[Haichuan Chemical Relics] Yuncheng Salt Lake: A strange flower among the world's salt lakes

For one, it is the oldest and longest-mined mineral deposit in the world. Yuncheng Salt Lake was called Hedong Salt Lake in ancient times. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, ancestors learned to extract salt from its brine. What’s even more rare is that the Yuncheng Salt Lake is still being mined today. Even counting from the Yin Shang Dynasty, it has lasted for more than 3,000 years. Some scholars believe that it has been more than 4,000 years or more. For example, "Book of Rites and Music" contains an ancient song about Yuncheng Salt Lake, which is also the oldest salt lake ode in the world.: “Shun made a five-stringed harp to sing to the southern wind. ”"Southern Wind Song" sings: “The fragrance of the south wind can relieve the anger of our people. When the south wind comes, it can bring wealth to our people. ”Under the blowing of the south wind in summer, the salt in the Yuncheng Salt Lake crystallized, relieving the ancestors of the problem of lack of salt and bringing wealth. Shun's era was more than 4,000 years ago. Now, the famous Nanfeng Chemical Group in Yuncheng City takes its name from this. It develops chemical products from the brine of Yuncheng Salt Lake and is the largest inorganic salt production base in the country. Furthermore, the Chinese character "锟斤拷" was first seen in oracle bone inscriptions in the Shang Dynasty. It is "shaped like a bird's-eye view of evaporating salt water." This character originated from the salt pond on the lakeside and is recognized by academic circles. The ancients even invented a special word "盬" (sound gǔ) for Yuncheng Salt Lake. Explanation of "Shuowen Jiezi" by Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty: “Yu, salt pond in Hedong. ”All these show that Yuncheng Salt Lake has an ancient and long-lasting history of mining, which is rare among mineral deposits in the world.

Secondly, it is the first place in the world where borders are artificially cured and salt is dried using sunlight. "Shui Jing Zhu·Volume 6" quotes the Eastern Han Dynasty scholar Fu Qian's words: “When there is irrigation on the ground level, it is said to be fertile, 第, or salt. According to the local custom, the natives divert water to split the fertile hemp and irrigate the plains and fields. When the border water is exhausted, the soil turns into salt by itself, which is the so-called salty eagle (sound cuō). It tastes bitter, so it is called salt field. The name of Yanyu comes from its origin. ”It means that there is a border around the salt pond, and there is a ditch next to the border. The pond water is introduced into the border through the ditch, and when the water evaporates, it crystallizes into salt. This method is still used today. Therefore, the British scientist Dr. Joseph Needham called it "a living fossil in the history of ancient Chinese science and technology."

Fourth, it is a veritable national treasure. The salt tax revenue from Yuncheng Salt Lake has always been an important source of national treasury in the past dynasties. For example, in the early years of the Dali reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, the national salt profit revenue was 6 million yuan, accounting for half of the national tax revenue. It is said that "salt profit accounts for half of the world's wealth." The salt profit of Yuncheng Salt Lake alone was 1.5 million yuan, accounting for 1/4 of the national salt profit. At least six emperors, including the legendary Emperor Yu, King Mu of Zhou, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Kangxi, visited Yuncheng Salt Lake. Behind the prosperous dynasty, Yuncheng Salt Lake played an important role. Similarly, Yuncheng Salt Lake also lent its wealth to the people. It gave birth to world-famous Shanxi merchants, which is recognized by historians. The ancients called salt "the great treasure of the country", and it is not an exaggeration to give this name to Yuncheng Salt Lake. After liberation, Yuncheng also got its name from the "City of Salt Luck".

The past and present of the ancient salt pond are "salt opens up the river and is transported eastward, and the lake lights the Phoenix City". The salt lake, which has been developed for thousands of years, stands quietly at the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain and has protected the dreams and hopes of generations of salt people. The Salt Lake is a huge natural heritage, historical heritage, cultural heritage and industrial heritage of the Chinese nation. It plays a huge role in promoting human progress and promoting the prosperity of the Chinese nation. 　　Yuncheng Salt Lake, also known as Hedong Salt Lake and Yuncheng Silver Lake, was born during the Himalayan tectonic movement in the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic Era. It has a history of about 50 million years. It is the oldest salt pond in my country and the largest sodium sulfate inland salt lake in the world. Since ancient times, our ancestors have been crystallizing salt in salt ponds through the most primitive and ancient methods. Tribes have been fighting for years over the salt ponds. Salt has become a precious resource for human survival. The first war of mankind was the "Yellow Emperor vs. Chi You" fought over the salt ponds in Hedong.

