Cangzhou Iron Lion
In the old city of Cangzhou, there is a world-famous large metal cultural relic "Zhenhai Roar", which is also affectionately called "Cangzhou Iron Lion" by the Chinese people. The iron lion has stood proudly in North China for more than a thousand years, and after withstanding wind and snow, it is still 6.3 meters long, nearly 3 meters wide, 5.4 meters high, and the residual weight is as high as 32 tons.
Such a big guy is often the memory of the life of generations of Cangzhou people. Many Cangzhou people, even if they are young and have left home, settled in a distant place, and forgotten many people and things, but this big lion will always be engraved in his heart. This mighty and majestic iron lion, carrying a lotus seat on its back, held its head high and opened its huge mouth, as if it could hear this huge roar that had penetrated through a thousand years...
However, after 1 repair by the modern local government and 4 repairs by modern experts, the Sentose-aged Cangzhou Iron Lion had its limbs rusted and cracked, and there was a risk of disintegration around it. Talking about this matter, most of the Cangzhou people who are concerned about the fate of the iron lion sigh and sigh, lamenting why the iron lion has been repaired several times, and the iron lion has become a "sick lion" and "rusty lion"?
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Who cast the Cangzhou Iron Lion? Up to 1068 years</h1>
Such a giant, proud of Cangzhou for more than a thousand years, who is the "big hand" of whom? The Cangzhou County Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli Dynasty records this:
"Zhou Shizong's northern expedition to khitan stationed in Cangzhou, the guilty people were good at governing, losing gold and casting lions, and the town city atonement for their sins. It is seven feet tall and six feet long. ”
According to this theory, when Chai Rong led the army of Later Zhou Shizong to the Northern Expedition, he stopped camp in Cangzhou, and the guilty people paid for the casting of this giant iron lion to show remorse.
Since then, the local documents of the Qing Dynasty have also recorded this big iron lion, but the language is not clear, but the 1933 version of the Cangzhou County Chronicle of the Republic of China gives more detailed information.
This version of the county chronicle records that the iron lion is located in front of the Kaiyuan Temple in the old city of Cangzhou, seven feet high and six feet long, carrying a huge basin. It is also recorded that there is an inscription on the head and neck of the lion called "The Lion King".
On the right side of the iron lion's neck, the words "Great Zhou Guangshun Three Years Cast" are also engraved. On the left abdomen of the iron lion there is also an inscription "Shandong Li Yunzao". Climbing into the "big basin" on the back of the lion, there is also an inscription "Dou Tian Guo Baoyu".
Chai Rong
The Great Zhou dynasty is what we commonly call the Later Zhou regime, and the third year of Guangshun is 953 AD. According to this calculation, the iron lion is 1068 years old. That Shandong Li Yun may be the donor, or he may be the caster of the lion's body, while Dou Tian and Guo Baoyu may be the casters of the giant basin on the back of the iron lion.
There are also commentators in the Republic of China who refuted the claim that sinners were cast during the Chai Rong period of Emperor Shizong of Zhou. Because according to the inscription on the iron lion, in 953, it was still the later Zhou founding emperor Guo Wei in the dynasty, even if Chai Rong led troops outside, he himself did not worship the Buddha, and it was unlikely that the criminals would pay for such a giant. What's more, the Northern Expedition of Zhou Shizong Chai Rong was in 959, which is inconsistent with the casting time engraved in the sphinx inscription.
Cangzhou iron lion during the Republic of China period
The Cangzhou Iron Lion is located in the old city of Cangzhou, and was first erected in front of the Kaiyuan Temple, which is now long gone. According to the Republic of China examiners, according to the analysis of the place where the lion was originally cast, it is likely that Li Yun of Shandong Province donated funds to the Kaiyuan Temple, which had nothing to do with Zhou Shizong Chai Rong.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there are historical records that during the Kangxi Dynasty, a fierce wind suddenly blew down the iron lion of Cangzhou. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty Guangxu years that he was lifted up. At this time, the iron lion's head, mouth and abdomen, and tail were damaged.
