Tónglíng

Tongling stands beside the Yangtze in a district rich in copper. Its hills contain old mine workings, while traces of furnaces and casting sites line the river. Mining, smelting and casting formed a chain of work that drew on both the ore beneath the hills and the transport offered by the great river.

Copper was worked here by the end of the Shang and the beginning of the Zhou, and mining continued through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. Old shafts, galleries, slag heaps and furnace remains testify to the scale and longevity of the industry. The Tang poet Li Bai described furnaces lighting the sky and workers singing beside the water, an enduring image of the metalworking country along the Yangtze.