The inscriptions on bronzes in Yin and Zhou Dynasties are also called Zhong Dingwen. Shang and Zhou Dynasties were the bronze age, with the tripod as the representative ritual vessel and the bell as the representative musical instrument. "Zhong Ding" was synonymous with bronze ware.

China entered the Bronze Age in Xia Dynasty, and the technology of copper smelting and bronze ware manufacturing was very developed. Because the Zhou Dynasty called copper gold, the inscriptions on bronzes were called "inscriptions on bronzes" or "auspicious words"; This bronze ware was called "Zhong Dingwen" in the past because it had the largest number of characters on Zhong Ding. The application period of bronze inscriptions is about 800 years, from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty's destruction of the Six Kingdoms. According to Rong Geng's Jin Wen Bian, there are 3,722 words in Jin Wen, of which 2,420 words can be identified.