This repair in 1893 was the first official repair of the Cangzhou Iron Lion in the history of the record. After the local government lifted up the iron lion that had fallen to the ground for many years, bricks were laid on the lion's abdomen, and then a stone was built inside the lion's body to prop up the lion's head and the giant basin in the shape of a lotus seat. After this repair, no one has asked the Iron Lion for more than half a century.
A Cangzhou iron lion with bricks on its belly
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > 1957, the first maintenance of the expert group: to cover the gazebo to keep out the rain</h1>
In 1957, the protection of this thousand-year-old iron lion was put on the agenda. At that time, although the iron lion was still proud of North China, the corrosion situation was quite serious. In order to extend the life of this precious cultural relic, so that our children and grandchildren can also see the style, the cultural relics must be protected.
After analysis, some experts believe that the iron lion has serious corrosion around it, mainly because it is unobstructed and caused by rain and sun. In response to this expert suggestion, Cangzhou decided to build a pavilion to shelter the iron lion from the rain.
The Iron Lion of Cangzhou at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China
In 1957, Comrade Luo Xiufeng, the person in charge of the maintenance project at the time, recalled: The construction team first cushioned the abdomen of the iron lion with a brick wall to bear the load. The soil under the four legs of the iron lion was then hollowed out and concrete was poured. In the end, the Cangzhou Iron Lion became standing on a large layer of concrete, and the octagonal pavilion specially designed for the Iron Lion was also erected on the concrete floor.
In addition, the construction team also contacted the famous steel factory teacher fu nearby, and cast some parts for the Cangzhou iron lion to repair the gap.
This time, the conservation project was later controversial, because the construction of the pavilion not only did not slow down the corrosion rate of water vapor on the iron lion, but greatly accelerated the process. Why?
Behind the members of the construction team are the octagonal pavilion and the Cangzhou iron lion
The place where the original iron lion was located was relatively low-lying, and after the octagonal pavilion was built, the water vapor that was constantly steaming at the bottom of the Iron Lion in Cangzhou was blocked by the pavilion and could not be volatilized for a long time. Originally there was no pavilion, whether it was wind or sun, the water vapor on the lion could be quickly dissipated, but because of this pavilion, it made the lion in a humid environment for a long time, which greatly accelerated the rust process.
In addition to the problem of water vapor accumulation, the pavilion will actually affect the beauty of the cultural relics themselves. Because of the limited funds at that time, the pavilion was almost the same height as the Cangzhou Iron Lion, and the pavilion pillar was close to the lion's body, not like a lion standing in the pavilion, but like a narrow pavilion on the lion's head.
Tourists who come to see the iron lion can neither see the full posture of the iron lion, nor feel that the buildings attached to the iron lion look coordinated.
By the 1970s, many of the inscriptions on the Cangzhou Iron Lion were unrecognizable. In 1975, when the pavilion had to be demolished, experts from the Cultural Management Institute, summing up the lessons learned, admitted:
"The conservation project that began in 1957, we did good things with good intentions."
Cangzhou iron lion after demolishing the pavilion
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > 1982, 2nd repair by the expert group: hoisting to heights</h1>
Although the pavilion was demolished, it is a fact that the place where the iron lion is located is damp. During the heavy rainstorm, the flood level once flooded the belly of the iron lion. Therefore, it is imperative to transfer the I Iron Lion to a high place for placement.
In 1979, Cangzhou submitted a plan to the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, determined to hoist the iron lion from the original site to a pedestal 8 meters away. The higher terrain here ensures that when the water is strong, the iron lion will no longer be submerged.
Cangzhou iron lion in the flood
On the eve of the hoisting work, the expert group first excavated more than 300 square meters around the Cangzhou iron lion and unearthed more than 120 cultural relics related to it. There were two unexpected discoveries:
Not far from the iron lion's current location, a hard layer of rammed earth was found, most likely the place where the iron lion first stood after it was cast. There are also a large number of iron slag and fire marks nearby, which may have been the construction site when the parts were originally cast or welded.
Some Fragments of Buddha heads and bricks and tiles have been unearthed, and it can be determined that the Cangzhou Iron Lion was indeed built near a temple, but it cannot be concluded that it is the Kaiyuan Temple in the historical records.
