China's copper casting industry ranks among the top in the world. As early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, Simuwu Dafang Ding was cast. The ancients also made a big clock out of copper and hung it on the bell tower in the city center. At a certain moment, they ring bells and drums to inform people of the time.
There is a legend in Beijing about casting China, which is a huge bronze clock on the bell tower of the Yuan Dynasty.
When Kublai Khan built Dadoucheng in the Yuan Dynasty, he called all skilled craftsmen and built a big clock for the new city. Because the bell is huge and the manufacturing process is very complicated, the coppersmith worked hard day and night and failed to cast it successfully for three years. Kublai Khan was furious and issued a deadline, which must be made within 80 days, and the overdue head fell to the ground.
This stern command is like a butcher's knife hanging over the craftsman's head. The coppersmith is afraid and sad, especially the responsible master. The clever daughter of the old coppersmith also worries about her father day and night. But for some reason, a pot of copper water is produced, and the casting clock is always useless and cannot make a loud sound. I tried my best, but I couldn't find the reason. As the days go by, the closer to the deadline, the higher my heart hangs.
As the deadline approached, the last pot of copper water boiled, and everyone in front of the stove was pounding and deeply worried about their fate. The molten copper is coming out of the furnace, but the final copper sample tells the coppersmith that the fineness of the molten copper still can't cast a perfect giant clock.
A cruel butcher knife will fall on everyone's head. Just then, the beautiful daughter of the coppersmith who worried about her father day and night came to the furnace to meditate for many days. Finally, she realized that when the ancients cast copper, they always made the copper juice spiritual. The failure of casting this big clock is probably related to the lack of spirituality of copper. She is determined to help her father cast this clock.
She looked at her sad old father, then at the towering blue building, and then at the boiling latosolic red copper juice in the furnace. She only said to her father, "Take care, Dad." Jump directly into the hot metal liquid and instantly dissolve in the hot copper juice.
The old coppersmith and everyone were shocked. No one expected that the girl was saving everyone's life with her own flesh and blood and the fire of life, and saving the fate of Zhong.
The old coppersmith swallowed the tears of losing her daughter, endured the unforgettable grief, and led everyone to finally cast a huge clock with the molten copper of her daughter's body. The bronze bell body is majestic and solemn, and the whole body is covered with Hua Yan Jing; When knocking, the sound is sonorous and powerful, and the sound travels for dozens of miles.
After the giant clock is hung on the bell tower, it takes dozens of people to push the giant wood hanging in the air to hit the clock body at the same time to make a sound. Every time the bell rings twice, 18, 18, 18, 108 tell people the tragic story of that woman's tragic dedication again and again.
This woman was later honored as the queen of casting bells by the coppersmith.
Zhongchang is now a hutong that is not too wide, with simple folk customs and warm hearts.
According to later generations, it takes a small amount of carbon to make copper into utensils, which adds credibility to the story of Queen Zhu Zhong.