It is recorded in the History of the Former Han Dynasty (a classic work completed in the second century of the Common Era) that the Yellow Emperor, founder of the Chinese nation, had bronze castings made as symbols of heaven, earth, and mankind, while Emperor Yu, tamer of the Yellow River, had nine tripods made to symbolize the territory under his rule.
《漢書・郊祀志》記載，中國人的始祖黃帝，鑄造銅鼎象徵天、地、人；成功治水的夏禹亦鑄九鼎，象徵他所一統的天下。