Gold is a corrosion-resistant precious metal, ancient times began to use gold as a currency, gold began to prevail, from the Tang Dynasty began, Li Tang Period is Taoism as the state religion, Taoism flourished, alchemy technology has also developed, and gold is respected as a longevity thing.
In the New Book of Tang and the Biography of Fang Ji, it is recorded that Emperor Gaozong of Tang "summoned the alchemists and turned gold into gold", and some of the personal jewelry of the nobles of the imperial palace were also made of gold. The cultural relics unearthed from the "Hejia Village Relics" in Shaanxi are the gold and silverware of the Tang Dynasty, and before the excavation of the Tang ruins, it was the old farmers who donated 11 kilograms of gold to attract attention.
On October 5, 1970, in a shelter in Hejia Village, the southern suburbs of Xi'an City, several old farmers were laying foundations, the scene was very busy, just when digging 0.8 meters under the foundation, one of them dug out a black clay pot, he suddenly shouted "out of the treasure", several people looked around, there was something dark gold in the clay pot, and people with a little eyesight saw that it was gold.
They all knew that gold was worth a lot, and several people hid the matter as soon as they discussed it, but the person in charge of the shelter still knew, so he reported it to the Shaanxi Museum, and the museum immediately sent several experts from Han Wei, Hang Dezhou, and Wang Yuqing to the scene.
Several people said that this was dug up by them, belonged to them, Han Wei knew that their legal awareness was weak, and after talking bitterly for an afternoon, he finally persuaded them, and several people returned the gold, which frightened Han Wei, and what they hid was not just gold, but gold leaf.
Gold leaf is made of gold hammer into thin sheets, in ancient times, gold leaf is often used in the decoration of the palace, such as dragon robes, the dragon and phoenix on the phoenix crown xia shuai are also sewn with gold thread pulled out of gold leaf, in addition, gold leaf can also be used medicinally, Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": gold leaf can "cure the disease of diarrhea and heat liver and gallbladder".
Even in modern times, gold leaf is still used as a formula for medicine, "Niuhuang Qingxin Pill", "Black Chicken White Phoenix Pill", "Great Active Lodan" is used in gold leaf or wrapped in gold leaf, the ancients will also engrave words on gold leaf, but unfortunately, Han Wei did not find any inscriptions on the 4 pieces of gold leaf.
Han Wei returned to the scene and saw that archaeologists were digging with a Luoyang shovel, and there were excavated pottery urns on the side, and among several pottery urns, things were different, one of which contained an animal head agate cup (now the treasure of the Shaanxi History Museum Town Hall), and 12 small golden dragons.
When these cultural relics were first unearthed, they were counted and registered, 271 gold and silver utensils, 466 gold, silver and copper coins, 3 agate ware, 1 glass ware, 1 crystal ware, 10 jade belts, and more than 1,000 antique cultural relics such as gold leaf and jade, but no bodies were dug up, and this "He Jia Village Treasure" was not a cemetery, but a "treasure cave".
After the excavation of this batch of cultural relics, after the inventory, to April 13, 1971, when registered in the warehouse, the gold was weighed again, and it was found that 11 kilograms of gold leaf was only 4148 grams, or 8.29 kilograms, a decrease of nearly 3 kilograms, the economy at that time, 3 kilograms of gold was worth a lot, but the gold leaf never left the archaeologists' side, unless it was "guarding and stealing".
Han Wei is the person who put the gold leaf up, his suspicion is the biggest, Han Wei is really aggrieved, he is the gold leaf in the collection, he did several times weighing, each weighing will be a little less, he guessed that it may be gold leaf mixed with water, and he also did experiments, indeed mixed with water.
In order to prove his innocence, Han Wei put the gold leaf in the water for three days and three nights, wiped the water stains clean, and weighed it again, 11 pounds, and the truth came out. Although Han Wei is innocent, a few years ago, the situation of self-theft by the museum guards really appeared, and this person moved flowers and trees for a whole decade and stole hundreds of millions of yuan before he was caught.