Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Building buildings with metal is not a new concept. Since humans learned to smelt metal, metal was quickly used in the manufacture of buildings.

For example, during the construction of stone buildings in the ancient Greek era, bronze or lead was used to make fasteners to fix the stones, or to make some ancillary buildings such as railings, gates or sculptures.

Later in the Renaissance, a large amount of lead was used to build church roofs, similar to the gilded bronze altar in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

As for the variety of metal buildings after entering the industrial age, there are even more. Whether it is the Crystal Palace or the Eiffel Tower, they are the best among them. In some eras, building buildings with metal and glass has even become a representative of an era.

But these metal-made buildings have one thing in common, that is, they have their own unique style. In particular, early metal buildings look more like large metal sculptures, which are completely different from traditional buildings.

But China's metal buildings are another story. These copper palace buildings basically adopt the style of ancient wooden structures, which can be said to be an extension of traditional Chinese architectural styles.

In terms of construction technology, the various components of the Bronze Temple are cast separately using the lost wax method and then assembled together. Just like traditional Chinese architecture.

These copper-cast buildings have no screws, nuts, welding or rivets. The components of the copper temple are connected using a mortise and tenon structure similar to wooden components.

The Bronze Hall that Liang En and the others are looking for is one of them. This building called Zongjing Pavilion is the most independent building in the Zhuyuan Temple complex. It is located on the south side of Songlin Valley in the Summer Resort and northwest of Neihu. on the hillside.

The entire temple was built in the 26th year of Qianlong (1761). It is the essence of ancient Chinese architectural art and the largest temple in the summer resort. The Zongjing Pavilion in the temple is modeled after the Baoyun Pavilion in the BJ Summer Palace.

Because the construction of the temple was very difficult and expensive, it was not completed until 20 years later in 1781. According to records, the entire pavilion is 7.55 meters high and 4.66 meters wide, and there are Buddha statues in the hall.

At that time, a total of 220 tons of fine copper were used to cast Zongjing Pavilion, which cost 65,000 taels of silver. Considering that copper was a hard currency in that era, it was such a sky-high price.

Zongjing Pavilion has many similarities with other Bronze Halls, such as: imitating the shape of the top of the mountain with double eaves made of wood; it is also split-cast using the lost wax method; it also uses a mortise-and-tenon structure for structural positioning.

But the most amazing thing about Zongjing Pavilion is that the various parts are fixed to each other by a "mortise and tenon" lock. In other words, the various parts of Zongjing Pavilion can be disassembled and assembled at any time.

Legend has it that all the connecting locks that control these components require only a special key to open them. Just because of this key, Zongjing Pavilion naturally became the leader among all the bronze palaces.

It's just that such a copper palace no longer exists. According to legend, in 1944, the Japanese invaders were in urgent need of copper as military raw materials for the war, so they dismantled the entire Zongjing Pavilion and transported it to the Fengtian Arsenal, where it was melted and made into gun bullets.

There are even rumors that explosives were used during the demolition. Some theories are more deductive, saying that the old lama died in order to protect the bronze temple by not handing over the key, etc.

Therefore, the only relics preserved in this Bronze Hall today are the bronze plaque and couplets of Zongjing Pavilion that Tang Yulin, the chairman of Rehe Province at the time, liked to remove and hide in his home.

However, according to Liang En’s previous exchanges with Chinese scholars, he learned that this legend was just a legend. On the one hand, the temple was a Chinese Buddhist temple at that time, so if there was a key, it was unlikely that such a thing would be given to a lama. .

On the other hand, the Japanese invaders plundered cultural relics in a planned and large-scale manner. For example, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Japanese palace advisor Kuuki Ryuichi personally formulated the "Wartime Qing Treasure Collection Method."

What will follow China next? As the country continued to decline, the Japanese continued to send various expedition teams everywhere to collect Chinese cultural relics. For example, the head of the Tianlong Mountain Buddha statue was knocked away by the Japanese.

During the war, the Japanese looted and plundered even more brazenly. For example, there are a large number of bronzes and ancient books unearthed from tombs in Jincun, Dongdu, and 200 rare books from the Song Dynasty version in Baishan Tower, etc.

Therefore, it can be judged from the planned plunder of the Japanese that the Japanese could not treat Zongjingge, which was printed on banknotes in 1920, like scrap metal.

At the same time, according to the internal records of the Puppet Manchukuo, such as the "Clearing of Copper Parts Shipped from Zhuyuan Temple", it is recorded that the parts of the destroyed Bronze Temple were packed in 26 boxes and 30 bundles, about 500 pieces, and were transported to Fengtian by railway.

This is obviously not for the copper materials, because if it is just for the copper materials, there is no need to record it so carefully, even if no one will record the specific content of the waste products when collecting scraps now.

Historically, after the Japanese army occupied Rehe on March 4, 1933, people of all kinds came to the Summer Resort and the Eight Outer Temples to conduct various activities.

For example, in May 1935, the Japanese Yunobu Ito was entrusted by the Ministry of National Welfare of the Puppet Manchuria. Six technicians and they came to Jehol to conduct on-site inspections of ancient ruins and make plans and budgets for the restoration of ancient buildings.

The director of the survey institute, Igarashi Maki, personally led four young staff members to go to the temple every day to conduct on-site surveying and mapping. On rainy days, they stayed at the institute to sort out information or rush to make drawings. This work continued until 1943.

Therefore, the Japanese are fully aware of the value of the ancient buildings in the Jehol area. If they are just for destruction, there is no need to spend so much time and energy doing these things.

This is a survey to prepare for the restoration of the summer resort building. If the Japanese's "Greater East Asia Holy War" goes smoothly, perhaps the building will be renovated and Zongjing Pavilion will not be demolished.

However, as the war progressed, the Japanese invaders retreated step by step, and the resources used to launch the war gradually dried up, so that they had to do their best to search for various resources.

Taking metal as an example, all the copper and iron utensils in the palace of the Puppet Manchukuo, including the copper rings and iron hooks on the doors and windows, were handed over. The copper handles and copper chandeliers on the doors and windows of the office building of the highest administrative agency of the Puppet Manchukuo were not spared.

As for ordinary people, it is even worse. Door handles, spoons, snack molds, music racks, stove grates, etc., no matter how big or small, everything with metal edges is listed in the list of the "Metal Recycling Act". Even the old lady usually The copper pipe pot held in the mouth is also eligible for recycling.

But the strange thing is that there is no Zongjing Pavilion in these records, but in any case, if even the copper pipe pot is recorded, it is impossible for such a copper building of more than 200 tons to have no records.

And with the so-called craftsmanship spirit of the Japanese, if hundreds of tons of copper are really put into production, it will definitely leave traces, especially the Fengtian Arsenal, which is one of the four major arsenals controlled by the Japanese and has strict production management. It should leave traces. Production records.

But the strange thing is that after it was transported from the railway on the Rehe side, this more than 200 tons of copper building completely disappeared. After that, there is no trace of it in either memoirs or records.

The Buddha statue that Liang En found now is one of the several Buddha statues placed in the copper temple, which means that the golden temple is likely to be waiting to be excavated somewhere.