The "Zhenhai Roar" weighs 32 tons and has not fallen for thousands of years, but it has fallen on the protection of experts' own cleverness

"Complacency, arrogance and credulity are the three major reefs of life." — Balzac

Chinese civilization has a history of more than 5,000 years and has never been interrupted. In such a long historical inheritance, we have preserved many literary and artistic works handed down from ancient times. Every generation of Chinese has never been nourished by the treasures left behind by these ancestors.

From these cultural relics that have been handed down, we can clearly know that hundreds of years ago, the casting technology of our ancestors has reached a fairly high level. Although it is no longer on the same level as modern technology, compared with the products of the same era, it can definitely be called the highest representative of technology.

Among these relics, some of them are well known because of the rich history they carry, and even become the image symbols of the cities where they are located. Cangzhou City in Hebei is known as the Lion City, mainly because there is an iron lion that has been well preserved for thousands of years.

Moreover, this iron lion also has a resounding name called "Zhenhai Roar". Don't underestimate this cultural relic, this is a national cultural relic with a thousand years of history, and it can be preserved so completely that it has to be lamented as a miracle.

However, there is one thing that makes people feel very sorry, this treasure that has not been hurt by time and space has been damaged in modern times.

In fact, the reason for the damage to this cultural relic is the so-called expert advice.

1. Manjushri Bodhisattva Throne Iron Lion

After rigorous research by historians at that time, they believed that this iron lion in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, should have been cast and formed in the Later Zhou Dynasty, specifically in 593 AD. Through reading ancient books, I learned that this iron lion should have been located thousands of years ago before the Kaiyuan Temple in the southeast suburbs of Cangzhou City.

In terms of size, this iron lion is 6.264 meters long, reaching a staggering 5.74 meters high and 2.981 meters wide. With a total weight of about 32 tons, this is the longest surviving and best-preserved cast iron lion on the mainland.

It should be known that iron is extremely susceptible to erosion, and among the cultural relics on the mainland, very few well-preserved iron items can be found, mainly because it is easy to be corroded, and bronzes are not easy to chemical reactions compared to iron, so they can be retained for a long time.

This iron lion of Cangzhou also has a huge basin on its back. The lion's body was facing south, and its head was looking southwest, its head was standing tall, its four feet were in a state of advance, and its two eyes were staring ahead angrily. Standing next to it, you can feel this iron lion, exuding a mighty momentum, and the heavy history it carries.

In fact, a closer look at this iron lion can find that the word "Lion King" is cast on its head and under its neck. And on his back, there is also a lotus throne engraved. Based on this subtle feature information, historians searched through a large number of historical sources, and finally determined that this iron lion was the mount of Manjushri Bodhisattva enshrined in The Kaiyuan Temple. The huge basin on his back was actually manjushri's lotus throne. Judging from its appearance, it should be waiting for the arrival of Manjushri Bodhisattva.

In fact, the casting process of this iron lion is exceptionally exquisite, the hair on the lion's body shows a delicate wavy and curly shape on its chest and hips, there are corresponding straps, inside and outside the iron lion, there are many worn words, in addition to the three words "Lion King" mentioned earlier, there is also the name of the caster of this iron lion, and the name of the donor who donated to the casting of the iron lion.

Of course, in addition to these exquisite details, the most surprising thing is that there is an unexpected presence in the belly of this iron lion. The Iron Lion's belly was engraved with a Vajrayogini!

Moreover, these verses are still written in elegant and dignified Lishu font, but unfortunately, due to the age of the iron lion, it has been eroded on the surface of the iron lion, and many of the words on it have become blurred and difficult to read. Therefore, it can only be judged that it is the Diamond Sutra, but it is difficult to conduct more detailed research.

As mentioned earlier, the weight of this iron lion in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, is about 32 tons. It can be imagined what a behemoth this is, under the backward production technology conditions of ancient times, it takes a lot of manpower and material resources to forge such a huge iron lion.

