Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site

Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site

The Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site, Jinxi County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, Tang Dynasty

The Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site is located in the fourth and fifth village groups of Beimen Village Committee, Xiugu Town, Jinxi County, as well as in the Jinku Forest Farm Sub-farm of the county's Overseas Chinese Farm. Baoshan is also known as Yingshan (Silver Mountain), and includes four closely connected areas: Jinku Mountain, Hulalong, Tieshidun (Mountain), and Yangshi Mountain, which are all part of the Yunlin Mountain range.

The northern part of the Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site is Jinku Mountain, which is divided into Inner Jinku, Middle Jinku, and Outer Jinku, featuring seven vertical mine shafts. The central part of the site consists of Hulalong and Tieshidun. Hulalong is situated between Jinku Mountain and Tieshidun, and has five sloped and five vertical mine shafts each. Tieshidun is a pitch-black hill with a surface area of 20,000 square meters and an approximate volume of 38,000 cubic meters, featuring 12 mine shaft ruins—some vertical, some starting vertical then sloped, and others starting sloped then vertical. On the hill behind Tieshidun, there are eight sloped shallow-shaft mine ruins and 26 furnace bases. The southern part of the Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site is Yangshi Mountain, which has a large natural rock formation formerly called Baimianwu. The rock stands 2.9 meters high, 3.6 meters wide, and 4.5 meters long at the base. On Baimianwu, there is a preserved cliff inscription known as the "Jinxi Silver Pit Record." The inscription has a total of 195 characters, arranged in 12 lines including the title, and generally describes ancient understandings of silver ore formation and the time when “this pit was first established.”

According to historical records, in the third year of the Changqing era (823 AD) during the reign of Emperor Muzong of the Tang Dynasty, this pit was first established to mine gold and smelt silver at Baoshan. The Baoshan Gold and Silver Mining Site is one of China’s earlier mining sites that integrated both gold and silver extraction and smelting. It boasts abundant relics and well-preserved remains, serving as important physical material for studying the history of metallurgy in ancient China.

Beimen Village: Beimen Village…… More details about Beimen Village++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units