A thousand-year-old mystery to be uncovered
The fourth large iron shackle of Dongting Lake "surfaced"
□ Zhang Zhengrong
The fourth iron shackle that shows a corner from the mud and rocks.
The staff of the Municipal Cultural Preservation Center inspected the site.
The first iron shackle located in Wupingtai, Yueyanglou scenic spot.
The second iron shackle located at the lake beach.
After the mega drought, Dongting Lake has become a hot topic, and the hottest thing in Yueyang recently is the reappearance of the ancient mystery of the iron yoke under Yueyang Tower. Legend has it that there are five iron shackles in Dongting Lake, only three of which have been confirmed, and now, the fourth one has surfaced.
A stone has stirred up a thousand waves, arousing great interest and eager attention from the public, and has received great attention from the relevant departments in Yueyang. Recently, a symposium on iron yoke cultural relics organized by the city's cultural preservation center, provincial and municipal experts in heritage conservation as well as enthusiastic citizens.
The origin of the iron shackle has been subject to different opinions throughout the ages
Iron shackle, also known as iron armament, iron twist, iron Buddha, for solid material, the surface of the black-brown pig iron cast, weighing more than 7,000 pounds. The two ends are swallow tail shaped, the two tails are 1.86 meters apart, one end has small holes in both tails, the other end has no holes in both tails, and the middle has a large hole of 0.28 meters in diameter. Dongting Lake iron shackle and Nanjing three flying shears have similarities and differences, but the size is not the same.
All along, there have been a lot of arguments about when and how the iron shackles were cast in Dongting Lake, how they were moved into the lake, and what they were used for, because there are no exact written records, and no definite conclusion can be made.
Review of historical documents, according to the Northern Song Dynasty Fan Zhiming "Yueyang Fengtu Ji" contains: "the ancient cast iron, such as the swallow tail to each other, there is a large trick, diameter of about a foot, I do not know what to use? Or cloud this pressure victory, to prevent the trouble of the mirage; or think that the anchor stone, suspected that it is too heavy, not the boat man can lift; or think that the planting of wood inside, compiled for the fence, to resist the wind and waves, are not known?" Fan Zhiming, who has studied Yueyang's terroir, could not figure out its origin and use, and failed to leave a clear evidence for future generations.
Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Shinan in the "travels to the eunuch chronicle" wrote: "Yueyang on the sand several, people think that the aversion to win the iron shackles, or that the Lake thieves Wang Miss (should be Yang Missy error) anchor stone, or cloud the former people refuse to river of the tool." Also according to Zhang Yuanxin "Baling excursions" contains: "outside the city there are iron cast square Buddha five, cover the Jin attack on Wu, Wu people with iron locks across the intercept, this is probably planted mark tied to the lock of the ear." You say one, he says two, most of them are guesses based on their own opinions, can not be true.
Today, after several generations of experts and scholars to study the conclusions of more and more, there are now seven: stable Yueyang building base, the ancient government erected flagpole iron seat, the iron anchor of the ship berth, Sima Yan to destroy the East Wu with iron chains to block the lake when the two ends used to tie the iron chain iron lock, the Song dynasty Zhongxiang Yang young in the Dongting Lake when the organization of peasant uprising cast blocking the ship pier, town lake monster and other claims.
The fourth piece was found at the site of the survey of iron shackles
The earliest text recording the iron yoke is the Northern Song Dynasty's "Yueyang Fengtu Ji": "the river bank moraine, there are several pieces of smelting iron, commonly known as iron yoke, weighing a thousand pounds." This can at least indicate that the iron yoke is before the Song Dynasty. Trace China's iron casting process as early as the Warring States period, to the Han Dynasty has been very mature, but weighing several thousand kilograms and is not seen in the water.
If the Song dynasty said several pieces of speculation, the Qing Guangxu "Baling County" contains: "iron armament in the city outside the west gate water times, the system is very work. Where five, one of them is smaller." This said the number and size is very specific. This proves that the original five before the Qing Dynasty, and later we have seen has been three, which has become an important reason to find the other two.
Three are on the lake beach, a moment hidden a moment to see. In order to facilitate visitors to visit, in May 1980 Yueyang building managers moved from the lake beach on a placed in Yueyang building scenic area five ping platform. Its in the national key cultural relics protection unit "Yueyang Lou protection planning" has been listed as a subsidiary cultural relic of Yueyang Lou.
