Introduction
In 2011, an iron lion with a total weight of 120 tons was placed in the Shicheng Park on Yingbin South Avenue, Canal District, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province.
reported that the lifespan of the new lion is about 2,000 years, and it will become a new "Cangzhou symbol" and continue the majestic posture of the "old" Cangzhou Iron Lion .
, coincidentally, on the afternoon of July 29, 2022, Cangzhou held an "Experts on the Protection of Iron Lions in Cangzhou". The
meeting invited many well-known domestic cultural relics protection experts, and the participants expressed important opinions on the current situation and protection strategies of the Iron Lion.
is expected to be repaired by the Iron Lion for the fifth time in the near future.
However, when it comes to repairing the iron lion, the local people in Cangzhou have something to say. Especially the elderly Cangzhou people have witnessed how this iron lion that has stood for thousands of years has gradually declined after repeated repairs.
So, what is the origin of this iron lion that represents the spiritual sustenance of the people of Cangzhou? Why did
face the dilemma of "falling at any time" after several repairs?
Picture | Current Situation of Iron Lion
1. The origin of Cangzhou "Iron Lion"
When you mention Cangzhou, Hebei, what is the first thing you think of? Friends who like to read martial arts novels should know that during the Republic of China, the famous patriotic martial artist , Huo Yuanjia, , was from Cangzhou, Hebei.
The people of Cangzhou are simple and upright, and coupled with geographical and historical conditions, the martial arts style is prevalent here, and there is a saying that "geese pass by, pluck their hair, and beasts walk by and keep their skin."
However, the protagonist of this article is Cangzhou Iron Lion. Its appearance can be traced back to the third year of Guangshun (953 AD), and is a thousand-year-old cultural relic left over from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in my country to this day.
Hebei region once circulated "Cangzhou Lion Jingzhou Tower, The Great Bodhisattva of Zhendingfu ". The three famous cultural relics and historical sites sung in this folk song are the first to be affected by the "Cangzhou Iron Lion".
This thing has a more extraordinary name " Zhenhaihou ", which has a relationship with its origin. (This is a later story, so I will not mention it for now)
Cangzhou Iron Lion is located on the north side of the east gate of the old Cangzhou ancient city, 20 kilometers southeast of Cangzhou City, to Ximen Avenue.
Iron lion is 5.4 meters high, 5.3 meters long and 3 meters wide. It carries a huge basin and has two hanging belts on the front chest and buttocks, and the two ends are hanging on the shoulders and hips.
From a distance, the hair on the iron lion's head is wavy and slightly curly; the head is high and the mouth is wide open, as if it is whistling to the sky; the limbs are spread apart, as if they are galloping.
Those who have seen this iron lion will be deeply impressed by its majestic and heroic spirit.
However, who exactly cast the iron lion? Why did this "divine object" be shaped?
1933, the Cangxian Chronicle ushered in a new version of the revision work, which included , Qing Dynasty , "The Iron Lion Fu" by Li Zhizheng, a literati of Qing Dynasty: "The thundering mane is like a hanging eye, the claws are like saws, and the teeth are like hooks. It is ferocious and sweeping, and it is suddenly rushing and drowning. It is tilted to the west, absorbing waves in Guangdian; it falls off the tail and sweeps east, resisting the tides in the mirage."
Regarding the origin of the iron lion, there is also a record in the Cangxian Chronicle: "The iron lion is ten feet tall and seven feet tall and six feet long.
carries a huge pot on the back, and has three words "Lion King" on the top of the head and under the neck. The right neck and teeth are all "cast in the third year of Guangshun of the Great Zhou Dynasty" and the left rib has five words "made in Shandong Li Yun".
There are many words inside and outside the belly, but they are not completely destroyed. Later, those who know it are called Diamond Sutra.
Picture | Iron lion
plagued by water accumulation
From this we can see that the iron lion was cast in the third year of Guangshun, Later Zhou Dynasty, with a history of 1,069 years. The caster is Li Yun from Shandong.
Due to the erosion of wind and rain, most of the casting characters on the iron lion are no longer there. Today, only a few words such as "Lion King" under the neck.
Regarding the casting process of iron lions, according to experts' analysis and speculation, it should be cast according to the "section stack casting method".
The lion's belly is made of a whole mud mold as the core, and is first cast in one piece. The limbs and the left and right ribs are cast in different batches, and then spliced with the lion's belly.
is incompletely counted. This iron lion has a total of 409 pieces, and its overall weight is about 40 tons (some say 29.3 tons).
More than a thousand years ago, Chinese craftsmen were able to complete such a huge cast iron process, and their technical level is of some reference significance today.
