其實正是「鼎」的演變，至
今閩南語中仍然保留了這個名稱。

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museum.sdu.edu.cn/prime/prime_8.asp?zdjh=00000035 (pictures)
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Dear Members

Thanks again for your valuable contributions. Appreciate it.