China has a history of more than 5,000 years since ancient times. In the development of these thousands of years, China's culture has become more and more profound. Moreover, many ancient people's wisdom and technology are beyond our reach so far, and most of those ancient people's wisdom crystals are condensed in many handicrafts and have been passed down to this day. Nowadays, those handicrafts have become a cultural symbol of a city, just like a landmark building of a city.
Every city has its own culture, with its own handicrafts behind it. Cangzhou, Hebei Province, which we are going to talk about today, also has its own cultural logo. Cangzhou City, Hebei Province is called the Lion City because of its iron lion. The iron lion in Cangzhou weighs about 32 tons. It has endured thousands of years of wind and rain, but it still stands in Cangzhou as it is. But the guards for so many years didn't get a good ending, and the iron lion was finally destroyed by the people he guarded.
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After the iron lion was discovered in Cangzhou, many archaeologists were sent to study it. Finally, after a series of textual research by archaeologists, it is speculated that it should be built in the third year of Guangxu in the later Zhou Dynasty (AD 953). At that time, this iron lion was located in front of a temple in Cangzhou City. In China, this iron lion is already the oldest and largest iron lion in China.
The casting of this iron lion is very grand, giving people a very powerful feeling. The iron lion faces south, but his head faces southwest. The whole lion gives the impression that it is aimed at its prey and ready to attack. On this lion's body, the title of the lion king is also printed, and the lotus throne is carved on the back. Finally, historians infer from a series of ancient books that this lion should be the mount of Manjusri Bodhisattva in the temple. Because in ancient times, the mount of Manjusri Bodhisattva has always been the Lion King, and this lion-like sculpture shows that it should be waiting for the arrival of Manjusri Bodhisattva.
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Even if this Cangzhou lion is cast now, it is very difficult, let alone an ancient craftsman at that time. But the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated. They cast iron into blocks and then cast them layer by layer, so that the iron lion stands here. Maybe they never thought that this iron lion could stand here for thousands of years. It can also be seen that the forging technology of the ancients is exquisite, and we still have a lot to learn.
However, according to Cang County Records, experts later thought that this iron lion might have been specially cast by Zhou Shizong for the roaring of Zhenhai, so it also had a name called "Zhenhai Tsunami". Because the geographical location of Cangzhou in the past is different from that of Cangzhou now. Cangzhou used to be near the sea, and the climate here was not good. The sea is often flooded, and local people have to go through shipwrecks from time to time. For Cangzhou at that time, such a shipwreck made people unable to bear the ups and downs of life.
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Later, these villagers collectively raised funds and asked Li, a very famous foundry at that time, to cast iron lions to help them suppress the tsunami. These donors and cast Li, which is engraved with the name of the iron lion. There is also a legend about the iron lion. In ancient times, Cangzhou was a treasure trove of geomantic omen. A dragon took a fancy to Cangzhou, a land of geomantic omen, and wanted to launch a tsunami to drive away the locals. When the dragon did evil, it was driven out of Cangzhou by the lion. But because the dragon still exists, people built this iron lion to keep it away from Cangzhou. People call this lion Zhenhai roar as a souvenir.
In order to protect this iron lion, Cangzhou specially invited cultural relics experts from the Soviet Union. But Soviet experts suggested that they make a pavilion to protect the iron lion. As a result, the iron lion soon began to rust because it could not evaporate water in time. After the iron lion rusted, they dismantled the pavilion, but began to "toss" the iron lion again. At that time, Cangzhou people specially built a pedestal for the lion. In order to put the iron lion on this pedestal, they injected a lot of cement into the leg of the iron lion, which caused a lot of cracks in the iron lion. In order to repair these cracks, they inserted steel pipes around the iron lion, but the situation did not improve and the cracks in the iron lion increased again.
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In this way, the iron lion fell under the protection of those shrewd experts and lost its majestic charm. In Shangshu Cai Zhongchuan, it was said: "No coincidence is a book, and the old chapter is chaotic." If it weren't for the misconduct of experts, maybe the iron lion wouldn't be damaged so quickly. Therefore, in the process of cultural relics protection in the later period, its handling method has also become more cautious and subtle, so as to avoid irreparable losses.