Fujianggou Site

Fujianggou Site

The Fujianggou Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Warring States to Han

On October 17, 1953, Wu Zhuo, a villager living on the northern hillside in the central part of Fujianggou Village, was building a donkey shed next to his house. While ramming wooden stakes into the ground, he discovered a number of ironware artifacts buried underground. The iron items were covered with yellow rust and stacked in a crisscross pattern about 70 cm high, resembling a bundle of reeds. Later, after excavation by archaeologists, 87 iron molds from the Warring States period finally saw the light of day after being buried underground for more than 2,000 years.

These 87 iron molds weighed approximately 190 kilograms in total and were mostly molds used for casting agricultural tools. Among them were “chú fàn” (chisel molds) for making hoes, “?” (plowshare molds) for crafting soil-digging tools, “fǔ fàn” (axe molds) for casting axes, “záo fàn” (chisel molds) for making iron chisels, as well as molds for forging iron parts used on carts. Based on inscriptions on the molds, the styles of the tools, and the reconstructed forms of pottery fragments, archaeologists determined that these iron molds date back to the Warring States period.

Through chemical composition analysis and metallographic examination of the iron molds by experts, it was found that they were formed by pouring molten cast iron produced at high temperatures. This serves as conclusive evidence that China had already mastered cast iron technology during the Warring States period — 1,500 years earlier than various European countries. With a melting point as high as 1,150 degrees Celsius, the use of molten cast iron to cast ironware via molds indicates that the smelting techniques of the time were at the forefront of the world.

In 2013, it was announced as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units