, a large iron cast piece like Cangzhou Iron Lion, can't find a second in the country, so it deserves the title of "Lion King".
As for what is the purpose of this iron lion? There are three theories circulating on the market today.
First: "Cangxian Chronicles" is recorded: " Zhou Shizong Northern Expedition Khitan , punishing the criminal to cast this iron lion to the city of the prefecture."
From this we can see that the iron lion or was cast by the Later Zhou Shizong in order to achieve the effect of "town town".
Ran In the third year of Guangshun, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Guo Wei had not yet passed away. The Northern Expedition of Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty was in the sixth year of Xiande (959 AD), and the iron lion had been forged for six years.
It is not difficult to find that when Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty was in a state of emergency, the army only passed by Cangzhou, and he would definitely not order people to send workers to cast lions. This statement is obviously unreliable.
Second: Because Cangzhou often had floods in ancient times, a Shandong caster named Li Yun passed by here. He cast an iron lion with one hand to suppress floods. , the iron lion is also called "Zhenhaihou".
According to archaeological surveys from the 1960s and 1980s, ancient ruins or ancient city ruins have been found near Cangzhou and even extending to places close to the Bohai coast.
can be seen that, as early as a thousand years ago, the coastline of Cangzhou with a radius of hundreds of miles had begun to take shape, so the statement of Zhenhai disaster is not accurate.
Third: According to the "Cangxian Chronicles", the original site of the iron lion is located in front of Kaiyuan Temple. In addition, the diamond scriptures are cast in the belly of the iron lion. Compared with the two, the iron lion should be related to Buddhism.
It should be the "Buddha seat" in the original Kaiyuan Temple. The huge basin on the lion's back should be the "lotus basin". There is also an Manjushri Bodhisattva statue on the basin. (A local old man in Cangzhou recalled that there was an Iron Bodhisattva on the back of the iron lion, which was melted during the great steelmaking)
Generally, temples worship Manjushri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva , Manjushri on the left, and Samantabhadra on the right, because the seating rankings in ancient China were above the left.
Picture | "New" Cangzhou Iron Lion
Based on this reason, there should be a white elephant opposite the iron lion, which is dedicated to Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, so the original worship of the Kaiyuan Temple in Cangzhou should be Sakyamuni, the ancestor of Buddhism.
Considering that from , the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, to the modern times, wars have occurred frequently in various parts of China, and most of these Buddhist buildings have been destroyed in wars.
or Kaiyuan Temple has no white elephant, which is a temple dedicated to Manjushri Bodhisattva.
But no matter what, the diamond scriptures cast in the belly of the iron lion must indicate that it has a certain connection with Kaiyuan Temple and even Buddhist culture, and is by no means a simple "suppression".
2. The iron lion that has been repaired four times
Because the iron lion is a metal object, and it is placed in the open air all year round, wind and rain, and the vicissitudes of time, this "symbol of the times" that witnesses the development of Cangzhou becomes decaying.
According to literature records, the first repair of the iron lion in Cangzhou was in 1893. This is the first time that the government organized the restoration of the iron lion in history.
In the eighth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1803 AD), a strong wind blew the iron lion down, and its jaw, abdomen and tail were severely damaged.
It was not until the 19th year of the Guangxu period (1893 AD), and it was finally supported by local officials.
As for how it is fixed, who are involved in the repair work? No relevant written descriptions were left.
But one thing is certain, this time the repair work should be very successful. Otherwise, this "divine object" would not have survived several major battles that broke out in the next few decades.
After the founding of New China, the Party Central Committee required all parts of the country to inspect cultural relics of historical significance, register their data, and repair these large cultural relics if necessary.
In 1956, a relatively serious flood disaster occurred in Cangzhou area. It rained for several months, and the iron lion was surrounded by a large amount of water.
The drainage channel cannot work properly due to the rapid flow of water, causing the iron lion's legs to soak in the water for several months, resulting in an oxidation reaction (signs of rust).
The staff of Cangzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau quickly reported this situation to the superior leaders. The experts of Hebei Province's cultural relics saw it and were anxious in their hearts, preparing to take time to organize the staff to repair the iron lion.
Picture | The cramped small pavilion made the decay of the iron lion even worse
It’s a pity that the cultural relics experts at that time had no idea how to repair the iron lion. Because there is no exact written record, everyone has not even come up with an initial plan.
Under the arrangement of superiors, some Soviet experts who aided China came to Cangzhou to guide the staff of the Cultural Relics Bureau to repair the iron lion.
Soviet experts believe that the Cangzhou iron lion is just showing signs of rust at the bottom, and there is no big problem with the upper layer.
