Tianzhu is an ethnic county under the jurisdiction of Wuwei City, Gansu Province, and there is an important cultural relic in the Tianzhu County Museum that is regarded as the "treasure of the town hall" - the bronze yak. It is said that this bronze yak was a dowry that Princess Wencheng brought when she entered Tibet, and it was a "holy relic". At the same time, this copper yak is also the exclusive cultural relics of China's nomads, which fills the gap in the cultural relics of China's nomadic people in large animal bronzes.
So, how did this copper yak come to the Tianzhu County Museum? Speaking of the process of the yak's return to the museum, it is really a bit tortuous. In 1972, the Xia Mentai production team in Haxi Town, Tianzhu County, inadvertently dug up the copper cow while building a breeding yard. Later, the copper cow was sent to the scrap collection station as scrap copper, and the staff of the acquisition station saw at a glance that it was a cultural relic and refused to buy it. In 1979, it was sold again to the scrap collection station after standing in the commune's warehouse for seven years and sent to the waste warehouse at the railway station, ready to be sent to the refinery for re-smelting. The deputy director of the Bureau of Culture and Education arrived in time after hearing the news and stopped it, and a national treasure was spared.
In 1972, the Xia Mentai production team of the Friendship Brigade of the You'ai Brigade in Haxi Town, Tianzhu County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, wanted to build a breeding yard, and the members of the production team came to help. While the production team members were digging the foundation, one of the team members inadvertently planed a hard object, and when he shaved out the hard object, he found that it was a copper sheet, and then he shaved a few pickaxes and a few copper pieces. The captain of the production team heard that something had been dug up, walked over to look at it, and then told everyone to be careful, there may be a "treasure" underneath.
So the members of the production team began to dig down carefully, and with the concerted efforts of everyone, in a short while they dug out a copper yak and two copper horses. The two copper horses, due to severe corrosion and the impact of external forces during excavation, were fragmented, leaving only a pile of broken copper pieces, while the copper yak was intact. Everyone talked around the copper yak, and they all praised the yak for making it too similar.
After the copper yak and the bronze horse were dug up, the captain of the production team first sent them to the production team's warehouse. A week later, the captain of the production team felt that these things were useless in the warehouse, so he arranged for the team to send him to the scrap collection station to sell some money. So the two villagers got on a carriage and pulled the copper ox and the broken copper pieces of the two copper horses to the scrap collection station.
The staff of the waste collection station had a certain knowledge of cultural relics identification, and after he saw the copper bull, he insisted that it was a cultural relic, refused to buy it, and asked them to ask the commune leaders to take the commune's letter of introduction before they could receive it. So, the two villagers pulled the copper bull back to the production team. Later, the leader of the production team asked the commune leaders, who also thought that the bronze bull was indeed like a cultural relic after seeing the copper cow, so they sent the copper cow to the commune's storehouse. So the copper cow went into the commune's storehouse and stood in it for seven years.
In 1979, commune workers found the copper cow again while tidying up the storeroom. So the newly appointed commune leader issued a letter of introduction, asking the commune storehouse administrator to send the copper cow to the scrap purchase along with some other scrap copper and iron. This time, the staff of the waste collection station saw the introduction letter from the commune and bought the copper cow. However, he still felt that this bronze cow was a precious cultural relic, and it was a pity that it was returned to the refinery. Therefore, he entrusted someone to tell this information to Duozhi, deputy director of the Tianzhu County Cultural and Education Bureau. It had been a few days since Duozhi had received the news, and he immediately rushed to the scrap collection station. However, when he arrived at the scrap collection station, the copper cow had already been sent to the waste warehouse of the railway station along with other scrap copper and iron, and was preparing to send it away. Fortunately, Duozhi arrived in time to move the copper bull out of the waste warehouse, and a national treasure escaped the doom of returning to the furnace for refining.
Let's take a look at this copper yak rescued from the scrap collection station: it is 0.61 meters high, 1.2 meters long, 0.42 meters long, weighs 75 kilograms, and is made of bronze. This copper yak is completely cast according to the appearance of the real yak, and the curves of the head, feet, neck, abdomen, back, tail and other parts are natural and beautiful, strong and powerful. The whole yak shape is unique, vivid and vivid, is a beautiful cultural relic, is the only large copper yak unearthed in China so far, filling the gap in the cultural relics of China's nomadic people in large animal bronze.
So, what is the origin of this yak?
As we all know, tibetans have a deep affection for the yak, which is the totem of the Tibetan people. The prototype of this copper yak is the unique white yak shape in Tibetan areas, indicating that this copper yak was specially built for Tibetans. Since ancient times, Tibetans have lived on a cold and oxygen-deficient plateau, in this harsh living environment, many animals are difficult to survive, but yaks can live comfortably in the plateau area above 3 kilometers above sea level, indicating that yaks are spirits given by Heaven to the Tibetan people. Yak not only provides Tibetans with high-quality survival food, but also the spiritual sustenance of Tibetan people's lives, so since ancient times, yak has been the spiritual totem of Tibetans.
After studying the casting process of the copper yak, experts believe that the copper yak was cast in the Yuan Dynasty. However, some experts have questioned that the bronze yak is a prayer artifact used by the local Tufan tribe to worship the gods. The most popular era of the Tufan tribe in Tibetan areas was the Tang Dynasty, and experts believe that this bronze yak may have been a holy relic that Princess Wencheng wanted to bring into Tibet before entering Tibet, but later, for unknown reasons, it was left in Tianzhu.
In order to find out the true origin of this copper yak, the museum sent experts to the place where the Xia Mentai production team of the Friendship Brigade found the copper yak and conducted a second excavation. However, the secondary excavations found nothing. It was finally confirmed that the bronze bull was only a cellared cultural relic, and it was impossible to verify who had stored it here.
The copper yak unearthed by Tianzhu is a precious cultural wealth left to us by our ancestors, although the mystery of its origin has not been unveiled so far, but people who have seen this copper yak are all captivated by its superb casting skills and vivid body image. From the body of this copper yak, we can feel the beating of the ancestors' pulse and feel the exquisite production skills of the ancients. At the same time, this copper yak also experienced the perseverance of its ancestors.
It is precisely these little by little and unexpected cultural relics that allow the civilization of the Chinese nation to be passed on, from point to point, to carry forward, and to glory. Later, this bronze yak was rated as a national first-class cultural relic, and as a national treasure of our country, it has been exhibited abroad many times to show the world the splendid ancient culture of our Chinese nation. At present, this bronze yak is in the collection of the Tianzhu County Museum in Gansu Province, which is the "treasure of the town hall" of the museum.