Mining

METALS.* It has been suggested that by drawing upon all evidence available, Chinese mining and metallurgy may be proved the oldest in the world. This suggestion is not confirmed by fact. Egyptian monument records depict gold washing at a period approximately 4,000 years B.C., and Egyptian hieroglyphics indicate from their form a considerable knowledge of metallurgy of distinct metals and many metallic instruments at periods which antedate, so far as is known, all Chinese records. The Chinese race appears from the beginning to have been an agricultural one. It settled in the plain of the Yellow River where po ible metalliferous deposits lie hidden beneath a thick stratum of loe . The Chinese use the same character ( IMG:p385_3.png:Chinese characters ) for metal and gold. It represents in the pseudo-science of Feng shui or Yin-yang the chief of the sacred iive-system of the elements which comprise also wind, fire, water and earth. The fact of its being identified with the western of the five points of the Feng shvi and Chinese compa from the earliest days may indicate that the Chinese originally obtained their metals from the West. Feng shui divided its metal kingdom under five heads, known as the five metals among the Chinese i to this day. They are gold, silver, copper, iron and I tin. The Feng shui five-cla ification haid a strong i tendency towards cla ification by colour, thus gold: was the yellow metal, silver was the white, copper i red, iron black, and tin ( IMG:p385_4.png:Chinese characters ), a character variously j translated as azure, blue, etc. i A study of ancient Chinese writings indicates j that the Chinese have never had any clear knowledge j of the distinctions between the chief metals, f j Unlike the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Chinese characters, which were modified and unified into standard forms about 200 B.C., do not indicate by their grouping and clear reference of form to distinct metallic objects, that the early Chinese were more advanced in the science of metallurgy at that IMG:p385_5.png:Chinese characters regarding Minerals, Mines and Hlniiig in China under existing conditions, see Cfiina Year Book, p 62. f Tbns tbe Chinese for "metallic" is iEl 5, IMG:p385_6.png:Chinese characters fiij. period than were the Egyptians two or three milleniums before. The first mention of mining in Chinese records refers to the mining of copper at Sung Shan jg IMG:p385_7.png:Chinese characters a mountain near Hsiang Ch'eng hsien g IMG:p385_8.png:Chinese characters in Honan Province. This was in the reign of the mythical Emperor Huang Ti, who is said to have ruled between 2697 and 2597 B.C. Chinese regalian rights appear to have existed over mines and metals, with effects disastrous to mineral development, from the earliest days. In the reign of Shun, a legendary Emperor who gave to the country a period of unexampled prosperity about B.C. 2255 to 2205, "the working of gold (metal?) mines in the rugged hills and mountains was prohibited". The Book of History IMG:p385_9.png:Chinese characters states that "silver overflowed from the hills" during the Yin dynasty (B.C. 1765 to 1122). This silver was almost certainly obtained through cupellation of lead, which must also have been plentiful. The same work, dealing with a period from approximately 2357 b.c. to 950 B.C. mentions lead, gold, silver, copper, iron and a kind of hard iron or steel, as having been used as tribute by various Lead is, considered to be a form of tin in Chinese states. IMG:p385_10.png:Chinese characters metallurgy. Copper appears to have been the metal "par excellence" at a very early period in Chinese history, and the character chin ( IMG:p385_11.png:Chinese characters ) was then used for it. The character t'ung ( IMG:p385_12.png:Chinese characters ) is better translated "coppery" than "copper" at the present time, for it is commonly used to indicate any coppery metal such as copper, bronze, bra or any metallic mixture of cupreous colour. The Chinese characters throw little light upon early Chinese mining and metallurgy. The Chinese commentators upon them were literary men, having no practical knowledge of mining and metallQi-gy. Consequently their remarks lend little a istance to study of this subject. The character chin ( IMG:p385_13.png:Chinese characters ) gold or metal, is said by the Shuo Wen to be made up of the characters chin IMG:p385_14.png:Chinese characters 'now' indicating the sound and tone of the word, and T'u ±_, 'earth', with two dots in earth. Cla ical scholars state that the two dots are supposed to represent the mode of occurrence of gold in the earth. Silver ( IMG:p385_15.png:Chinese characters )' is made up of the two characters chin ( IMG:p385_16.png:Chinese characters ) metal, and ( IMG:p385_17.png:Chinese characters ) obstinate or difficult, probably on account of the fact that is was the only ore of the five metals whose production entailed the use of two metallurgical proce es. The character for copper ( IMG:p385_18.png:Chinese characters ) is made up of the character chin ( IMG:p385_19.png:Chinese characters ), gold, and t'ung ( IMG:p385_20.png:Chinese characters ). indicating, according to Chinese commentators, sound, harmony and a embling, po ibly because metallic mixtures such as bra or bronze may have 386 been known to the Chinese to be composite before pure copper was known to them. T'ieh ( Hg ), iron, Icang ( IMG:p386_1.png:Chinese characters ), a character translated as steel, and a form of hard iron, lou IMG:p386_2.png:Chinese characters steel for engraving, are mentioned in the Shu Ching and contemporaneous books. Pliny, the Roman historian, mentions