[2] It dates from the era of Western Zhou (1046–771 BC),[3] specifically the early years of the dynasty,[4] and is famous as the oldest artifact with the written characters meaning "Middle Kingdom" or "Central State" — 中國: "China" — in a bronze inscription on the container.

The term (𠁩或) here does not carry exactly the same semantic meaning as today, referring rather to the "central region" of the newly expanded Zhou dynasty political domain, but is the earliest occurrence in the Chinese corpus of the word 中國, which gradually expanded in its meaning over the next millennium.

[7][8] The He zun is also the earliest known vessel bearing the character de (德, "virtue"),[9] and one of only 64 historical artifacts that can never leave Chinese soil.

[10] The construction of the city of Luoyi (洛邑 or 雒邑) is documented in two chapters of the Classic of History.

[11] The record shows King Cheng of Zhou established his residence in Chengzhou (成周) in his 5th year.

When King Wu conquered the great city Shang, he then made reverent declarations to Heaven, saying: "Let me dwell in this, the central region, and from here govern the people."

On August 8, 1965, the family struggled with financial difficulties and sold the piece along with other unneeded items to a waste center in Baoji for 30 yuan.