Zigong Salt Industry History Museum
Some things, in relation to our daily lives, are so close that people ignore their existence, such as salt. We can't imagine days without salt.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > is born with halogen and life as salt</h1>
In legend, a role between humans and salt is usually played by nomads. In Zigong, Sichuan, a deer led a hunter named Mei Ze to find salt. It was licking the salt water on the rocks, and the hunters who had tracked it began to sink wells to collect salt from where the deer licked the salt.
Table salt is divided into sea salt, lake salt and well salt, which are taken from the ocean, lake and underground rock formations respectively. In the 11th century AD, a new drilling technique for salt mining from underground rock formations emerged in Zigong. This invention, mastered only by a small number of the most experienced people, changed the fate of the city to the greatest extent.
salt
"Born to be halogen, life is salt", which means that the naturally generated brine in nature is made into salt by hand. But the ancient Chinese said this sentence as if they were not just talking about salt.
In other parts of the world, salt has always had some kind of symbolism. If an ancient Roman soldier was told by his commander, "He's not worth that much salt," it meant he might be stripped of his pay. The Christian Old Testament says, "The contract of salt is always valid." ”
And Chinese boasts about her life experience, like to say: "I have crossed more bridges than you have walked, and I have eaten more salt than you have eaten." ”
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Takutsui</h1>
From the Han Dynasty in the 1st century AD to the present, zigong has been digging salt wells for nearly two thousand years.
The original salt well, as large as the wellhead, was more than a hundred meters deep. This method of drilling large wells was used in China for nearly a thousand years, until the emergence of new drilling techniques in the 11th century AD.
In the 11th century AD, the salt wells dug by the Song Dynasty with new technologies were called "Zhuo Tube Wells", and the mouth of the Zhuo Tube Well was only eight or nine inches large, but the depth was more than double that of before.
Sink the boreals
This technological revolution was crucial, and its far-reaching impact lasted for centuries: more than 100,000 salt wells in Sichuan, and more than 13,000 in Zigong. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Zigong was full of derrick-lined salt works.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > drilling and production of salt</h1>
A book from the Qing Dynasty records the main steps of the drilling and production technology invented in the 11th century, which is the most advanced in the world.
Drilling must first set the well position, whether the salt brine can be mined, all depends on whether the well position is accurate or not. Set the well position, open the wellhead, build a stone circle inside, and then hit the rock downwards and chisel out the small opening until the brine is mined.
Brine derricks
This process, short, takes three or four years, and long, takes decades to complete. Finally, the brine is extracted from the cattle as labor and sent to the stove room to boil salt.
All the process relies on human hands to pedal one foot at a time, drilling inch by inch. In addition to human power, it is animal power.
Some scholars believe that the drilling technology used in oil exploration today originated from this method of sinking in ancient China. Human physical strength and wisdom are exerted to the extreme in this process.
The tools used by the salt workers are bamboo, wood, and simple iron tools that can be found everywhere in Zigong.
Shui Jii Tool
In the process of sinking and brine extraction, stones and broken tools are sometimes dropped into deep wells, and for this reason, salt workers have specially invented an iron claw for salvage. The iron claw reaches in and can accurately grasp the debris that has fallen under the well.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > heyday</h1>
The Puxi River in Zigong is now rarely boated. In the past, it was the main transportation route for the transportation of salt from Zigongjing. Salt carriers go out here, check the tariffs, change large ships into the Tuojiang River, and then enter the Yangtze River.
In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Zigong salt industry was at its peak, and it is said that one in ten people in China at that time ate Zigong salt.
Salt merchants built the Temple of wangye in Zigong to enshrine the gods who could calm the waters of the river. In Zigong, at its peak, there were millions of salt merchants and salt workers gathered here.
Salt Industry Hall
Every sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth lunar month is the birthday of The Prince of Zhenjiang, at this time, in the grand celebration of the Wangye Temple, there is always a good drama introduced.
