Pujindu site

Pujindu site

Pujindu site is located in the west gate of Puzhou ancient city, 18 kilometers west of Yongji City, Shanxi Province, on the East Bank of the Yellow River. It is adjacent to the Pujiu temple, where the story of the West Chamber took place, in the East, and the stork tower, the first of the four famous buildings in China, in the West. It is on the golden line of tourism. In 2001, it was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

brief introduction

In 1991, under the guidance of the State Administration of cultural relics, the provincial, prefectural and municipal cultural relic departments formed a joint archaeological excavation team to carry out a comprehensive and scientific excavation of the site. Four iron oxen, four iron men, two iron mountains, four iron piers, a group of Seven Star iron pillars, more than 70 meters of protective stone dike in Ming Dynasty, and a memorial tablet in the 16th year of Zhengde in Ming Dynasty (1521) were unearthed. In addition, a four meter square brick house site was found, with the gate facing east, where the ferry was managed. During the excavation, more than ten pieces of copper coins were found, including Tang Kaiyuan Tongbao, song Tiansheng Yuanbao, Yuanfeng Yuanbao and Jin Zhenglong Yuanbao.

The vicissitudes of ancient ferry

Pujindu was a large ferry of the Yellow River in ancient times. Pujindu has been the traffic hub of Qin and Jin Dynasties since ancient times. Many dynasties built floating bridges here in history. According to the records of Chunqiu Zuozhuan, in the year of Zhao ad, the Duke of Qin ran to Jin Dynasty and built boats in the river. "Chuxueji" says, "the boatman of xianzao is located in Yangjin of Puban, which is also the floating bridge of Pujin today." "Historical records · Qin Benji" also states: "in the 50th year of emperor Zhaoxiang of Qin Dynasty (257 BC), it was first built as a river bridge." Zhang Shoujie's historical records Justice said: "this bridge is in Tongzhou, adjacent to the east of Jin county, crossing the river to Puzhou, and now Pujin bridge." Later, Gao Huan, King Xianwu of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Yu Wentai, Prime Minister of the Western Wei Dynasty, and Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty all built floating bridges here.

In the early Tang Dynasty, Hedong was the capital, and Puzhou was the hub of Chang'an and Hedong. In the sixth year of Kaiyuan (718), Puzhou was established as the central capital, which was as famous as Changan in the West and Luoyang in the East. In the 12th year of Kaiyuan (724), in order to strengthen the rule of Hedong area and the whole northern area, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty appointed Zhang Shuo, the Minister of the Ministry of war, to take charge of the affairs. He changed the wooden pile into iron ox, Yi zuoso into iron chain, and spared the ships. It is recorded in Tongdian, tanghuiyao and puzhoufu annals.

In the Song Dynasty, buludu was still one of the important ferries of the Yellow River. At the turn of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the floating bridge was destroyed by war, leaving only the iron cattle on both sides. Later, due to the flood storage of Sanmenxia reservoir, the riverbed silted up, the river moved westward, and the iron ox was buried in the beach.

The present pujindu site is 2.8km away from the Yellow River bank in the west, Chaoyi County in Shaanxi Province across the river, about 6m away from the west wall of ancient Puzhou city in the East, and nearly 100m away from the west gate of ancient Puzhou city in the south. In 1988 and 1991, a comprehensive survey, exploration and scientific excavation were carried out in pujindu. According to the excavation results, the deepest part of tangpujindu site is 6.5 meters away from the present surface. At that time, there was a curved arch trapezoidal stone dike near the river bank. Under the dike foundation, there were dense rows of cypress piles with vertical nails. Iron ingots were injected between the stone bars, and the gaps were bonded with rice mortar and lime mud, which was very firm. It can be clearly seen that the stone dike was built twice.

Iron ox in Tang Dynasty

Kaiyuan iron ox, also known as Tang Dynasty iron ox, is located 15 kilometers west of Yongji city and on both sides of the ancient Yellow River Road West of Puzhou City, with four on each side. It was cast in the 12th year of Kaiyuan (724) of Tang Dynasty to stabilize the Pujin floating bridge and maintain the traffic between Qin and Jin Dynasties. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the bridge was destroyed and was not used for a long time, so it was called "Zhenhe iron ox". Due to the changes of the Yellow River, it is gradually buried by sediment. In August 1989, four iron oxen on the East Bank of the ancient Yellow River were unearthed from the pujindu site. It is 51 meters away from the west wall of Puzhou city and 110 meters away from the west gate. Tieniutou West tail East, face river two rows. Supine, 1.5 meters high, 3.3 meters long, eyes wide open, showing a load-bearing shape, vivid, lifelike. There is a horizontal iron shaft behind the oxtail, 2.33 meters long, which is used to tie the bridge cable. There is an iron cast high nose and deep eyes on the side of the ox. the Hu people are in traction shape. Now the part is exposed to the ground, 1.5 meters high and 0.6 meters wide. The four cattle and four people are different in shape and basically the same in size. It is estimated that each iron ox weighs about 30 tons, with a chassis and iron pillars under it, each weighing about 40 tons, and there is an iron mountain between the two rows. The four iron oxen are the earliest, the largest, the heaviest, the most numerous and the most exquisite ferry iron oxen ever found in China. They are another major discovery of ancient Chinese civilization.

Current situation of ancient ferry

On September 25, 2010, the State Administration of cultural relics approved the protection plan of pujindu and Puzhou ruins

The future of pujindu site will be more beautiful.

The value of ancient ferry

Pujindu site is a large-scale site with rich remains, and it is also the first large-scale ferry site excavated in China. It shows the scientific and technological achievements of ancient bridge transportation, yellow river regulation, smelting and casting technology, and also directly reveals the change process of Yellow River sediment deposition, river rising and bank retreating, thus providing reference for historical geography, hydrogeology, environmental archaeology and environmental protection Many useful data have been provided for the regulation of the Yellow River.

The excavation of pujindu site, especially the iron ox and iron man in Kaiyuan, is of great value to the study of politics, economy, military, culture in Tang Dynasty, as well as the history of bridges in China, smelting and casting technology, the changes of the old Yellow River, hydrology and so on. Tang Huancheng, a famous bridge expert in China and special author of 20th century world architecture at Cambridge University, was very excited when he saw the magnificent iron ox. when he publicized the iron ox to foreign countries, he pointed out: "this is different from the terracotta warriors and horses of the Qin Dynasty. It is also different from the Buddhist sermons and the stone rhinoceros which preaches the five elements and is tired of victory. This is a concrete project construction, the contribution of the Chinese working people to the world's bridge, metallurgy and sculpture, and the priceless treasure in the world's bridge history.

Address: West of daoxixiang village, 852 County, Yongji City, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province

Longitude: 110.291548

Latitude: 34.844793

Tel: 0359-8485160

Chinese PinYin : Pu Jin Du Yi Zhi