Zigong Jingyanshenzuanjizhijiyi
01 · Historical Records
Sichuan well salt has a long and distant source. According to documentary records and expert research, the famed Daying County Zhuotong wells were created during the Qingli reign of the Northern Song dynasty, more than eight hundred years earlier than the West. Zigong City, honored as China's "salt capital," is the birthplace of the percussion-rod (dun-cuo) drilling technique. This technique passed through stages of development—the incubation period of large-mouth shallow wells from the Eastern Han to the early Song, the transformation period of the Song-dynasty Zhuotong wells, and the maturity period of small-mouth deep wells from the Ming to the Qing—spanning a history of over nineteen hundred years. In 1835, the completion of the world's first well to exceed one thousand meters—the Shenhai Well (1,001.42 meters)—was an important marker of the maturity of China's percussion-drilling technique, and it spurred the development of drilling technology worldwide. The percussion-drilling technique includes such process steps as well-sinking, well-surveying and deviation correction, cavity patching, fishing (retrieval), and the repair of wooden casing. Its wide application in well-salt production earned Zigong, as early as the Qing dynasty, the reputation of being "the wealthiest place in all of Sichuan." In the 28th year of the Republic (1939) Zigong was established as a city "because of salt," and today it has grown into a famous historical and cultural city of 3.2 million people.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Works such as A History of Chinese Drilling Technology, A History of Chinese Science and Technology, and A History of Chinese Well-Salt Science and Technology all call it "the father of world petroleum drilling" and "the pioneer that inaugurated mechanical well-drilling." Compared with Daying County, Zigong's well-salt extraction is even grander in scale and renowned far and wide. It follows the well-salt extraction process established in the Song dynasty, including the steps of well-drilling, brine drawing, brine sun-drying (filtering), and salt boiling. The invention of the well-salt craft led to the emergence of rope-style percussion-drilling technology, enabling the extraction of natural brine from deep underground. The percussion-drilling technique includes such steps as well-sinking, well-surveying and deviation correction, cavity patching, fishing, and the repair of wooden casing; thus the maintenance and straightening of the well shaft are as important as the original sinking. The Shenhai Well, completed in 1835 at a depth of 1,001.42 meters, marks the maturity of this technical line. The distribution of the ancient well clusters makes the point as well: more than forty ancient salt wells still remain within Daying County, with wellheads densely packed within a six-kilometer radius. At its peak the Zhuotong wells once numbered 1,711, producing over four thousand tons of salt a year—a density seldom seen elsewhere in the country.
Documented Process Steps
It follows the well-salt extraction process established in the Song dynasty, including the steps of well-drilling, brine drawing, brine sun-drying (filtering), and salt boiling.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
At the most prosperous period in the history of the well-salt industry there were once 1,711 Zhuotong wells producing over four thousand tons of salt a year. Today 41 such ancient salt wells are still preserved within Daying County, distributed within a six-kilometer radius.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Zigong Jingyanshenzuanjizhijiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The well-salt extraction craft of Zigong and Daying counties has been transmitted for nearly a thousand years, and its process remains completely preserved to this day, making it a living fossil of the world's deep-well drilling. Concrete measures should be taken to place it under key protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yan Changwu 01-0177
- Liu Hanchao
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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