Of course, integral casting is impossible, and through the study of historians and careful observation of the iron lion, they believe that the ancients adopted a method of casting in pieces and finally assembling. That is to say, this entire iron lion is first superimposed by small iron blocks of about thirty or forty centimeters in length and width, and then cast layer by layer, which makes such a giant beast.

From here, we can also see how advanced the technology on the ancient continent was, and even such a behemoth could be easily created.

There are many theories about why this iron lion is called "Zhenhai Roar". Some people think that since this is an iron lion and manjushri's mount, he must have been responsible for the construction of the temple. There is also a theory that this iron lion was actually built by Chai Rong, emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, during the Northern Expedition. Others, according to legend, believe that this was a giant beast forged by the inhabitants who lived here at that time to suppress the tsunami. This last statement is the origin of the iron lion's name "Zhenhai Roar".

The fate of the Iron Lion and modern protection

Until the 19th century, this iron lion in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, stood unharmed outside cangzhou. Nearly a thousand years of wind and rain have only made some small changes in its surface, and have not endangered the safety of iron lions. However, since the 19th century, the iron lion has encountered its crisis, which is either a natural disaster or a man-made disaster.

Before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the local people were full of respect for this iron lion, and did not dare to touch it at will, after all, for them, from the beginning of their birth, this hint has existed, in 1803, there was a storm here in Cangzhou, and this iron lion that stood for a thousand years was actually blown down by this strong wind.

Moreover, because this iron lion is so heavy, it is very difficult to lift it up. The local officials did not want to expend manpower and material resources on this, so they left the iron lion alone, and when it was lifted up again in 1893, the iron lion had been lying on the ground for more than ninety years.

Due to long-term contact with soil and water, the iron lion's abdomen, tail, and jaw are caused by very severe rust. However, at that time, the Iron Lion was still able to stand majestically outside Cangzhou City as before. Although there is rust, after the wind and rain, the Iron Lion has returned to its former style.

After the founding of New China, with the economic and social development of the mainland, more and more attention has been paid to the protection of cultural relics. For the sake of their own economic and cultural development, many places have begun to use various means to protect local cultural relics.

As a result, the iron lion in Cangzhou City was very much valued by the Cangzhou Municipal Government, and in order to further protect this iron lion, they specially asked Soviet experts for advice.

Soviet experts believed that since the iron lion was made of iron and a part of the contact with the ground after it fell produced serious rust, the iron lion should be protected from rain erosion. At that time, the staff of the Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau also believed that the words of Soviet experts had scientific truth. So, he cleverly built a pavilion to protect himself from the wind and rain.

However, what everyone did not expect was that the pavilion aggravated the damage of the most quasi-iron lion, because in the semi-enclosed environment of the pavilion, the moisture on the iron lion was difficult to evaporate, which made the air humidity around the iron lion high, which caused rust on the surface of the iron lion.

After learning of this problem, the local government demolished the pavilion and placed the iron lion in the open air. In 1984 they built a pedestal for the iron lion, and in order to secure the iron lion to this pedestal, they also poured some cement into the iron lion's legs.

People can't always learn their lessons, but this part of the cement infused has caused more harm to the iron lion. Cement needs water to solidify, and after a few years of cement infusion, the iron lion's legs began to crack, so the local cultural heritage bureau performed artificial repairs to the iron lion's 4 feet.

Not only that, but they were kind enough to install a steel pipe bracket for the Iron Lion to support the weight of the Iron Lion. However, the operation of installing the steel pipe caused more than a dozen damages to the surface of the Iron Lion. It's really a laughable ending.

brief summary

In general, this iron lion in Cangzhou, after thousands of years of wind and rain, still stands, but under the protection of human beings several times, it has become scarred, and human arrogance will eventually only cause serious harm to its surrounding environment. Human beings have wisdom, but nature also has a balance that is not understood by human beings. Unfortunately, human beings still can't learn their lessons, and in 2009, Cangzhou City built a new iron lion that was 1.5 times larger than the ancient iron lion, which was used as a landmark building in Cangzhou City.

References: History of the Song Dynasty, Draft History of the Qing Dynasty

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