The mainland has nearly 5,000 years of magnificent history and culture, thousands of years of historical accumulation, leaving countless precious cultural relics and heritage, including many rare treasures.
These historical relics are the accumulation of the mainland's history and the witnesses of history, and their preservation shows the world the mainland's profound historical origins and culture.
Dunhuang has Mogao Cave murals, Sichuan has Leshan Giant Buddha, Xi'an has Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors, these cultural relics have witnessed the change of dynasties.
There are also several precious cultural relics near the Yellow River on the mainland - eight iron bull statues, which have witnessed the changes of the Yellow River on the mainland for thousands of years.
It also fully reflects the ancient culture of harnessing the Yellow River
。
The legend of the Yellow River Iron Bull
The Yellow River is the second longest river in China, and its history is long, benefiting the people on both sides of the river for thousands of years. Therefore, the Yellow River is called "Mother River" by the sons and daughters of China, and is one of the four major civilizations in the world. There are many mysterious stories circulating in the Yellow River, such as: Hebo Wangyang Xingxing, Dayu Zhishui, Lu Ban building a general pillar and so on.
In addition, there is also a story about the iron bull in the Yellow River, which has been praised by the people on both sides of the river for generations.
Legend has it that during the first year of the Tang Dynasty, the Yellow River often flooded,
Tang Xuanzong believed in the Five Elements of the I Ching that "cattle belong to the soil, and the soil can conquer water"
So he sent people to build these eight iron cattle out of iron and place them under the pontoon bridges on both sides of the river to suppress the flooding of the Yellow River.
These eight iron bulls come to life and are very precisely crafted. Each iron bull weighs several thousand pounds. Placing them on both sides of the river balances the bridge and blocking the raging Yellow River waters.
Therefore, as long as the Yellow River iron bull exists safely, it can ensure the happiness and well-being of the people on both sides of the strait.
In the Song Dynasty, one year the Yellow River burst into floods, the pontoon bridge on the Yellow River was washed away, the Yellow River flooded, and the eight iron bull statues supporting the pontoon bridge on both sides were also submerged by the Yellow River.
This made the Song Emperor very worried: the pontoon bridge collapsed, the iron bull flooded, the Yellow River flooded, and the people on both sides of the strait would destroy their lives.
So he called on the world: If anyone can salvage the iron bull, he will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold and enjoy endless glory and wealth.
The golden thousand and two is a lot of wealth, and whoever gets it can have no worries about food and clothing for a lifetime. As a result, many people tried everything to salvage the iron cattle that sank to the bottom of the river, but most of them found nothing.
At this time, a monk stood up and said that he had a way:
As long as people prepare two large boats, fill them with sand, let the people with good water go into the water to tie the chains on the iron bull to the boat, and then shovel the sand in the boat, after the boat floats up, the iron bull will be pulled up by the buoyancy of the boat
The emperor sent someone to do it according to the monk's method, and if the eight iron cattle were salvaged, the emperor was very happy.
Then, the emperor kept his promise and rewarded the monk with a thousand taels of gold, but the monk refused, saying, "Money is only something outside the body." Then the monk whisked his sleeve away.
The Yellow River salvaged four Yellow River iron cattle
For thousands of years, these iron bulls have been guarding the people on both sides of the Yellow River. However, with the change of the environment, the water of the Yellow River has risen, and the embankments on both sides have been eroded by the yellow sand of the river for a long time, and the iron bull has been submerged in the water of the Yellow River.
In the middle of the 20th century, the water of the Yellow River flowed through the walls of Puzhou City, and some villagers living nearby saw the appearance of iron cattle.
Listen to them: Whenever the Yellow River dries up, the horns of the iron bull occasionally appear, and sometimes the horns of the bull will touch the bottom of the boat when the boat passes.
Later, because the Yellow River flooded as soon as the flood season arrived, the flood caused the houses of the people on both sides of the river to be flooded and the homes to be destroyed. Iron Bull also rarely makes an appearance.
In the 1980s, the Yongji Museum near the Yellow River decided to salvage the iron bull ashore in order to prevent the "disappearance of the iron bull", and obtained government support.
After more than a year of surveying, exploration and discussion, the relevant departments sent an archaeological team to salvage four iron cattle from the Yellow River. Measured by archaeologists,
These iron bulls weigh between 45 and 70 tons, are 3 meters long, 1.3 meters wide and about 2 meters high.
After these iron bulls were salvaged, they attracted the attention of the historical and cultural relics community and also attracted the attention of social media. These iron bulls are huge in size, far more than ordinary cultural relics,
It is the largest cultural relic on the mainland since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the workmanship is exquisite.
The shape of the iron bull is very different, and the image is vivid, and the two are facing each other, just like the real cow.
Their hind legs are flexed and squatting, the front legs are pedaled outwards, and each cow tail has a piercing hole,
It should be to tie the chains to fix the pontoon bridge on the Yellow River.
And the material of these iron bulls is very rare
It is a very special kind of "iron", which can also be seen that the "wrought iron technology" in the Tang Dynasty was very mature.
The exquisite and placed position of iron cattle manufacturing can also fully reflect the advanced technology of water control engineering in the Tang Dynasty
These iron bulls are a combination of technology and art, which is of great significance for the mainland to study the water culture of the Tang Dynasty.
Why not transfer the Iron Bull to the museum for protection?
But the strange thing is,
These iron bulls are very important historical relics, why are they only placed in the open on the banks of the Yellow River after leaving the river? Why was it not transferred to the museum for storage?
Why are there no protective measures such as covering?
Many people are very confused, why are the cultural relics that have been painstakingly salvaged not placed in the museum for preservation, and they are not afraid of being destroyed under the sun?
The daily maintenance of iron bulls has troubled many experts and scholars, and until now they have not discussed how to correctly dispose of these iron bulls
target
Someone has questions.
Later, some experts came forward to explain this problem, these iron cattle are huge, its material is relatively special, if modern technical maintenance may aggravate the damage.
Therefore, many archaeologists advocate not to deal with it too much.
These iron cattle stayed in the water for a long time before they were salvaged, and there was no oxidation and rust after the water, indicating that some technology had been adopted to protect them when the Tang Dynasty was cast.
These iron cattle have been in the natural environment for a long time without being destroyed, indicating that they have adapted to the natural environment, and if they are moved in a hurry, they may destroy the iron cow statues.
For now, all we can do is "protect in place".
In order to prevent these iron bulls from being flooded by the Yellow River again, experts have put a special iron frame on the iron bull through measurement and calculation, raising the position of the iron bull. Experts and scholars are afraid that the iron bull will be oxidized by the sun, and also coat the iron cow with a special preservative protective layer.
These iron cattle stand on the banks of the Yellow River every day, solemnly and solemnly.
They embody the Thousands of years of the Yellow River civilization on the mainland, highlight the wisdom of the ancient people in harnessing the Yellow River, and embody the spirit of hard work of the people on both sides of the strait.