Heidongzi

Heidongzi

The Heidongzi and Xiānrén Dòng ancient mining sites of the Wanshan Mercury Mine are situated on the cliffs to the southeast of the city and are one of the core scenic areas of the National Mine Park. This massive mining pit site, with a history of more than 3,000 years, vividly reproduces ancient mining activities and sheds light on ancient technological practices. It is an exceptionally rare historical site for researching economic and scientific history, holding extraordinary significance. A mercury mine site as ancient, well-preserved, and large-scale as this exists nowhere else in China—it is truly unique and one of a kind. It lay quietly forgotten for millennia, unnoticed by anyone, until the 1980s when people began to recognize its value. In 1985, the ancient mining sites of Heidongzi, Xiānrén Dòng, and Yúnnán Tī were designated as cultural heritage protection units of Guizhou Province. In 2006, they were further approved by the State Council as national key cultural relics protection units. When you stand before the pitch-black cave entrances carved into the steep cliffs of Heidongzi, you might be reminded of the nostalgic sentiment expressed by the Tang Dynasty poet Chen Zi'ang: “I think of the vastness of heaven and earth, and am overcome with sorrow, shedding tears alone!” The wisdom and hardships of the ancient laboring people are thus majestically engraved upon those cliffs, forming a spectacular wonder in the history of world mining. The Heidongzi mining site is the oldest, having been an important extraction location since the Qin and Han dynasties. The cliff face rises about 100 meters high, with the arc of the recess stretching approximately 150 meters. Dozens of cave entrances have been carved into the cliff, with chambers inside layered and interconnected vertically, forming a total of 27 tunnels. In some sections, the mining shafts extend up to five levels deep. Over ten main tunnels stretch for hundreds of meters and connect directly with the mining area of Pit One at the Wanshan Mercury Mine in New China. Inside the caves, remnants left by ancient miners—such as stone steps, tunnels, grooved markings, signs, and ore pillars—stand as eternal testimonies to mining history.

The Heidongzi site carries within it a history fraught with blood and tears. It has long been a place of conflict and violence. During the Qin and Han dynasties, after local tribes discovered large outcrops of cinnabar while traveling upriver, pioneers and adventurers from all directions flocked here, competing fiercely—with violence being the only means to resolve disputes. Historical records indicate that during the Tang and Song dynasties, feudal warlords from Yuanzhou, Chenzhou, and Sizhou gathered their forces here to fight over the mining sites, leading to continuous large-scale bloodshed. In front of Heidongzi was once a massive pit known in historical texts as the “Ten Thousand Men Pit,” where bones still remain to this day. After the Opium Wars, British and French imperialists coveted the Wanshan mercury mines. In 1898, lured by money, they sought out Chen Mingyuan, a former Qing official who had served in Shanghai, and persuaded him to petition the Zongli Yamen (Office for General Management of Foreign Affairs) to take charge of the Qingyuan Qingxi Iron Factory. Chen borrowed money from British and French merchants under a false name, but the foreigners then converted the loan into shares, thereby gaining control of the iron factory. However, uninterested in running the factory, they used debt repayment as leverage to forcibly lease the Wanshan mercury mines and established the “Anglo-French Company.” Heidongzi was one of the mining sites they seized. The Anglo-French Company employed over a thousand workers, including hundreds of child laborers, but treated their lives as worthless, employing extremely brutal methods. Workers sang: “Foreign devils, so cruel, lash out with whips and strike; their lackey interpreters, slavish in nature, bark orders nonstop; cunning bosses, heartless fiends, collude with foreigners to bleed us dry; miners suffer, miners seethe, one day we’ll make them pay.” To resist imperialist exploitation and oppression, local leaders such as Lu Tingjie, Yang Yitai, and Yang Chongguang of the Wanshan militia led resistance efforts from the outset. But the foreigners colluded with Lin Jue, the Tongren military commander, to brutally suppress the movement and even instigated violent clashes among workers, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands—how many innocent souls lie in the “Ten Thousand Men Pit” as victims of foreign oppression? On the eve of liberation, Yang Simazi, the general manager of the Yi-Min Company—who was part official, part bandit—also killed countless people, all of whom were dumped into the “Ten Thousand Men Pit.”

The primitive method of mercury smelting was first invented by local tribes during the Qin and Han dynasties. The mercury used in Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum primarily came from here. The locals and adventurers smelted the mercury and then carried it on foot or horseback to Tongren or Zhijiang, from where it was transported via the Jin River or Yuan River before finally being presented as tribute to the imperial court. In those times, owning just one jin of cinnabar or a hundred jin of mercury would make one a wealthy man, which is why cinnabar has long been hailed as the “king of gemstones.” The continuous influx of alchemists greatly advanced the development of mining and smelting techniques, which is also the origin of the name “dan sha” (cinnabar), also known as “red stone.” According to the *Ancient History of Guizhou*, during the Han Dynasty, Guizhou regularly offered large quantities of cinnabar and mercury as tribute to the imperial court. By the Ming Dynasty, mining in the region had reached a significant scale. In the 13th year of the Yongle era (1415), the court established the “Dashan Dushan Changsiaguan” in Wanshan, followed by the creation of the “Wanshan Mercury Administration Bureau.” The main mining sites were already connected to Xiānrén Dòng. During the Qing Dynasty, the Chen family’s “Deyihe” sand factory operated here with “over thirty hammers,” organizing teams of more than ten people per “hammer” to mine separately. As dynasties changed and time passed, the mining technology of the Wanshan mercury mines underwent qualitative leaps, but the smelting techniques did not fundamentally change before the Ming and Qing dynasties, remaining at the primitive level. Miners would carry the mined ore out, wash and filter it, then layer it on earthen stoves with a concave center and raised edges. A pot was placed over the stove, and the seams were sealed with salt mud to prevent mercury vapor from escaping. After roasting for a day and a night, the mercury would vaporize and condense inside the pot, forming what was described as “droplets hanging like radiant pearls, shimmering brilliantly”—pure mercury.

The awe-inspiring grandeur of Heidongzi is a masterpiece created by the wisdom and blood of ancient miners, leaving behind endless food for thought and emotion for future generations.

Source: Tongren Municipal People's Government Website