定一个小目标，介绍1000件中国古代艺术精品
provides glimpses into China's rich art and cultural heritage.
在四川眉山市彭山县江口汉崖墓博物馆，有一件国家特级文物保护珍品——摇钱树。据说摇钱树是汉代吉祥物，道家谓之“神树”，认为它是人间通往天堂的树，“得之可以长生不老，用之钱财可以滚滚不竭”。这棵陶座铜质摇钱树是1972年江口崖墓出土的，高达1.44米，是我国汉崖墓出土的一棵造型最大、铸工最精、图饰最丰富的摇钱树，被定为国家特级文物。这件国宝1986年赴日本展出时观者如潮，无不惊叹中国古代精湛的铸造艺术。
摇钱树俗称福寿树，摇钱树是西南地区在东汉至三国晚期流行的一种具有浓郁地方特色的随葬器物。摇钱树由树座和青铜树组成，树座有石质和陶质两种，以陶质较多，一般是上小下大。树座上端是一中空的柱，用以插物，其上有的浮雕羊、蟾蜍、天禄、辟邪，有的浮雕歌舞的人、持瓶骑于羊身的人或坐于龙虎座上的西王母，有的浮雕方格纹、串枝纹和方孔圆钱。
据说汉代人认为，把铜钱挂在树上，只要摇动，就会财源滚滚，同时还祈盼它不断地“开花结果”，表达了人们渴求财富的一种愿望。而道家则认为它上面装饰盛行汉代的西王母、神兽、灵芝，以及表现吉兆和辟邪等题材的饰物，是人间通往天堂的树，缩短了人间与天上的距离。所以，摇钱树独特的垂直构图方式，形象地表现了古人飞升天国观念，追求不死和来世幸福。
搖錢樹一字在今天被視為是生財工具之意，西方也有類似的說法，如能下金蛋的鵝（the goose that lays the golden eggs），或是「金手指」（a golden thumb 意指點石成金）都是類似的說法。其實它不僅是被用來意指某事的特定詞彙，更是真實存在於中國古代的一種特殊器物。
「搖錢樹」一詞，最早見於明‧馮夢龍的《警世通言》第三二卷〈杜十娘怒沉百寶箱〉一文中的「別人家的女兒便是搖錢樹…」但它並非意指實物的搖錢樹；真正明確指出搖錢樹的形象者，則見於清‧富察敦崇著的《燕京歲時記》：「歲暮取松柏大者，插入瓶中，綴以古錢、元寶、石榴花，稱為『搖錢樹』」，但該文說搖錢樹上還綴有元寶、石榴花，並非東漢出土的搖錢樹上之綴飾，因此仍不足將文獻與實物直接劃上等號。
若作為一個考古學意義上的名詞，則是由考古學家馮漢驥於1940年代對彭山漢代崖墓出土的一種隨葬器物，進行研究後提出來的詞彙。此說一直延續至今。抗日战争时期，考古学者冯汉骥注意到这种器物，40年代将其定名为“钱树”或“摇钱树”，此名称被学术界广为使用。80年代起，开始有学者提出不同看法，主张称为升仙树、宇宙树、金花树或柱铢树。
A money tree is a fantastical tree-shaped sculpture with a segmented bronze tube for the trunk and lacy, openwork bronze leaves, held upright by a heavy ceramic or stone base. The leaves almost always incorporate the design of the wuzhu, a round coin with a square hole that was the most common currency of the day. Because of their extreme fragility, money trees are very rare. Fewer than one hundred have been discovered, most of them in fragmentary condition. As of this writing, only twenty-some money trees are known to be in museum collections in North America. While the trees often have shared motifs, each one is unique.
There is evidence that as early as the fourth millennium BCE, the Chinese believed in an afterlife. They equipped tombs with utensils and provisions to help the deceased continue to prosper in the spirit world.
Tomb furnishings could be as simple as a large storage jar for grain, symbolically providing nourishment for eternity, or as elaborate as carved jade ornaments designed to ward off evil spirits.
The custom of providing for a comfortable existence in the hereafter reached extremes during the early Bronze Age, when dynastic rulers were accompanied in death by human and animal sacrifices as well as vast amounts of precious bronze vessels and weapons. By the time of the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), a far more humane age, sculpted figures of clay or wood replaced human sacrifice as companions for the deceased, and inexpensive clay pots took the place of grain and wine containers made of luxury materials.