"Neighbors sometimes come to beg for fire, cong temples everywhere do not pray for the wind", this is the scene recorded by the land tour at midnight mooring boats on the seashore, neighboring boats often have people come to borrow fire, in the shrine on the shore, there are people everywhere praying for a smooth wind and water.
Indeed, for the ancients, the boat out to sea is undoubtedly a matter of nine deaths, in the face of the great power of nature, people always seem so small, the wind and rain in the sky, the waves on the sea and the reefs under the water may become a life-threatening thing, people walking on the sea, is so weak and helpless, so they want to find something for themselves to rely on.
At that time, science and technology were not enough to help people deal with the fierce winds and waves on the sea, so people had to pin more hope on the gods, so the sea god Mazu and various Zhenhai god beasts were born in people's expectations, and Cangzhou in Hebei Province once had such a huge iron lion cast for Zhenhai.
It is said that this iron lion was cast in the tenth century AD, stood firm after a thousand years of wind and rain, and was regarded as a protective god by the people, but in the end, in the improper repair of experts, it gradually became full of scars, and finally had to regret to withdraw from the historical stage and be replaced by the newly cast giant iron lion.
This incident brings us not only regrets and lamentations, but also heavy reflection, so what is the origin of the Cangzhou Iron Lion? How did he get destroyed by experts step by step?
First, cangzhou zhenhai roared for thousands of years
Cangzhou iron lion is also known as "Zhenhai roar", there are many legends about his origin, since the day of its construction, until the Qing Dynasty Jiaqing period, in the thousand years of time, has been standing, wind and rain is difficult to invade.
Cangzhou iron lion is cast with the technique of stacking in pieces, according to legend, the weight is 40 tons, after the measurement of modern science and technology, its true weight should be about 32 tons, 6.246 meters long, 2.981 meters wide, the height of the whole body is 5.47 meters, carved by ancient casters to life, majestic, and admirable.
Regarding the origin of the Cangzhou stone lion, there have always been different opinions and disagreements, but in general, there are three theories.
The first is that Zhou Shizong Chai Rong passed through Cangzhou when he was going north to conquer the Khitans, and specially cast such a huge iron lion in order to defend the city, and the second theory is that the iron lion is actually the mount of Manjushri Bodhisattva, because the iron lion is located in the Kaiyuan Temple in Cangzhou, and it has a lotus throne on its back, and the diamond sutra is also carved in the abdomen, which should be the iron lion cast together when the Kaiyuan Temple was built.
However, the most convincing theory is that the iron lion was built by the local people for Zhenhai, and the iron lion also has another name in the local folk, called "Zhenhai Roar". It turned out that Cangzhou was close to the sea, and in ancient times there were often floods, and the local people often suffered huge losses in life and property because of the tsunami.
Later, in order to eliminate the sea disaster, the people raised funds to build this iron lion as the Zhenhai God Beast, and the iron lion is still engraved with the name of the fundraiser, so this statement is the most credible.
All in all, no matter whether the iron lion was cast for various reasons, his existence reflects the high-level casting technology of ancient China, a rare craft boutique and cultural treasure created by the working people of our country, and a national cultural relic that has not faded in the grinding of thousands of years of wind and rain.
However, it is regrettable that this iron lion stood in the Qing Dynasty, and finally returned to the Jiaqing period, and was finally blown by a strange wind.
2. The Iron Lion fell to the ground for ninety years
The Cangzhou iron lion, which has spent a thousand years in the long river of history, finally fell, perhaps standing for a thousand years, the posture is no longer as firm and upright as before, and there is inevitably fatigue in the power of the people, in short, the iron lion is blown down by the wind.
According to the records of the Cangxian Chronicle, in the eighth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, that is, in 1803 AD, a strange wind blew from the northeast direction, the wind blew, the iron lion fell to the ground, and this fall, it fell on the ground for ninety years, because this behemoth was too heavy, it took too much to lift it up, so the once mighty Zhenhai Roar lay on the ground for ninety years, and no one cared.
The iron lion was finally lifted, it was already a matter of the Guangxu years, but decades of lying on the ground had made the iron lion lose its former glory, and in the long-term close contact with the ground and the rain, its jaw, tail and abdomen were seriously eroded and damaged.
All in all, the damage of the iron lion is both a natural disaster and a man-made disaster, not only due to the strange wind in Jiaqing in the past eight years, but also due to the indifference and blindness of the people in the ninety years, the backwardness of the times and technology, and the weak awareness of the public and the protection of cultural relics in the government.
It is reasonable to say that after the founding of New China, the fate of the iron lion should be better when the cultural relics are attached, but what is unexpected is that under the attention of experts, the situation of the iron lion has become worse and worse.
3. Deadly protection
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the relevant cultural relics units attached great importance to the Cangzhou Iron Lion, and organized experts to repair it many times, but the negative impact caused by unscientific and imprecise restoration sometimes even exceeded the intentional damage.
In 1954, the restoration work heeded the advice of Soviet experts and built an octagonal pavilion, but because the pavilion was too small and the ventilation was not smooth, it hindered the evaporation of the stagnant water, but increased the erosion of the iron lion.
In 1984, the expert group built a pedestal for water retention, but due to improper operation during the removal process, the iron lion suffered multiple damages, and even because the adhesive used in the loading and unloading process was not clear in time, the lion's leg was broken.
In 1994, experts intended to support the iron lion with iron pipes, and in order to fix the iron lion, the experts poured cement on the legs, but this move once deepened the damage to the iron lion.
In 2000, Cangzhou once again solicited the restoration plan for the iron lion in the whole society, but due to the previous lessons, this time the State Administration of Cultural Heritage finally summed up the lessons learned, and rejected these plans, in the case of immature technical conditions, in order to further rescue the iron lion that has been torn apart, the Cangzhou government decided to reforge an iron lion.
This new iron lion is roughly modeled on the shape of the old iron lion, instead of standing majestically in the wind and rain, guarding the thousand-year-old city of Cangzhou, while the original iron lion is sealed in dust, waiting for someone to restore its former majesty one day in the future.
In summary, in the repair plan that has not been rigorously examined and experimented with time and again, the situation of the Cangzhou iron lion has not improved a little, but in the repair process, the scars all over the body are gradually deepening and aggravating, and the Cangzhou iron lion that has stood for a thousand years has almost fallen in the meticulous repair of the experts.
However, fortunately, the cultural relics protection unit did not make a mistake to the end, and the Cangzhou Iron Lion survived, waiting for the next perfect restoration plan and measures.
epilogue:
The reason why many historical relics are precious is precisely because of his uniqueness, these historical relics can be preserved across time and space, and they are all selfless gifts from our ancestors to us, and once they are damaged, they can never be found again. Therefore, when experts restore these cultural relics, they should not only have plans and measures in mind, but also have a heavy sense of history and responsibility.
Cangzhou iron lion does not belong to any unit or individual, it belongs to history, belongs to the nation, belongs to the people, can hand over the Cangzhou iron lion to the hands of experts for restoration work, this is the trust of history, is the trust of the people, so the restoration experts should be careful, excellence, one step can not make a mistake.
Because once it is wrong, for the experts, it is only a thing, a lesson, for history and the people, it is a loss that can never be recovered, and this tuition fee is too expensive for us to pay.
Of course, mistakes have been made, and now there is not much point in pursuing anyone's fault, we just hope that in the restoration of cultural relics that can only be said, experts can be careful and cautious, cautious and cautious.
Reference: Cangxian Chronicle
The picture comes from the network, if there is infringement, contact to delete!