People first took advantage of the natural conditions of the salt ponds, such as the strong winds and the sun, and followed the method of "natural crystallization and collective harvesting" to produce salt. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, our ancestors began to explore new methods of making salt. They could build borders around salt ponds, irrigate water, and use wind and sun to steam and dry them to obtain salt. 　　From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the early Han Dynasty, the ownership of Yanchi in Yuncheng was owned by feudal lords and landlords and merchants. All production, transportation and marketing belonged to the people, and the government only levied taxes. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the salt monopoly policy of civilian system, official collection, official transportation, and official sales was implemented. There are 28 counties in the country with salt officials, and Hedong ranks first. 　　In the Tang Dynasty, the salt pond was recovered * * Management is still governed by the people. At that time, the revenue from Yuncheng Salt Lake accounted for one-quarter of the national salt profits and one-eighth of the fiscal revenue. In the Tang Dynasty, the method of "cultivating borders and watering in the sun" was formed, commonly known as the "five-step salt production method." From then on, salt production entered a new era. This was an epoch-making major change in the history of salt pond production and the earliest salt production technology in the world. Li Yu, Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, bestowed Yuncheng Salt Pool with the title of "Baoying Lingqing Pool" and ordered the construction of the "Salt Pool Temple", which was included in the list. * * It has become the only corporate temple in the country and even the world.

During the Yuan Dynasty's rule over Salt Lake, Na Haijun, the salt transport envoy at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, built Phoenix City in Yuncheng, established Yuncheng, and called it Yunsicheng. It was originally called Yuncheng. Yuncheng is the product of the development of salt ponds and an inevitable means to control salt ponds. Yuncheng has set up a special city for salt affairs, which is the only city in the country. 　　During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the government began to build a forbidden wall around the salt pond, and salt basically adopted a monopoly system. Since then, 58.2 kilometers of tall city walls have tightly surrounded the 132 square kilometers of salt ponds. The Central Dynasty built city walls, set up government offices, and established armies for a single industry, and Yanchi was the only one. 　　Since the Qing Dynasty, all natural harvesting has been abolished and only farming has been carried out. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, after long-term practice and transformation of salt industry, the method of reclamation, watering and drying became increasingly complete and became a set of scientific production methods. 　　Since the founding of New China, the invention of the two-wheeled waterwheel and the adoption of the liberation water pump have opened the door to mechanization of water pumping. Since then, the roar of machines has been heard from the ancient salt pond.

When Yuncheng was liberated in December 1947, there were 37 private salt factories in Yanchi. February 1948, * * Officially took over Yuncheng Yanchi and established Luyan Management Bureau. In the autumn of 1948, the Luyan Administration Bureau decided to build an alkali plant, develop the salt pond chemical industry, and comprehensively utilize the rich resources of the salt pond to benefit the people. Therefore, the state-owned Glauber's Salt Company was established. In April 1950, it was managed by Shanxi Province and the Shanxi Salt Administration Bureau was established. Following the Glauber's Salt Company, a local state-run Yuncheng Chemical Plant was built on the salt flats in July 1952. 　　In May 1958, three enterprises, the local state-owned Yuncheng Salt Affairs Bureau, the local state-owned Yuncheng Chemical Plant, and the public-private partnership Hongyu Salt Plant, merged to form the Yuncheng Salt and Chemical Bureau (referred to as the Salt Bureau), which unified the organization of Yuncheng salt and chemical production. This is the predecessor of Yuncheng Salt Chemical. Since then, the production of Yuncheng Salt Lake has gradually developed steadily and shown an increasingly prosperous momentum. The output value reached a record of 19.42 million yuan that year. The establishment of Yuncheng Salt Chemical Company ended the decentralized management of salt ponds left over thousands of years. As a large state-owned enterprise that develops and operates salt lakes, it occupies an important position in the development of the national economy and can be called the eldest son of the central enterprise of the Republic.