Bronze Ware in China 

cctv.com 06-28-2005 16:04

Welcome to this edition of Rediscovering China. I鈥檓 Laurel Bennett, and I鈥檓 from the United States. The city I鈥檓 in has a rich bronze history and culture. It is one of the birthplaces of Chinese bronze culture. It even known as the 鈥淎ncient Chinese Bronze Capital鈥 and is one of the leading copper bases in China. The city to which I鈥檓 referring is Tongling.

The history of bronze smelting and casting technology is over three thousand years old in China. Bronze is an alloy composed of stannum, plumbum, nickel, and phosphorus, among other things.

The ancient Chinese bronze vessels and sculptures are beautiful to look at as well as cultural relics. Reproductions of these kinds of vessels are very popular these days, and as a result, some very ornate and impressive modern bronze artworks have been made.

Tongling is located in southeast China, along the south bank of the Yellow River. It has been famous for its bronze culture for over three thousand years.

The refuse and dross left from the great Bronze-Smelting Movement during the ancient period can easily be found exposed in the open air here.

Tongling lies on the southern bank of the Changjiang River. Along the southeastern mountains of Anhui province lies a belt of Ancient copper mines covering nearly 600 square kilometers. The ruins of approximately 30 copper mines have been discovered.

By examining the ancient mining equipment and ceramic vessels discovered by the archaeologists, it is believed that the mining was developed by collecting samples that were on the surface, and then they continued by excavating sources that were underground

Enormous underground stopes were constructed in the caverns of the layered earth. After three thousand years, the bronze mining here is still going on. As one of the major bases of the bronze industry, Tongling is still leading China in bronze output.

The natural environment in Tongling is extremely good. The plentiful mountain forests here provide ample charcoal and other combustion resources. The favorable conditions here and the abundant bronze resources here propelled the development of the exploitation and smelting industry.

Different civilizations stepped into the Bronze Era at different times and their technological development took several different paths. 2000 years ago, China entered into its own Bronze Era.

People became aware of minerals when they were looking for stones with which to make tools, during the Neolithic period. They began to understand the principles of metallurgy through the process of producing clay goods. The development of metallurgy made it possible to produce copper vessels for household use, tools and weapons. The use of metals greatly enhanced social productivity and pushed society forward.

During the late Shang dynasty, as a demand for military invasion, sharp bronze weapons were widely used, equipped for both infantry and military vehicles. As a result, the bronze industry began developing rapidly. A large number of different bronze weapons including wrestle weapons, long distant shooting weapons and armor were systematically made.

As the bronze industry developing, the proportion of copper, tin and lead in the bronze weapons was improved in order to increase the stiffness of the weapons. However, the quality of the weapons resulted in a vast number of casualties at every battle. At the same time, bronze utensils were treated as treasures and pillaged in the conquered territories.

Since the first appearance of bronze wares, their production has been influenced by politics, the economy, technology, art, and other aspects of the civilization. Consequently a Bronze culture has emerged.

By discovering the bronze industry, the ancestors of the Chinese created substantial metal wealth, which later influenced China鈥檚 bronze culture.

In the history of China, the bronze culture has had a profound role. During the two thousand years after the Qin Dynasty, bronze culture became significant in almost all fields of social life, such as currency, military industry, postal service, religion, earthquake discovery, metallurgical industry, astronomy, architecture, meteorology, medicine and so on. The bronze culture was extremely crucial in building up the traditional Chinese civilization.

The ancient Chinese not only used copper to make tools and pots and pans, but in the process making those pieces, discovered a way to make music. Based on clay serial bells, they made bronze bells, and so a page was turned in the book of the history of world music.

The musical instruments and number system in Ancient Greece had always been believed to be most advanced 2400 years ago. However, the bronze chimes excavated in Tongling proved that, the Chinese had actually transcended the Greek achievements in this field during that period.

The Chinese bronze casting technology is extremely advanced. With specific techniques and exquisite workmanship, the very distinctive Chinese bronze instruments are greatly loved by people all around the world.

Most of the copper wares produced now are copies of the curios. They keep the look of the ancient copper style in form, decoration, and in the details of the craftsmanship. They are famous for their beautiful ornamentation and shape and capture the essence of ancient Chinese culture.