Since the iron lion is afraid of bubbles, then build a small pavilion above its head to shelter from wind and rain. After
, the Cangzhou government allocated funds to build an octagonal pavilion for the Iron Lion.
It seems that the maintenance work has come to an end smoothly. Since there is a small pavilion to shelter the iron lion from the wind and rain, you don’t have to worry about any heavy rain in the future.
However, Soviet experts did not consider China's urban drainage capacity at that time and mistakenly estimated the maintenance status of the iron lion, resulting in the octagonal pavilion being very small in size.
Indeed, this octagonal pavilion can shelter the iron lion from the wind and rain. But in the plum rain season, the pavilion could not stop the continuous accumulation of water and blocked the originally built sewers.
Because the pavilion is too narrow, once there is water accumulation inside, it cannot evaporate in time, which eventually leads to "the pavilion forming a humid and high-temperature microclimate", which aggravates the rust of the lion, and even when the water accumulation is deep, it can reach the abdomen of the iron lion.
Another thing is that after building this small pavilion, many children and tourists from all over the world can climb the iron lion more conveniently, carving letters on it as a souvenir, making the lion's body even more broken.
1961, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, and Cangzhou Iron Lion was included in the "National Security List".
1972, in order to protect the iron lion from further rusting, the Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau demolished the octagonal pavilion and restored it to an open-air state.
In the spring of 1975, the iron lion ushered in its second repair. The local cultural relics bureau learned from the failed experience of the first maintenance work and first carried out rust removal work on the surface of the iron lion.
This time the maintenance work solved the problems left over from the last time, but the sewer around the iron lion was not widened, and the drainage capacity was still a mess.
In other words, Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau still failed to solve the problem of excessive water accumulation around the iron lion.
Picture | Batch lifting of iron lions
By 1977, the rust and damage of the iron lion became more serious, and a huge hole 2.58 meters long and 2.25 meters wide appeared on the abdomen.
Seeing that the iron lion was shaking, the staff of Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau ran around and invited many experts to conduct on-site inspections.
Everyone worked together to formulate a maintenance plan to focus on solving the problem of deep water accumulation.
Many experts believe that the iron lion is nothing more than afraid of blisters, so it is better to move it to the high platform, so that no matter how heavy the rain is, it will not flood.
Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau felt it made sense, so it built a two-meter-high pedestal eight meters north of the iron lion, which not only isolated the accumulated water, but also prevented tourists from climbing and destroying the iron lion. After the
pedestals were built, the Cultural Relics Bureau found more than a dozen construction units to prepare for the final lifting and relocation of the iron lion.
Construction companies have never taken on such a job. They are afraid that national treasures will be lost to eternal sinners, so they politely rejected the invitation from Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau.
Finally, a local railway service company undertakes the project construction.
In order to reduce the lifting weight, this local company in Cangzhou first lifted the lion's head and lotus seat; during the lifting, the tic-tac-tac- chassis was welded to the lion's belly. In order not to squeeze the hollow legs, sulfur anchoring agent was temporarily infused.
At that time, everyone thought that the mixture would melt after heating and was easy to remove after lifting.
However, an accident occurred while hoisting the body of the lion, and the staff misjudged the firmness of the iron lion.
On November 22, 1984, four ten-ton jacks held the chassis, and two thirty-ton cranes were lifted simultaneously.
During the lifting and handling process, the staff made savage construction, causing severe wear and tear on the chin, tail, left front foot and right rear foot of the iron lion. While
was hoisting, the cultural relics protector performed a full-body examination for the iron lion. It was found that the lion's whole body was damaged at that time. Except for the complete defect of the chin, tail, left hind foot and right front foot, the largest hole was the belly, with a foot of 7 square meters.
When the relocation work was completed, the staff were careless and forgot to clean up the sulfur anchoring agent in time.
As a result, after several heavy rains, the consolidation agent swelled on the iron lion's body after encountering water, and red, yellow and black liquid secretions often seeped out from the cracks in the iron lion's legs.
These secretions are sulfhydryl compounds and rust; the liquid sulfur mixture cools down and solidifies, expands in volume, causing the lion's legs that already have cracks to accelerate and break. (The legs of the iron lion were almost broken at that time)
1994, the Cangzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau sent several emergency telegrams to the State Cultural Relics Administration. After approval, it was agreed to carry out maintenance and protection of the iron lion.
When the staff cleared the sulfur mixture, they found that the steel bars about 2 cm thick inside the lion's legs had corroded to the same thin as fish hook. It was cleared out about 60 kilograms of cracked cast iron fragments from it. The second maintenance work of
took nearly ten years. Although it achieved certain results, it also caused serious damage to the body of the iron lion.
