Shiquan County, Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, is the first mulberry industry county in the west of the mainland, known as "the source of the Silk Road, the hometown of the golden silkworm", for more than 2,000 years, people here have been raising silkworms for generations, and the culture and skills of silkworms are indispensable wealth of Shiquan.
In addition, the Han River Yue River Valley, where the Chi River in Shiquan County is located, has produced sand gold since ancient times, and the reserves rank first in the country, and the first batch of gold diggers were born here since the Spring and Autumn Period, and during the Tang Dynasty, Shiquan Shajin was also dedicated as a tribute to the imperial court.
On December 20, 1984, a farmer named Tan Fuquan in Tanjiawan, Shiquan County, as usual, took his children to pan for gold by the river, and he first dug a "golden nest" more than two meters deep on the bank of the river to collect gold sand.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon, Tan Fuquan's second daughter Tan Kechun came to the river to get the basket, and the unexpected thing happened, Tan Kechun saw a golden "golden knot" in the sand basket, and then took a closer look, it was exactly the same as the silkworm raised at home, in addition to the ancient coins of the tree, which were five baht coins of the Han Dynasty.
Tan Quanfu family found the news of the treasure is not shy, soon spread throughout the surrounding ten miles and eight townships, many people who come to see the "baby", because Shiquan County has never produced cultural relics before, everyone does not know whether this treasure is a cultural relic, some people suggested that Tan Fuquan hand it over to the cultural relics department, but some people also moved their minds.
Someone came up with 8,000 yuan to buy the golden silkworm in Tan Fuquan's hand, and Tan Fuquan immediately panicked, but in the eighties, what is the concept of eight thousand pieces? Old Tan probably never thought in his whole life that he would have the opportunity to have eight thousand yuan.
Tan Fuquan was very entangled, since someone was willing to pay 8,000 yuan to buy a golden silkworm, indicating that this thing is likely to be a cultural relic of higher value.
In the face of temptation, Tan Fuquan finally made the right choice. On September 23, 1985, Tan Fuquan borrowed 50 yuan from his cousin for the road, took the treasure to the car to Xi'an, and when he arrived at the place, he donated the golden silkworm to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, which is today's Shanxi History Museum.
The staff of the Shaanxi Museum was very excited after seeing the golden silkworm, and after identification, it was determined that the material of the "golden silkworm" was red copper, and the surface was gilded, but further research had to be handed over to experienced experts.
Therefore, the Shaanxi Museum handed over the gilded bronze silkworm to the archaeologists in Beijing for identification, and after identification, the gilded bronze silkworm was a cultural relic from the Western Han Dynasty period on the mainland.
Copper silkworm total length 5.6 cm, bust 1.9 cm, chest height 1.8 cm, weight 0.01 kg, a total of nine sections of the head and tail, posture upwards spit silk, showing the old mature silkworm spit silk, the back of the neck carved convex lines, waist and back cross carved two convex lines, tail towards the back, the overall preservation, exquisite workmanship, very artistic value.
However, the cultural relics value of the gilded bronze silkworm is not only reflected in its art, this cultural relic is the first time that the gilded silkworm has been found in the mainland, indicating that the Shiquan area began to raise silkworms as early as the Han Dynasty, and has a considerable scale.
The appearance of gilded bronze silkworms has become an important symbol and physical witness of the Han Dynasty sericulture, the status quo of sericulture production and the Silk Road, and also reflects the important position of silk in the trade between China and the West in ancient China.
In addition to these, the gilded copper silkworm provides an understanding of the real production site of silkworms at that time, and pushes the history of Shiquan County, a sacred place for sericulture, to the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, the gilded bronze silkworm is a well-deserved national first-class cultural relic and an important witness of the ancient Silk Road.
Tan Fuquan may not have imagined that he did not sell 8,000 pieces and chose to donate gilded copper silkworms to the country free of charge, which is probably the most expensive "silkworm" in the world, which is a priceless treasure.