The high platform behind him has been built
In 1982, the hoisting work was officially carried out. The lotus seat and lion head of the Cangzhou iron lion were first removed, and then two construction machinery with a lifting capacity of 30 tons entered the site and prepared to be hoisted.
Because of the fear that the limbs of the iron lion will be deformed by the force during the lifting process, the experts have studied and infused the limbs of the iron lion with sulfur anchoring mixture, which has a strong ability to resist pressure after solidification.
Eventually, the iron lion was successfully hoisted to a new pedestal 8 meters behind and reached a height of 2.2 meters, and the lion's head and lotus seat were subsequently reinstalled. In this restoration, experts have obtained more accurate data from Cangzhou Iron Lion:
The remnants of the lion's head weigh 3.5 tons, the giant basin in the lotus seat style weighs 3 tons, and the lion's body weighs 25 tons, with a total weight of nearly 32 tons. Experts estimate that when the Cangzhou Iron Lion was first cast, the complete weight was expected to be around 40 tons. The iron lion was damaged in 42 places, the largest pore was in the abdomen, because of the long-term rust from ancient times to the present, cracked a hole 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters in size.
Hanging the lion's body
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >1994, the 3rd repair of the expert group: the upper bracket is tied to the rebar</h1>
In view of the cracking phenomenon in the limbs of the Cangzhou iron lion after the last repair, the Hebei Ancient Building Protection Institute formulated a restoration plan and submitted it to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for approval. In 1994, Cangzhou Iron Lion ushered in the third restoration project after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
After argumentation, the expert group concluded that the cause of the cracking of the iron lion's limbs was the sulfur anchoring mixture used in the previous restoration project. After the hoisting was completed, the sulfur anchoring mixture inside the iron lion's limbs was not cleaned up in time, resulting in the expansion and cracking of the limbs.
The staff used steel brushes to remove rust from the inner walls of the iron lion's limbs, dug out the residue of the sulfur anchoring mixture left over from that year, and patiently rinsed them with chemical agents. The corrosion stripped from the limbs of the iron lion weighed more than sixty kilograms.
Cangzhou Iron Lion related stamps and postcards
This time the maintenance work, in addition to removing the sulfur anchoring mixture, is mainly about the reinforcement work of cangzhou iron lion. The expert group first carried out the reinforcement work inside the iron lion, using special stainless steel pipes and rubber pads and other materials to build an internal bracket to strengthen the iron lion internally.
In response to the more severely cracked hind legs, the experts hooped them with No. 4 steel bars. Some parts were also prepared to mend the imperfections of the iron lion.
In the spring of 1995, the conservation work was temporarily completed, and the repair of the iron lion seemed to have returned to its former glory.
The steel bars of the hind legs of the Cangzhou iron lion are clearly visible
But half a year later, the citizens reflected: Broken! The cracking of the iron lion's limbs not only did not stop, but it became bigger and bigger. So the second phase of the restoration work was immediately launched, and the expert group built a set of external brackets for the Cangzhou Iron Lion.
The Cangzhou iron lion is afraid of collapse, to the point of upper external brackets, no one can care about the beauty of cultural relics.
Both internal and external brackets are used, but the cracks in the limbs of the Cangzhou iron lion are still expanding, and in response to the concerns of the public, the expert group believes that there are two reasons after discussion:
The iron lion's center of gravity is shifted, resulting in uneven force on the limbs, resulting in deformation and cracking, which can be solved by relying on the existing internal and external brackets.
The current cracking is still going on and is normal, a "run-in period between the iron lion and the external scaffold structure".
After receiving a confident reply from the experts, the people who paid attention to the iron lion maintenance project were finally relieved.
After the third repair, the Cangzhou iron lion with brackets inside and outside
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > 2000, 4th repair by the Expert Group: The last time there was a defect</h1>
Less than five years after the third repair after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the condition of the Cangzhou Iron Lion has become more and more worrying. According to the naked eye observation of Cangzhou citizens and tourists, the condition of the iron lion is "one year is not as good as a year".