In the mid-1990s, the Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau carried out paint anti-corrosion work for the iron lion, so that it could isolate the air and no longer be eroded by harmful gases, but it also caused the iron lion to lose its original luster and was accompanied by the phenomenon of falling off the surface in pieces. The third repair work of
follows closely, because the iron lion has almost reached the point of "falling at any time", the local cultural relics bureau staff once again convened a group of industry insiders to formulate a maintenance plan.
discussions and discussions, industry insiders feel that they can no longer carry out a big fight to repair the iron lion.
Relevant experts from the National and Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau proposed: Use iron pipes as brackets to fix the iron lion and support it, just like a scaffolding on a construction site to fix the building body so that the iron lion will not fall down. After the
plan is formulated, the next step is to repair it. The staff first installed a bracket on the iron lion's abdomen to reduce the pressure on the lion's body and legs, and then repaired the broken part of the lion's legs.
But this repair has problems again. In order to strengthen the four lion legs, the maintenance staff poured mixed materials such as slag, sand, lime with a coefficient of expansion less than the sulfur mixture, and the cracks in the legs of the iron lion were still expanding and expanding.
Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau immediately placed a large amount of steel bars around the iron lion to support it.
Picture | The iron lion's foot has broken
In short, although the third repair work did not collapse immediately, it also caused its body to be constantly dislocated.
related experts and leaders originally thought that the expansion coefficient of concrete was small and would not cause harm to lion legs, but the result was contrary to the situation.
Since the iron lion was about to fall down at any time, the Cangzhou Cultural Relics Bureau decided to continue filling its legs with slag and lime, which was almost useless. The fourth maintenance work of
was led by the State Administration of Cultural Relics and the Hebei Provincial Administration of Cultural Relics. At that time, a leading group for rescue and protection of Iron Lions was established. The head of the expert group pointed out : "Iron Lions are no longer repairs, but a problem of rescue." .
Provincial leaders made the decision: first clean up the mixed materials of the slag and sand inside the iron lion.
In order to prevent the lion from capsizing and falling to the ground, the Cultural Relics Bureau urgently transported ten tons of sand to make sandbags, piled them around it, and inserted a large amount of steel bars to try to support the iron lion.
At this point, the maintenance work of Cangzhou Iron Lion was completed in four times, which has played a positive effect of maintaining the body and strengthening the balance to a certain extent.
but it also had an indelible impact on the iron lion.
So far, cultural relics experts said: The condition of the iron lion is already very bad. For it, what is more important is daily maintenance, such as rust removal and sealing to slow down corrosion.
is like an elderly person who is already terminally ill. You should pay more attention to health preservation and not go to the hospital after you are seriously ill, as it will be too late.
In fact, the Cangzhou Cultural Relics Management Department widely solicited rescue plans around 2000. In October 2003, the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau submitted the plan to the State Cultural Relics Administration for approval.
Because the lessons learned from the previous few repairs were first, the experts were extremely cautious during the review and the plan failed in the end.
In 2006, the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage established the "Research Project on Comprehensive Protection of Iron Cultural Relics" and conducted scientific research on outdoor large-scale iron cultural relics protection technology using iron lions as samples. After several years of scientific analysis, the
research team proposed a conceptual maintenance plan: removes the existing outer bracket of the lion, and reduces the height of the iron lion base through stable internal support.
Regarding the most serious problem of iron lion rust, the research team believes that: builds a shed for iron lions to shelter. The shed cannot be as short as the octagonal pavilion built in 1956, at least ten meters high to ensure ventilation and will not be damp and rust.
Whether it is made into an inner bracket or “building a shed”, it is only a concept. The iron lion with all kinds of holes can no longer withstand the torture.
Picture | Iron Lion Repair Expert Symposium
Conclusion
Whenever I talk about this, the people of Cangzhou always think that the Iron Lion has stood for thousands of years. Why has it become more and more fragile after experiencing the restoration work of experts for four times? Thousand-year-old antiques can only withstand 60 years of random tossing, which is the most tragic thing about the Iron Lion in Cangzhou. The people of Cangzhou have such an idea. To be fair, cultural relics workers want to make the iron lion more stable from the bottom of their hearts, but they did not handle some details better when formulating the restoration plan.
things went against my wishes. We should summarize the lessons of the iron lion protection work in Cangzhou. Besides, if the heavy rain in 1956 hadn’t been for the timely protection of the iron lion by the cultural relics staff, its legs might have been corroded. In July 2022, the Cangzhou Cultural Relics Department once again invited many domestic cultural relic restoration experts to discuss with industry insiders on how to restore the Iron Lion. Since the specific plan has not been officially released, I hope that this time the restoration of the Iron Lion will satisfy everyone, and try not to let this "divine object" be destroyed in the hands of our generation.