In order to facilitate later field research, two other pieces were protected in situ, always on the lakeshore under the "General Point". Perennially submerged in the lake, the top one is usually exposed in October, and the bottom one will be exposed in November. This year, Dongting Lake encountered the lowest water level in 118 years, the two iron yoke in advance of all revealed the lake beach, thus triggering many people to come to see for themselves and take photos.
In recent years, China has continued to increase its efforts to protect cultural relics, and the concept of heritage protection has become increasingly popular. As the water level of Dongting Lake ebbs and flows year after year, the call for protection of the iron yoke on the network also ebbs and flows with the lake, and every year there are enthusiastic citizens who put forward their own protection proposals.
In September this year, due to the early release of the iron yoke, the city's cultural preservation center has received the mayor's letterbox on the protection of the iron yoke of the public's views and calls for cultural relics protection department to strengthen the protection of the iron yoke of the video. The city cultural preservation center quickly organized relevant professionals to take photos, measurements, drawings and other related work on the iron shackles. During the survey near the third one, a major discovery was made by accident, and a corner of the fourth one was found from the mud and stones. Yueyanglou pointing platform from east to west in the order of one, two and three, and measured the relevant specific data. The data proved that the second iron yoke was slightly larger. The newly discovered fourth piece is not cleaned at present because it is inserted diagonally into the very deep mud.
A long way to go for the protection of iron shackles
In order to strengthen the protection of the iron yoke on the lake beach, to the public concerned about the iron yoke to a professional answer, the city's cultural preservation center reported to the Municipal Bureau, quickly organized to invite provincial and municipal experts in heritage conservation, enthusiastic citizens, the news media held a special symposium. One is to ask the experts to help crack the mystery of the iron shackle, and the second is to witness the Dongting Lake, Yueyang Tower, the vicissitudes of important historical relics to get scientific and reasonable protection of feasible measures.
During the symposium, experts expressed their opinions and scientific arguments, and different opinions were expressed about the time and origin of its production. Hunan University Yuelu Academy Professor, archaeologist Professor Xiang Taochu proposed: to prove the age, can be based on casting technology and morphology found on the same type of products to complete; to prove what to use, can be used to exclude the method, he believes that it is part of a certain annex of Yueyang Tower rather than an independent thing; to prove the value, can be included in the study as an important subject, to unveil its mystery.
The protection measures of iron shackles were unanimously agreed by the participants. Yueyang building point will be on the lake beach iron shackle and five ping platform display iron shackle for the same period of the same process of casting, is the Dongting Lake, Yueyang building important cultural relics of historical changes, should be regarded as the same as the five ping platform iron shackle Yueyang building affiliated cultural relics, by the city's cultural relics protection center is responsible for the management. Iron shackle is huge, and its thousands of years placed in the lake beach has not moved, its age and use are not clear, in order to later survey, it is recommended that the implementation of in situ protection in accordance with the principles of heritage protection. By the city's cultural relics protection center in the Lake Beach iron shackles near the appropriate location to erect a sign, combined with modern scientific protection means to strengthen daily inspections to ensure the safety of cultural relics.
City Cultural Relics Protection Center Director Fu Zhilong said: "Cultural relics protection work in the present, the benefits of a thousand years. The next step, we will focus on the experts after the formation of the opinion, and effectively do a good job in the protection of iron yoke. Protection of cultural relics, everyone is responsible. Thank you very much for the public's attention to heritage conservation, is our great honor. In the future, we welcome more citizens and people from all walks of life to invest in the noble cause of heritage protection, which has a glorious mission, far-reaching significance and great responsibility, to contribute to the firm cultural self-confidence and the building of a strong socialist cultural state with our wisdom and strength."
Yes, witness the iron yoke with heartfelt pride. Far away from the times, the ancients were able to cast such a huge pig iron castings, industrial technology can be seen. This is the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancient working people, and the testimony of the ancient civilization of the Chinese nation, and the pride of the people of Yueyang.
How long is the history of iron shackles?
What is the use of major productions?
The iron shackles are still in the vast Dongting Lake, waiting for the mystery of their birth to be solved.
We expect more experts and scholars to devote themselves to the study of this difficult mystery and come to a well-founded conclusion.