that in his day C'hinese iron was the best iron, also that the natives exported it with clothing and furs or hides. Tin, hsi ( IMG:p386_3.png:Chinese characters is a character which in early periods seems to have indicated any white alloy. The second part of the character hsi means "easy". The Chinese commentators say that it indicates the sound of the whole character. It po ibly also indicates the ease with which ca iterite is reduced to the metal. Zinc metal IMG:p386_4.png:Chinese characters has been known in Europe since as early as the 15th century. Its systematic distillation from calamine was not discovered in Europe until the 18th century. Slabs a aying 98% zinc, bearing a Chinese date corresponding to 1585 A.D. have recently been found in Kuangtung Province. This was po ibly the origin of the 'tutenague' which was imported into Europe from the East in the 16th and 17th centuries. Early Chinese records throw little light on the occurrence of ore and the methods adopted in mining it. Fire-setting is mentioned as an old method of mining copper ore at an early period, and a Chinese record, written between 960 and 1126 A.D. speaks of the use of vinegar in conjunction with fire-setting, a practice which is said to have been adopted by Hannibal in his pa age through the Alps. Coal appears to have been discovered contemporaneously in China and in Europe. Roman authors refer to impure coal in the second century B.C. In China "a kind of stone which could be burnt like brushwood [ch'ai ho)" is mentioned as having been known during the Han Dynasty B.C. 206— A.D. 23. The Chinese were probably the first to prospect and mine by means of boring or drilling. Between 1023 and 1030 a.d. bamboo lining was used to protect the sides of bore-holes in sinking borings for salt. Rope boring in connection with a lofty frame or windla is described in a book of either the Sung or Ming period. Gunpowder was used by the Chinese in the manufacture of a sort of Greek fire during the Wei Dynasty, between 220 and 260 a.d., and in guns 300 years before it was so used in England early in the 14th century. There appears, however, to be no record of its having been used in Chinese mining prior to its use in the Schemnitz mines in 1627. Pure copper is recorded as having been obtained by precipitation from copper solutions with iron in two Chinese works as early as 1090 and 1099 a.d. They are recorded as having had outputs of 50,000 and 380,000 catties of copper respectively. The iron consumed was in the proportion of 2.4 iron to 1 of copper. Development of mining in China appears to have suffered more from the fact that mines and the metals in the earth were considered to be Imperial perquisites, than from Feng shui or any other influence. The Emperors looked upon metals simply as a means for coinage, and consistently discouraged mining of the metals and minerals other than coal and iron except as a means to this end, i.e. coinage, and sometimes the payment of troops. Chinese coinage has been based on copper for 25 centuries, but the currency has frequently been largely non-metallic. During the early periods the cowrie shell constituted the only medium of exchange. Since the beginning of the 9th century paper currency has been largely used. The rough and ready methods of the miner have secured for him calumniators as plentiful in China as elsewhere, and Chinese Emperors Were on many occasions in doubt as to whether it would be better altogether to prohibit mining, with its nece ary a embling of "bad characters" or not. On several occasions they actually did prohibit mining. About 220 A.D. metallic currency was abolished by Imperial decree. In 1227 a.d. the Mongol authorities prohibited the mining and smelting of gold, silver, copper, iron, cinnabar and tinstone. In 1023 a.d. officials were appointed in different localities to prohibit mining. K'ang Hsi prohibited mining by a decree i ued in 1703 a.d., and until his death continued to discourage it for fear of riots and disturbances. As late as 1854 a Censor urged the Emperor to forbid mining, but the Empire being in severe financial straits, his suggestion was politely rejected. Mining also suffered from the imposition of exce ive taxes by the Emperors. In 1266 a.d. Khubilai Khan ordered that the miners in certain alluvial gold mines should give up the whole of Ihe gold v/on. In 1680 a.d., under K'ang Hsi gold and silver mines were ordered to pay 40% of the it production as royalty. The same tax was collected from all copper mines in Yiinnan. Sixty years later certain mines had to pay 50% of their production as royalty. Even heavier as an impediment to mining was the hand of mi.smanagement and rapacity, laid on the mines by subordinate officials. This official control was stigmatised by a commi ion appointed under the Emperor Ch'ien Lung as follows:— "Nature has provided us with excellent mineral deposits. These were capable of producing much profit to the people. The officials, thinking that there was very much money in mining busine , wished to take it for themselves, so that in every 387 mining district corrupt practices grew up amongst them, to the very great injury of the people. For this reason the rich refuse to devote their capital to raining, and mining enterprises are gradually ruined. If a capitalist puts his money into mining, before he has gained much profit evil characters raise complaints against him, with the result that the officials banish him to some distant country or take po e ion of his belongings, in spite of his complete innocence. It will thus be seen that Chinese mining affairs are exceedingly badly managed."* [WILLIAM F. COLLINS, M. Inst. M. & M.]