According to the monitoring data of the cultural relics protection department, in 1996, the total number of vertical and horizontal cracks in the lion's body was 8, and in 1999, it developed into 14. The No. 4 reinforcement on the hind leg hoops given to the iron lion by the experts also broke, and many gray-white powders flowed out of the crevices.
In 2000, experts came to check on the recent situation of the iron lion in Cangzhou, and believed that the local preservation of the iron lion continued to deteriorate, on the one hand, it was the result of the combination of external natural factors and cultural relics themselves for a long time in history.
On the other hand, it was because during the 1994 reinforcement, a scaffold was erected inside and outside the iron lion, and a mixture of slag, sand and lime was infused into the lion's leg. These materials could have strengthened the limbs of the iron lion and were sealed. However, over time, the closed layer was corroded and damaged, the rain continued to penetrate into it, and the slag, sand and other materials absorbed water after rain, which caused cracking...
Key cultural relics protection unit Cangzhou iron lion
So after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the fourth maintenance work for the Iron Lion of Cangzhou began. This time, the experts only cleaned up the stickers that were concerned in the last maintenance project, and carried out anti-rust and rust removal treatment, and there was no "big move".
In 2001, a group of 4 international metal artifact protection experts came to Cangzhou Iron Lion. Without exception, these international experts were amazed at the advanced casting process of the Chinese thousands of years ago, but there was no more clever solution to the protection of the Cangzhou iron lion.
The international experts believe that the only way is to build a museum, change the iron lion from outdoor preservation to indoor preservation, and maintain a constant temperature and humidity environment. This recommendation was ultimately not adopted.
Since then, the Cangzhou Iron Lion seems to have reached the time of death, and the helpless people can only watch him enter the countdown of life.
Cangzhou Iron Lion, Jingxian Jingzhou Pagoda, Zhengding Xinglong Temple and Zhaozhou Bridge in Zhao County are the four treasures of ancient Hebei. However, when it comes to the recent situation of the Cangzhou Iron Lion, people can't help but regret it: "If I hadn't touched it in the first place, the situation may not be so bad now!" ”
The Cangzhou iron lion of the thin western mountains
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary</h1>
Time has passed, and the more specific details of the previous restoration projects have not been examined. Opinions vary as to how effective the repairs will be. Perhaps it is really this millennium iron lion that has reached the end of its life cycle, and people, including cultural relics experts, are also eager to save cultural relics to finally lead to such results.
The first repair, in the spirit of fighting for the iron lion to protect the wind and rain, built a pavilion for it, but it caused the water vapor to be long-term and accelerated the corrosion.
The second repair, in good faith for the iron lion to move to a higher place, hoisted it to a higher place, but in the process used anchoring agent was not removed in time, so that the iron lion was further damaged.
The third repair, in the spirit of the good intention of reinforcing the cultural relics, added stainless steel brackets inside and outside, but eventually the strength of the iron lion itself was greatly affected.
The fourth time of maintenance, in the face of the Cangzhou iron lion who could no longer withstand any tossing, people were finally helpless.
No one knows how long the Cangzhou Iron Lion, which is facing the risk of disintegration, can stand "on crutches". Once the majestic wind is no longer there, the old lion has become a heart-wrenching "sick lion" and "rusty lion".
Although the problem of iron lion and rust has been very serious before this, the four repairs have objectively failed to bring the expected good results, which is a warning for the protection of other cultural relics.
For cultural relics conservation experts, carrying out the restoration of the Cangzhou iron lion is also a huge pressure. They have no precedent to follow, they can only grope forward, it is a piece of sincere love for cultural relics, so that they can not sit by and watch the Cangzhou iron lion rust day by day, until it collapses. Today, the maintenance situation of the iron lion is not optimistic, and the experts responsible for the repair work have also borne a lot of burdens, which is a tricky and difficult point.
The new lion in Cangzhou Lion City Park
On March 28, 2011, the new Cangzhou Iron Lion weighing 120 tons was built in Cangzhou Lion City Park. Perhaps the old lion has completed his historical mission, and the glory of the next millennium will be handed over to this new lion.
Thank you for reading, welcome to the comments section to discuss your views on the restoration of cultural relics or your story with the Cangzhou Iron Lion!