Shengtieyezhujiyi
01 · Historical Records
The roots of Yongjing pig iron founding lie in a bridge over the Yellow River and in a single family. According to the Wang family genealogy, the ancestral home of the Wangs of Gucheng, Taiji Town, Yongjing, was originally Hongdong County, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi. At the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming dynasty, military requirements led the founding ancestors of the Wang line, Wang Xuan and Wang Xun, to be transferred by imperial order from Shanxi to Lanzhou, where they were stationed to build the Zhenyuan pontoon bridge over the Yellow River. What does a pontoon bridge need? Iron. And to cast iron, someone had to settle by the river bringing the essential skills of sand moulding and iron smelting. After the bridge was completed, the Wangs were granted a monopoly patent on the founding trade in Gansu. Wang Xuan and Wang Xun later moved to Gucheng in Taiji Town. By the late Ming, the Wangs’ iron founding had grown to several workshops. The Yongjing pig iron founding technique has been passed down for more than six hundred years to the present day, still primarily through family transmission. This lineage also explains the orientation of the town’s craft. Over its six hundred years and more, the Yongjing pig iron founding technique has cast mainly ritual vessels — bells, qing stone chimes, cloud-shaped gongs, treasure ding cauldrons and pagoda-form censers — heavy but not ostentatious, favouring refinement over sheer size, which matched exactly the scale of vessels needed by a bridge, a temple and a barracks in this town on the bank of the Yellow River.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The pig iron founding technique, distributed in Yongjing County, Gansu Province, is a traditional craft that uses Yellow River sand as its moulding material and pig iron, copper, aluminium and the like as its casting materials, producing domestic utensils, farm tools, ritual vessels, figure statues and other goods through traditional processes on a one-object-one-mould basis. The technique is distributed mainly in Taiji Town, Yongjing County, Gansu Province, radiating out to the surrounding area. The representative products of Yongjing pig iron founding are classical ritual vessels, of simple and archaic style, exquisite form and consummate workmanship. The Yongjing pig iron founding technique comprises seven main process steps: design, mould making, mould closing, iron smelting, pouring, polishing and painted decoration. First, a design is made according to the characteristics of the object and the customer’s requirements. Next, using Yellow River sand as the raw material, inner and outer moulds are made through steps such as sand screening and sand mixing. The moulds are then closed in preparation for pouring. Before casting, the iron is smelted and the molten iron is poured into the mould. Once the piece has cooled it is removed from the mould and polished. Finally it is decorated with painted colours, completing the casting process. The defining feature of the technique is the one-object-one-mould principle, and its procedures are complex. Mould making is especially fine work: inner and outer moulds must be made separately, and the quality and moisture content of each layer of sand are subject to strict requirements. The technique is a living specimen of traditional hand sand casting. According to the Wang family genealogy, the Wangs of Gucheng, Taiji Town, Yongjing, were originally natives of Hongdong County, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi. At the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming dynasty, because of military needs, the founding ancestors of the Wang line, Wang Xuan and Wang Xun, were transferred by imperial order from Shanxi to Lanzhou to build the Zhenyuan pontoon bridge over the Yellow River. After the bridge was completed, the Wangs held a monopoly patent on the founding trade in Gansu. Wang Xuan and Wang Xun later moved to Gucheng in Taiji Town. By the late Ming dynasty, the Wangs’ iron founding had grown to several workshops.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The pig iron founding technique, distributed in Yongjing County, Gansu Province, is a traditional craft that uses Yellow River sand as its moulding material and pig iron, copper, aluminium and the like as its casting materials, producing domestic utensils, farm tools, ritual vessels, figure statues and other goods through traditional processes on a one-object-one-mould basis.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Yongjing pig iron founding technique is a rare cultural vehicle in the fields of folk custom, religion and the visual arts. Using the sand of the Yellow River as its mould and blending ancient wisdom with modern aesthetic sensibility, it casts ironware of archaic beauty piece by piece — bearing witness not only to daily life and belief, but also serving as an important vehicle for local cultural transmission and cultural identity.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yangchengshengtieyezhujiyi · Shengtieyezhujiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Yongjing pig iron founding technique has a long history; its representative transmitting group is the local Wang family, through whom it has been continued by family succession. The Yongjing pig iron founding technique has been handed down for more than six hundred years to the present day, still primarily through family transmission. Wang Yecai (as recorded in the official inheritor archive): Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1952, from Yongjing County, Gansu Province. Representative inheritor of the pig iron founding technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item from the fifth national batch. He has loved founding since childhood; after graduating from primary school he applied himself to studying the casting craft and grasped the true essence of his ancestors’ technique. Since establishing his factory in 1985 he has boldly innovated in the Gucheng Wangs’ casting technique, improving the traditional hand methods and organically fusing traditional painting skill with modern relief, so that his products are more finely made, their imagery vivid and lifelike, and movement and stillness intermingled. His products come in many varieties with a distinctive style. They include copper and iron Buddhist figures of all kinds, great bells, treasure ding cauldrons, qing chimes, cloud-shaped gongs, pagoda-form censers, round and square dragon-pillar treasure cauldrons, steles, plaques, ancient-palace lions and African lions.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Jizhuazhu 01-0155
- Wang Yecai 05-2745
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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