Brick relief captures ancient harvest scenes in Sichuan region

Today marks the start of Autumn Equinox (qiu fen) and the eighth Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival. To celebrate, let's travel back nearly 2,000 years and listen to the "harvest symphony" carved into an Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) brick relief.

Now housed in the Sichuan Museum, this brick captures the rural life of ancient Sichuan region. The upper scene shows archery and hunting by a lotus pond. The lower scene depicts rice harvesting – two men swing sickles, three bend low to pick grains, while another shoulders sheaves and carries a food box. The rhythms of labor and joy echo through time.