SONG YINGXING's ILLUSTRATIONS of IRON PRODUCTION1 Donald B

SONG YINGXING’S ILLUSTRATIONS OF IRON PRODUCTION1 Donald B. Wagner2 This extract from a longer article is intended as an addendum to Peter Golas’s contribution,3 in which he gives a critical and erudite discussion of numerous issues raised by the illustrations in Song Yingxing’s Ͳ̠ɓ Tiangong kaiwu ƲŸÒŒ. I consider only the description of iron production, and only the illustrations in the 1637 edition. Much research is needed to identify the sources of the Tiangong kaiwu. Some of Song Yingxing’s descriptions may be eyewitness accounts, but it seems impossible that he could have seen all of the technologies he describes. The range of the book is simply too broad for one man’s personal observation. In particular, we do not know how much control Song Yingxing had over the illustrations in his book. For all we know his publisher may have supplied all of the illustrations, and Song may have been deeply unhappy at the result—I hasten to add that I do not consider this the most likely possibility, but many academic authors’ experience with commercial publishers suggests it. If we are to use the Tiangong kaiwu as a source for Ming technologies it will be important to come as close to an answer to this question as possible—it matters a great deal where the information in Song Yingxing’s book comes from. In the following I take up three passages in his description of iron production and attempt to show that in these cases (1) his text is accurate; (2) the illustrations are accurate; but (3) the illustrations do not always show the same technologies as the text.4 ——— 1 Extracted from Wagner 2006. 2 Donald B. Wagner is an independent scholar, formerly Senior Lecturer in Chi- nese at the University of Copenhagen. 3 Golas, this volume. 4 For the whole context in which these passages appear see e.g. the translation by Sun and Sun (1966: 248–251). 616 DONALD B. WAGNER WASHING IRONSAND Song Yingxing describes two types of iron ore, dingtie ˅ȃ and shatie ˃ȃ, literally “lump iron” and “sand iron”. Both are found close to the surface and do not require deep mining. “Lump iron” is probably what in English is generally called bog iron. “Sand iron” is ironsand (or black sand). Ironsand is small grains of magnetite (Fe3O4), and is found in small quantities in sand in rivers that flow out of granite mountains. The greater part of the sand is of course quartz. Magnetite is heavier than quartz, so it can become concentrated at certain places in rivers. This is, generally speaking, where the current suddenly slows, for example where a river widens or at the outside of a turn in the river. This natu- rally concentrated ironsand can contain up to about 7 percent magnetite. “Washing” the ironsand can improve this to as much as 95 percent. Fig. 1, a photograph taken in Henan around 1917, shows how the “washing” of ironsand was traditionally done.5 A sluice was built, in this case 1.6 m long and with side-boards 10 cm high. River sand was shoveled onto the sluice and running water was led over it while workers stirred it with forks. The result was that most of the quartz sand was carried away by the water and most of the magnetite re- mained behind. After a brief discussion of “lump iron” Song Yingxing describes ironsand as follows:6 ŝ˃ȃŃéŪĺ̳ɄQΆg@ȧʁōƇƞƢ§Ƨƈȥζ˅ȃŊ Š Sand iron: When the surface earth is cleared away it is revealed.7 They take it and wash it, charge it into the furnace, and smelt it. After melting it is exactly the same as ‘lump iron’. This is correct as far as it goes, but his illustration (Fig. 2) shows panning in still water where we should expect to see sluicing in running water. It is clear that the illustrator had seen what he depicts, for the implement in the illustration is an accurate depiction of the boji ČΆ traditionally used in concentrating minerals from sand. Peter Golas (1999: 244, fig. 31) photographed one in use in Guangxi in ——— 5 For details see Wagner (1985: 8–9, 12–13, 28–32). 6 1637 ed., xia Ř: 15b. 7 Rich ironsand lodes would often be found buried under a thin layer of earth be- cause of the way rivers shift their course. .

Load more