The Tripods as a collective monument were made to commemorate the most important political event in ancient China: the establishment of the Xia dynasty, which initiated a “series” of dynasties. According to Riegl, the tripods bore “things” of various regions in China. These “things” are Xia’s allies, the act of sending these things portray their submission to Xia. The engravings on these Tripods meant that they enter as one political entity. Basically, the Tripods were made so that “the people could distinguish divine from evil.” The myth of the “Nine Tripods,” is that when the ruler is legitimate, the tripods are heavy and they don’t move, but if the ruler loses his legitimacy then the tripods are light and they can be moved easily to the