Inside and outside the play, it has long been impossible to distinguish which is true and which is false. Joy and sorrow, anger and fear, all the emotions in the depths of the heart, as if the face change in Sichuan opera, in the moment of turning around, becomes unrecognizable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > The Western Qin Guild Hall</h1>
On the stage of the history of the Zigong salt industry, the appearance of Shaanxi salt merchants is the most eye-catching. They are well-capitalized and have the most salt trumpets. The Western Qin Guild Hall, where the Zigong Salt Industry History Museum is located, is the same town hall built by Shaanxi salt merchants in the mid-18th century to connect with their fellow villagers and gather for deliberations.
The Western Qin Guild Hall, where the Zigong Salt Industry History Museum is located
Some people say that the local salt merchants repaired the Wangye Temple because they were grumpy about the Western Qin Guild Hall, and they were bent on competing for high and low, singing and singing against the stage.
The construction of the Western Qin Guild Hall is carefully pursued in terms of structure and layout, and it is also "the center of the house is like a hook, and the eaves and corners are like a bucket", which is in line with a Chinese idiom: gouxin doujiao.
The unfinished drama on the stage is continued here: on the railing of the Western Qin Guild Hall, 350 characters are engraved and 19 drama scenes are played.
The Western Qin Guild Hall and the Pavilion of the Counselor's Hall
Temples and guild halls in Zigong City, no matter how big or small, have stages. Vocal cavities from all over the north and south and Sichuan folk lantern plays are often performed on the same stage. Gradually, Sichuan opera was formed in the mid-18th century.
At this time, it was also the era of zigong salt industry prosperity.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > silver nest</h1>
Zigong duo opera, Zigong is called "drama nest";
Zigong is salty, and Zigong is also called "Silver Nest".
There are more rich salt merchants in Zigong: there are 242 merchants and salt numbers that have donated to the Western Qin Guild Hall twice.
Some scholars have studied some production contracts in Zigong in the 18th century and pointed out that at that time, in the handicraft workshops for large-scale salt production, the germ of capitalist production relations of production had been conceived, and the earliest joint-stock management mode in Chinese history had emerged.
Contract - Covenant with Morijing
China's salt taxation began in the Spring and Autumn Period, and after more than two thousand years, successive regimes have implemented a monopoly system for salt, and the salt tax has become a pivotal financial pillar of the state. At its most, it even accounts for about half of the fiscal revenue.
The production, distribution and sale of salt merchants are under the control of the government, and the private salt trade has always been strictly prohibited, even if it is smuggled with one or two, it will be executed.
Salt making
Until the Qing Dynasty, it was relatively loose, and the shoulder-to-shoulder sale of salt did not exceed 40 kilograms, and the government did not pursue it.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > salt well gas well</h1>
There are many Zigong wells, and there are more than two hundred place names with tic-tac-toe characters in the Zigong area.
In 1835, the Zigong people used the sinking technology of the Song Dynasty in the 11th century AD to chisel out the first deep well in China that is also the world's first more than 1,000 meters deep. The well is more than 1,000 meters deep, but the diameter of the wellhead is only more than 100 millimeters, and the brine drawn can supply more than 80 salt pots. To this day, the traditional salt making method can still be seen in Zigong.
The first well with a depth of more than 1,000 meters - the Shenhai Well
Dongyuanjing also has a history of more than 100 years. It took 46 years to excavate, and it is still a well known for its high-yield and stable production in Zigong.
Zigong salt merchants are rich in the world. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, a black brine well with a high salt production rate was chiseled out, and the average annual return was 14,000 taels of silver, and if the natural gas was returned, it could be increased to 20,000 taels.
The family of Wang Langyun, a salt merchant in Zigong, has dozens of salt wells and natural gas wells in Zigong alone.
Being able to dig a good salt well and get official permission to sell salt is like catching a big pie that falls from the sky.
Sichuan Salt Law Chronicle
In the 20th century, the glory of Zigong salt merchants gradually became the history of the past.
In the late Qing Dynasty, when Zigong salt industry was at its peak, Sichuan cuisine also formed a cuisine. The "fireside beef" and "boiled beef" in Sichuan cuisine were originally eaten by salt merchants and salt workers.
Salt to help dishes
Sichuan people do Sichuan cuisine, pay attention to one dish and one grid, a hundred dishes and a hundred flavors. However, no matter how much seasoning there is, there is no salt, and nothing can be mentioned. In the eyes of Chinese, salt is the ancestor of all tastes.