Dongchuan has been mining copper for more than 2000 years. In ancient times, there was Matalu copper, and there was copper mining and smelting during the Warring States period. In the Western Han Dynasty, copper and charcoal were used to smelt copper ingots and cast coins. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, it provided raw materials for the successive dynasties to coin, and 70% of the copper coins in Kanggan Shi Sheng were cast by Dongchuan Copper.
Dongchuan copper mine is a layered copper mine, which belongs to marine sedimentary copper mine. Its ore composition is mainly green tin wax-copper, purple tin wax-mottled copper (bronze in color, accompanied by dark blue, purple black and red stripes, so it is called mottled copper) and gold foil-brass. Purple tin wax is the raw material for making variegated copper.
Red copper is a kind of natural copper, which was first discovered and applied by human beings. China began to use copper in the Three Emperors' era, and the Xia Dynasty entered the Bronze Age. In the early and middle period of Shang Dynasty, bronze smelting in China became more and more mature, producing copper-tin alloy products that were harder and more durable than pure copper. "Huayang Guozhi Nanzhongzhi" records: "The church produces silver, lead and white copper." Tanglang is the Dongchuan and Huize areas in northeast Yunnan. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Princess Wuding, the king of Shang Dynasty, died with a good wife and was buried with a large number of bronzes. According to the analysis of scientific data, the raw materials of these bronzes come from Jinsha River in Huize, Dongchuan and Qiaojia today. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huize's "Tanglang Copper Prints" were famous far and wide. The inscriptions and patterns of the copper prints recorded the deep roots of the Central Plains culture and the central Yunnan civilization.
Spotted copper originated from bronze, which began in Ming Dynasty and was founded in Dongchuan. Ying Xing's Heavenly Creations in the Song and Ming Dynasties records that during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty 500 years ago, the court cast Xuande furnace, and Dongchuan craftsmen participated in it, realizing the skill of "mixing gold, silver, copper and tin, and calling it a casting furnace". On this basis, Dongchuan craftsmen have repeatedly practiced for generations, and finally determined the smelting process of gathering rare and dispersed precious metal components into larger grains, and summarized a set of unique stunts such as material selection, purification, rough embryo, molding, ignition, shaping, finishing, pitting corrosion, ignition, exposure, scrubbing and polishing, creating a copper product superior to bronze.
Spotted copper can be divided into raw spots and cooked spots. Spots, that is, made of natural copper ore, have thin tires, small welds and stripes, angular spots, acute angles, strong refraction, three-dimensional effect, mottled gold and copper, like red Jin Shuijing, and magnificent and mottled colors. Spot is called a rare treasure because of its exquisite workmanship, but spot ore is scarce, raw materials are not easy and products are few. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, craftsmen in Kunming invented Cooked Spot, that is, adding a proper proportion of other metals to molten pure copper, which was processed by casting, polishing, chemical coloring and spotting in a "mixed but incompatible" state. The markings are slightly radial, the shape and size are evenly distributed, vivid and natural, and the shape is detailed and complex, which is more elegant and rich. Cooked spot products are thick, have no welds, have large stripes and are red, and the spots are mostly irregular circles or strips, which are dim and have no three-dimensional effect. They are mostly made into handicrafts for lovers to collect.
Dongchuan spot copper products are exquisitely made, which are called "metal gems" because of their beauty in spots and simplicity. From the technological point of view, the production of spot copper has absorbed the essence of China's past dynasties, including casting, knocking, hammering, engraving, chiseling, embedding, plating and kneading, as well as a unique surface treatment process. Dongchuan's exquisite traditional mottled copper craft once attracted the attention of Premier Zhou, instructing him to explore this craft stunt as soon as possible. Following the legacy of the Prime Minister, Dongchuan (including Huize, the former site of Dongchuan House) has been exploring and inheriting this intangible cultural heritage for many years, and has produced six kinds of mottled copper products, such as animals, flowers, bottles, utensils, incense burners and wall decorations, which are well-known at home and abroad.
The last glory of Dongchuan Copper was that in the 1950s and 1980s, the state organized large-scale exploration, established Dongchuan Copper Bureau and carried out large-scale mining. Dongchuan was once a municipality directly under the Central Government of Yunnan Province. During the period of 1980, the mining and dressing capacity of Dongchuan copper mine was the third in China, and the copper concentrate output was the fifth in China. But after a short period of glory, it is a rapid decline after the exhaustion of resources. At first Dongchuan 1999 withdrew from the market, and then Dongchuan Copper Management Bureau 200 1 declared bankruptcy. Dongchuan began its economic transformation, and once put forward the development direction of Dongchuan's old three treasures of potatoes, noodles and Zhang Fengyi to the new three treasures of bronze and strange stone red land. However, the economic transformation is not so smooth. After nearly 20 years of development, Dongchuan still can't get rid of its dependence on copper mines. Copper mine culture has deeply influenced the thinking of Dongchuan people, and minerals are still the pillar industry of Dongchuan economy. Worryingly, with the improvement of environmental governance and environmental protection standards, Dongchuan's mineral economy still has a lot to go.
Copper mine culture is deeply rooted in Dongchuan people's hearts, and the thinking of mining and mineral processing has solidified Dongchuan's economic transformation. More than 2,000 years of copper processing and copper processing have disappeared in Dongchuan, and almost no enterprise has formed a scale in bronze products and spot copper technology. On the contrary, Huize, once Dongchuan Prefecture, the capital of Tiannan Copper, has made its own way in the inheritance and innovation of spot copper technology, and the industrialization and enterprise of spot copper have begun to take shape. Zhang's mottled copper has been passed on to Zhang Wei, the thirteenth generation descendant. Zhang's variegated copper is thick, simple, elegant and brilliant, which makes people fondle it. Even Ma Yongyi, who comes from a craftsman's family and loves sculpture, painting and traditional skills, has made great efforts to study metallography and innovate spot copper technology with years of experience and skills, and has become a master of spot copper technology and a inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage Huize spot copper technology.
An old friend resigned from the Yellow Crane Tower. Dongchuan people are still intoxicated with the copper culture of Tiannan Copper Capital. They deliberately integrated copper culture into social life, traced the history of Dongchuan copper culture and recalled the past of Dongchuan copper culture, but the glory has passed. How to break through this cultural heritage has become a test for Dongchuan people.