2000 years ago, a new metal casting technique known as the 鈥淐eramic Shell Casting鈥was used in both China and Greece. As most of the bronze artworks cast with this technique are handmade, the artistic expression is can鈥檛 be equaled by any machine. By putting one of these artworks at home or in the office, it would represent the owners鈥artistic temperament and interest very well.

The most important process of making a successful bronze artwork is to have a well-designed template. From the commercial perspective, a design has to cater the requirement of the market. The budget also needs to suit the consumers鈥interests.

Normally, the templates are made of wax, gypsum, or clay; all of which can be easily carved. It is much easier to make a wax template than a metal template. Also, it allows the artists to make some very irregular shaped abstract works.

Later on, the skilled workers would use liquid silicone, together with firming agent to cover the surface of the template to make a. mould. After separating the mould with the template, the first step of this process is finished.

Interview: Skilled Workers

As the silicone mould is a kind of rubber, it is rather pliable. Therefore, it would not damage the wax, which is quite hot. When this step is completed, the hot liquid wax is brushed off the surface of the membrane.

After it cools, the skilled workers would purge the needling, gather two moulds and fasten them together. The liquid wax would be pour into the moulds until it is full. After one minute, the wax would be poured out, and a cooled wax shell is shaped. After pouring cold water in to make it cool, the shell is taken out from the silicone moulds.

The timing of removing the shell is very important. If it is taken out too early, the wax would not be shaped and if it is taken out too late, the shell would become quite crisp, and easy to be broken.

Normally, there are some very slight defects; they can be fixed by scraping, carving and mending.

The wax shell is soaked in a mixture of liquid silicone and water for a while, then taken out and coated with a fire-resistant plaster. Once it has completely dried, the process is repeated. Normally, this is done six to nine times to increase its thickness and rigidity.

Simultaneously, put the bonze material placed in a heated crucible or kiln to melt it. When the material is completely melted, it is poured it into the plaster mould.

After the liquid bronze has solidified inside the mould, a hammer is used to scrap away the mould, and take the finished product out. The plaster left on the surface of the product is washed off by the high-pressure squirt gun, and brushed with scrubbing brush. After polishing, the product would be left for autoxidation.

The bronze vessels cast during the ancient period were usually a golden color. However, after a long time being exposed in the open air or buried underground; they were gradually acidified, oxidized and vulcanized. As a result, the colors of the vessels changed to rust color or dark brown, or a light green from oxidation. Therefore, when people are reproducing the ancient works, they adopt the chemical techniques to give the pieces different colors in order to make them look authentic.

Sometimes the modern bronze craftworks are gilded on the surface as well. Many other colors are also used to add variety.

Bronze decoration patterns are an important means to understanding Chinese art. The ancient style of copper decoration has influenced modern day bronze art. This embossed decoration can be traced back to a bronze decoration painting.

The bronze vessels excavated from the Shang and Zhou dynasties were also had intricately embossed. They developed out of the ceramics of the late protolithic period. Normally, the embossed images represented the scenes of battles or of everyday life.

Everyone can be an artist, no matter their personality. The creative realm is not limited by tools or materials which must be used to create craftworks. Art is rooted in our daily lives.

The cutting, chiseling, jointing, plating and polishing techniques used in this work have reached an extremely high level. It clearly represents the talent of the artist

Walking down the streets of Tongling, you can see some large copper sculptures, which reflect the city鈥檚 philosophy. In fact, they an indispensable part of the urban public environment. The architecture of a city is often compared to a symphony. It鈥檚 vital that the components of a city鈥檚 landscape blend harmoniously so as to add to the overall beauty city.

The bronze sculptures in Tongling perfectly fit into the natural environment here. Everyone single sculpture seems to be especially designed to suit the environment in Tongling.

Sculpture is one of the most important artistic elements for city planning. It is believed to be a very important kind of art because once it is made, it would always be there for people to view and admire. Good sculptures can beautify the city, enrich people鈥檚 lives, and even become the symbols of the city.

Copper was the first metal to be found and utilized by man and so helped lay part of the foundation for modern civilization. Now, when you flip the light switch, and turn on the television, computer, or any other electronic device, copper is serving you. Through tiny wires, copper brings you light, warmth, information and convenience. Even bits of copper in your body help to increase your metabolism. Copper is around us. Thanks for watching our program. See you next time.

Editor:Hu  Source:CCTV.com