Tongshan Copper Mine Site

Tongshan Copper Mine Site

The Tongshan Copper Mine Site is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

Located on Hongtong Mountain in the southwest of Chun’an County, about 75 kilometers from the county seat, it belongs to Tongshan Township and is the site of the Chun’an Tin-Iron Mine. According to the Qing Dynasty’s “Suian County Annals”: “Hongtong Mountain, seventy li south of the county, once had a copper mining operation established in the eighth year of the Tang Tianbao era, which caused hardship to the people and was therefore abandoned.”

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, geological departments prospected here and planned to build a local state-owned Tongshan Iron Mine. From the first half of 1970 to December 1971, workers discovered ancient mine shafts and cliff inscriptions during construction. In October 1974, November 1979, and October 1981, provincial, municipal, and county cultural relics authorities conducted on-site investigations.

The site can be divided into four parts: old mine shafts, cliff inscriptions, smelting furnace foundations, and slag accumulations. A total of four old mine shafts have been discovered, all located on mountain slopes at elevations of 600–700 meters, with horizontal depths of about seventy to eighty meters from the entrance. They include vertical shafts, inclined shafts, and horizontal tunnels, with clear traces of mining activities. Artifacts found inside the shafts include pit props (wooden supports), horseshoe-shaped iron nails, wooden wheels, and pottery bowls. On the western side of the peak of Hongtong Mountain, inscriptions are carved into the stone cliff: “In the eighth year of the Tang Tianbao era, mining began to extract copper; continued until the seventh month of the first year of the Qianyuan era, and again from the tenth year of the Dali era in the tenth month; mining resumed into the fourth year of the Yuanhe era.” The text is written in four straight lines, totaling 36 characters. The inscription is carved in intaglio regular script, with the stone surface measuring 60 cm in length and 30 cm in width. The bottom edge of the text is 130 cm above the ground, oriented 16.4 degrees southeast.

At an elevation of 700 meters, two circular smelting furnace foundations were discovered during excavation at Guanping and near the oil depot foundation on the western side of the mining area. The furnaces stand 40–60 cm tall with diameters of 115–195 cm. The red-fired earthen walls are 8 cm thick, and the furnace chambers were built with stacked stones. Charcoal remains inside the furnaces, along with piles of crushed fire-resistant materials such as dolomite, and large layers of ancient slag accumulation. Large quantities of ancient slag deposits also exist beneath the building foundations of the mining area’s living quarters, office buildings, auditorium, and transformer substation, as well as along roadsides and the Tongshan Stream.

This site is the only discovered ancient copper mining and smelting site in Zhejiang Province with confirmed inscriptions, and it holds significant research value. In April 1981, the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government designated this copper mine site as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit.

Fengshuling Town: A town under the jurisdiction of Chun’an County. During the Republican era, it belonged to Ruzhuang Township of Suian County. In 1958, it became the Fengshuling Management District of Dashu Commune; in 1961, the Fengshuling Commune was established; in 1984, it was restructured as a township; and in 1992, the original Fengshuling Township merged with Tongshan and Xialfeng townships to form Fengshuling Town. It is located in the southwestern part of the county, 42 kilometers from the county seat, covering an area of 176.9 square kilometers with a population of 14,000. The town enjoys convenient land and water transportation. It administers Songjiabu, Zhaikeng, Hengkeng, Huangyanshan, Hejiawu, Yucun, Tongshan, Linghou, Muhuakeng, Dayuan, Fengxianggeng, Xikeng, Kuzhuping, Lujiatian, Huangtan, Xinfeng, Dangfan… More detailed information about Fengshuling Town++

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units