In the Imperial Palace Museum, there treasure ten drum -shaped stone blocks, which enjoy the fame of "the First Carved Stones
in China" .
Inscriptions on drum -shaped stone blocks are one of the earliest surviving characters carved on stone in our country. Historically, they are of great importance in the history of literature , calligraphy . epigraphy , and social development. Since Tang Dynasty, when carved stones were unearthed in the field of Fengxiang (now it is called Baoji), Shaanxi province, more than two hundred scholars have devoted themselves to the study of the inscriptions and writing papers about them. But because the stones have gone through so many generations and the characters are unclear due to erosion, and because the time when it was carved was not exactly recorded or marked, there are various explanations of the
carving time of these inscriptions , ranging from King Zhou Cheng, (1024B. C. - 1005B. C. ) to the eleventh year of Unified Xiwei (545 A. D. ), which has a difference of 1550 years. As a result, there is no authoritative conclusion.
Over the past few years, although gradually the carving time of these inscriptions has been fixed between the late Chunqiu Period and Chunqiu Warring States Period, there is still no fixed conclusion. By listing many historical facts in Stones of Wu people and Zuo's Biography, this dissertation puts forward that the drum-shaped stone blocks are the mementos for the triumph of Qing army over Wu army when succoring Chu State, which is in the thirtieth year of King Qing Aigong of the late Chunqiu period, i. e. 505 B. C.