China News Service, Daye, Hubei, September 15th. Title: The ancient copper mine site of Tonglushan in Hubei has been reborn, and the thousand-year mining and metallurgical city has transformed into a new cultural and tourism city.
China News Service reporters Wu Yili Yu Ruidong
Daye, located in the southeast of Hubei Province, prospered due to mining and metallurgy and is an important birthplace of Chinese bronze civilization. The reporter walked into Daye, Hubei Province on the 15th and saw coppergrass flowers swaying in the wind at the Tonglushan National Archaeological Site Park, which was built around the excavation site of mining sites from the Spring and Autumn Period. The bronze statues along the way restored scenes of ancient mining, copper smelting, and casting, making people feel as if they had stepped into a thousand-year history of mining and metallurgy.
The Tonglushan ancient copper mine site was discovered in 1973. Archaeological evidence shows that this is the oldest, largest, most technologically advanced, longest-lasting, and most complete ancient copper mine site in China to date. The history of mining and smelting can be traced back to more than 4,000 years ago. The purity of the blister copper it smelted reached over 93%, demonstrating the world's leading bronze mining and smelting technology at the same time.
Historian Zhang Zhengming once said: "If there were no Bronze Mountain in Chu, there would be no Chu culture." According to the person in charge of the heritage park, the excavation of this site has solved the historical mystery of the source of raw materials for China's bronze civilization. The copper materials for national treasures such as the Zenghou Yi Chime came from here.
"In 1984, Daye built China's first special museum on ancient mining and metallurgical sites based on the No. 7 ore body site of Tonglushan. At that time, the site was relatively silent, focusing on static preservation and preservation of cultural relics, and there were very few tourists." Jiang Kefei, deputy director of the Daye Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service on September 15.
In 2023, the new Tonglushan Ancient Copper Mine Site Museum will open to the public. The new museum is equipped with special themed exhibition halls such as "Treasures in Copper Mountain", "Copper Smelting Skills" and "Bronze Source". Relying on archaeological results, precious cultural relics, and integrating modern exhibition technologies such as naked-eye 3D and digital light and shadow, the new museum presents a panoramic view of the origin and evolution of Chinese bronze civilization, making the millennium of mining and metallurgy history visible, tangible and traceable.
Today, Tonglushan National Archaeological Site Park has transformed into a cultural space integrating museums, cultural landscapes, research bases, coffee and catering, etc. It has also developed night tour activities and has become a new place for citizens and tourists to relax in daily life.
As the revitalization and utilization of the site continues to deepen, the popularity of Daye, which has a history of establishing a county for more than a thousand years, is increasing. Jiang Kefei said that tourists visiting Daye now include not only people from all over China, but also many overseas tourists from Africa, Latin America and other countries who make a special trip to Tonglushan. "Foreign tourists are as interested in Chinese bronze culture as tea culture. This ancient mining and metallurgical site has become an important window for spreading Chinese culture to the outside world."
According to statistics, in the past three years, the number of visitors to Tonglushan National Archaeological Site Park has increased by approximately 5.8% annually.
In addition, the bronze culture immersive museum drama "Because of Bronze" launched by Daye has become a must-see item for tourists. The play is based on the history of the site, and the actors transform into time and space guides, leading the audience to experience the prosperous age of Chu State's great furnace smelting and bronze casting.
As a native of Daye, actor Liu Xing who participated in "Because of Bronze" said that he has personally witnessed Daye's transformation from an old industrial city to a new cultural and tourism city, and increasingly hopes to convey the pioneering and enterprising spirit of the Chu people and the scientific and technological wisdom of ancient China to audiences around the world through drama.
The Tonglushan ancient copper mine site has been included in China's World Cultural Heritage Preparatory List as "Ancient Chinese Mining and Metallurgical Sites" by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage at the end of 2024. Daye has currently launched the application process for the Tonglushan ancient copper mine site, and has also opened a "bronze bus" to connect the heritage park with surrounding ancient villages and cultural tourism nodes, creating a "walking museum" and allowing thousands of years of bronze culture to be integrated into the urban fabric and into public life.
