Golden Dragon
Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 AD).
It is 11 cm long and weighs 781 gram.
In 1957, the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province was discharged.
Collection of Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
In the early years of liberation, Xihu was like a forgotten beauty, her face becoming haggard due to the erosion of time and the pain of neglect. The silt piled up at the bottom of the lake is like a series of scars, telling her former glory and current loneliness. On the shore of the lake, the weeds were like wolves, frantically eroding the hem of her skirt, making her lose her former grace. At that time, the water of the lake was only half a meter deep, like shallow dimples, and it was easy to stir up the mud at the bottom of the lake when rowing.
However, history is always full of hopes and turns. In order to wake up this sleeping beauty, in 1951, a grand dredging and dredging project kicked off in West Lake. Initially, this daunting task was done entirely by manpower. In winter, the lake water is crystal clear, and nearly 40,000 Hangzhou citizens and suburban farmers have united as one, shouldering heavy burdens, and started the dredging work with their hands and shoulders. They are like industrious bees, working tirelessly for the revival of West Lake.
Reference screen. As the project progressed, in 1957, the dredger was introduced into the lake as a magical tool and began to replace manual excavation of the bottom of the lake. Like dragons, these dredgers gallop across the lake, devouring the silt one by one. The excavated silt is transported to the shore by a mud carrier and then transferred to a designated mound area. This huge project not only excavated the bottom of the lake deeply, but also gave new life to the West Lake at a depth of nearly two meters, and unexpectedly discovered nearly 10,000 precious cultural relics.
Reference screen. These artifacts span from the Neolithic period to the Qing Dynasty, and are like a treasure trove of history. Among them, there are coins, bronze mirrors, gold and silver bowls, copper swords, etc., each of which bears witness to the long history and culture of the Chinese nation. There are even worn banknotes from the Yuan Dynasty, which are like fragments of history, piecing together the style of that era. The discovery of these cultural relics has given people a deeper understanding of the history and culture of West Lake.
During the dredging work one day, Xiao Li and his two co-workers were driving a mud boat, and their task was to transport the silt dug up by the dredger to the shore. When the boat was filled with silt and slowly sailed towards the shore, Xiao Li stood at the bow of the boat and suddenly noticed something that seemed to be shining in the silt. He crouched down to take a closer look, only to see a small piece of golden yellow object peeking out of the mud. Xiao Li stretched out his hand and tugged at it, and a beast-shaped artifact stained with mud appeared in front of him. He quickly rubbed the mud from the artifact from his body, and a golden and mighty dragon-shaped artifact appeared in the sunlight.
Xiao Li looked at the golden dragon in front of him, and his heart was full of surprise. This golden dragon head is high, with its mouth open and its tongue out, the dragon's whiskers flying, and the dragon's tail upturned, presenting a majestic and vigorous posture. The golden dragon is beautifully crafted and lifelike, and the scales of the dragon's body are clearly visible, giving it an extraordinary look. Xiao Li secretly rejoiced in his heart, but he didn't make a noise, but secretly stuffed the golden dragon into his trouser pocket.
For the next half a day, Xiao Li was uneasy in his heart, thinking about the golden dragon in his trouser pocket. He is not in his own hands, and he is absent-minded in his work. Finally got off work, and he hurried home. As soon as he got home, he couldn't wait to pull his wife and took out the golden dragon for her to see. The wife looked at the golden dragon in front of her and was also surprised. She reminded Li that there was a rule on the construction site that anything found at the bottom of the lake must be turned in. It turns out that the West Lake dredging site does have such a regulation, with the aim of protecting the historical relics that may be found.
Xiao Li listened to his wife's words, although he was a little reluctant, but under the persuasion of his wife, he finally compromised. They found the site leader and together sent the golden dragon to the cultural relics station for handing it in.
The staff of the cultural relics station were also very shocked to see this beautifully made golden dragon. They decided to reward Xiao Li and his wife with 130 yuan and issue them with a certificate. But Xiao Li's wife thinks that it is their duty to hand over the cultural relics to the state, and they can't ask for money. So she only received the certificate and the big red flower and went home.
This experience made Xiao Li and his wife deeply appreciate the importance of cultural relics protection. They understand that these precious cultural relics are the historical heritage of the Chinese nation and valuable materials for future generations to understand history.
Today, when they recall what they found during the dredging work, their hearts are filled with pride and emotion. The golden dragon not only witnessed their luck and integrity, but also became an eternal memory in their hearts. The West Lake has also radiated new vitality and vitality because of this dredging project, and has become the pride and pride of Hangzhou citizens.
After careful identification, this golden dragon is 11 centimeters long, and it is carefully crafted using the hammering process, which is lifelike and exquisite. Which dynasty does it belong to, and why does it sleep at the bottom of West Lake? After in-depth research, experts confirmed that this golden dragon was a token used by the emperor to perform the dragon throwing ceremony. Throwing the dragon is a kind of blessing and disaster elimination ritual in Taoism, the emperor will write a blessing wish with the golden dragon together with the jade slip into the Taoist cave heaven blessed land or famous mountains and rivers, hoping that the golden dragon can carry the jade slip to the place of the gods.
The dragon throwing ceremony originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, and Taoism was respected in the Tang Dynasty, and this ceremony was particularly popular, among which Wu Zetian and Tang Xuanzong's dragon throwing activities were the most famous. For example, Wu Zetian threw a gold slip to eliminate sin in Songshan, and Tang Xuanzong threw a bronze slip to Nanyue Hengshan to pray for immortality. Along with this golden dragon, there are also four fifth-generation Wu Yue Guotou dragon Janes, all of which are silver. The five dynasties followed the Tang system, and the scale of the Qian kings of Wuyue Kingdom in terms of casting simplicity can be called the largest among the emperors of all dynasties. They put a large number of gold dragons and silver slips in the Shuifu caves in Hangzhou, Yuezhou, Suzhou and other places, and there are nine of them.
Of the four silver slips from the West Lake, three are so badly corroded that the characters are illegible. Only one is the silver slip of the Xushui Mansion cast by Qian Biao, the founder of Wu Yue, when he was 63 years old, and the handwriting is still clear. The above is to report to the water god of West Lake and pray for blessings. Since the golden dragon and these four jade slips came out of the water at the same time, most experts have deduced that the golden dragon was made during the Wu Yue (907-960) period of the fifth dynasty. However, in 2009, the golden dragon and jade slip of the Northern Song Dynasty Zhenzong period unearthed in Kuocang Cave in Xianju, Zhejiang, are very similar to the golden dragon from the West Lake, and the size and weight are basically the same. Based on this, it is speculated that the golden dragon coming out of the West Lake should be the product of the dragon throwing in the Northern Song Dynasty. Research shows that the West Lake is not only the place where the five generations of Wuyue monarchs cast the dragon, but also the kings of the Song Dynasty often carried out the dragon throwing ceremony here, and the dragon throwing jade slip of Song Huizong was found in the West Lake.
No matter which dynasty the golden dragon belongs to, it provides important material materials for us to study Taoist culture, the history of Hangzhou and the manufacturing process of gold and silverware, and has extremely high historical value. Today, this precious golden dragon is in the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum for people to admire and study.