Editing Sacrificial tripod (section)

== Ancient China ==
{{Main|Ding (vessel)}}
[[Image:Liu Ding.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Ding (vessel)|ding]] from the late [[Shang dynasty]]]]
Tripod pottery has been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since the earliest Neolithic cultures of [[Cishan culture|Cishan]] and [[Peiligang]] in the 7th and 8th millennium BC.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink1=Miriam Stark|last=Stark|first=Miriam T.|title=Archaeology of Asia|year=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=978-1-4051-0213-1|page=44}}</ref> Sacrificial tripods were also a common type of [[ritual bronze]], also sometimes appearing in ceramic form.<ref name="EBERHARD">Eberhard, Wolfram, [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17695 ''A History of China''], Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press, 3rd edition, 1969. Cf. p.49 for illustration of Ancient bronze tripod found at [[Anyang]].</ref> They are often referred to as "[[Ding (vessel)|dings]]" and usually have three legs, but some have four legs.

The Chinese use sacrificial tripods in modern times, such as in 2005, when a "National Unity Tripod" made of bronze was presented by the central Chinese government to the government of northwest China's [[Xinjiang|Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region]] to mark its fiftieth birthday. It was described as a traditional Chinese sacrificial vessel symbolizing unity.<ref>[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200510/01/eng20051001_212056.html "National Unity Tripod" presented to mark Xinjiang's 50th birthday"], ''[[People's Daily]]'', China, October 01, 2005</ref>
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