The visitor can have the chance to view an ancient construction, mainly covered workshop with full of air flow, where an old cart used to carry swords, while other photographs show different aspects of the forge and workshop as it existed for centuries.

This is part of the building belonging to Zhou. The display room is quite large and we took a long look at his products. Hanging from the walls, many photographs of different visitors from China and abroad.

Me inspecting a katana made in Zhou's shop. They do it using the Chinese forge folded method. They don't try to mime Japanese hada styles. There is hamon, but it is like clouds in a mountain. They are proud of being Chinese and of their 2.500 years heritage. I can well understand it. Then Zhou's first teacher, his father´s older brother, a smith for 60 years in his own right posed with us. Then I insisted in Zhou's father to join in. He has been a smith for 50 years. It is the Zhou clan. Finally he insisted in showing me the photograph of myself and him taken at the Museum in Macau.
But I dare say, only the Chinese would go to such great lengths of effort to show and honor their guests, according to Chinese Traditional Values.  In fact, all the three are Master Smiths, and the two elder ones are due the utmost respect, yet their attitude was so humble and always friendly and willing. Such are traditional Chinese: humbling themselves to the point of "performing" for welcomed guests*.
Note*: these comments are mainly explanatory solely intended to provide the reader with a better understanding.
FORGING AT ZHOU'S CLAN

The oldest of the Zhou, 60 years as a blade smith, started to lit the forge. Charcoal made of wood, with a recipe I will not disclose, started to lit and the fire begun to get hotter. They don't use the bellows anymore, but an electrical blower.
What we were about to witness was a very big honor, bestowed on us as I mentioned before. A total of 60 years plus 50 years plus 20 odd years of blade smithing, totaling over 130 years of experience was to be shown to us as a special treat, hands on.

They chose a 150 year old steel to demonstrate to us. The two elder Zhou masters begun hammering the hot steel, and, despite the danger, they never wear protection for the eyes or hands. I could see the 66 year old and the 76 year old masters come alive as they started pounding the old steel as if they were two youngsters. The hammering music that was later used in Japan came from Longquan when smiths were incorporated in a Chinese Princess wedding into the early Japanese royal household and left for Japan as part of the dowry, thus bringing their technique to the Japanese archipelago, settling there and later taking Japanese names, while each of them kept a graphic mark as their symbol.
One must bear in mind, that while Longquan was working at least since the 5th. century BC, the Kofun and Nara periods, (300-794 AD) imported swords from China and Korea. There is no belittling intention, only to signify the immense difference in time and knowledge of smithing China had in comparison with Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries of Eastern Asia. This is of the most significant importance for understanding the importance of the Chinese sword, which is much more relevant in its transition from bronze to iron and then to steel than the later Ming and Qing dynasties.

A close up of the beautiful color of the billet.Then note that Zhou's not wearing gloves. To make a long story short we now see the vertical quench of the finished sword and next the quenched sword displayed for a photograph.
This event, was very unique and specially arranged by the Zhou clan.

All this took the whole day and we left when it was time for dinner. Again a treat by Zhou under the rules of Chinese courtesy.

Precious water

The next day we visited the natural resources that General Au Ye Tzu spotted in the Warring States Period. He had to ride a long way to reach one of the streams and it is interesting to notice that the general must made a very comprehensive exploration.

We drove for about 20 minutes and found one ancient bridge over a minor dry stream. However all around the mountains were covered in abundant woods and forests. Charcoal and wood were at hand.
Then as we moved onwards, various surprises awaited us, like it must have awaited Au Ye Tzu whose knowledge of the various elements, gave him the certainty of water.

Soon, we saw another stream in the most untouched wilderness. A hanging bridge connected both margins and as we progressed I started to notice that stones were in a lower part of the stream and then, a little further, the stones started to turn red. I recalled that Zhou Zheng Wu has told me that 20 percent of Longquan's sand was iron.

Then, as Zhou gently guided us, Nature started to speak by itself. There were deposits of hematite everywhere. As I progressed I found the water source, the spring, the source. As I further approached the dark red rocks, in the purity of Nature, something amazing unfolded in front of my eyes.

Those rocks were not only covered with deposits of hematite accumulated there for hundreds, if not thousands of years, but the way the rocks were shaped were obvious reminders of steel layers in a sword, as if Mother Nature was telling men, at the dawn of the use of iron, how to reinforce it. My thoughts went to the 150 years old billet, glowing in the dark, coming from the generosity of Mother Nature and the wisdom of General Ao Ye Tzu, of the Warring States Period.
I could not but, once more, acknowledge how distant we became from Mother Nature, the Great Teacher, the Great Provider.

Understanding Chinese Traditional Values

No article on the above topic can ever replace personal experience. Due to the prevalence of other Eastern cultures in the mythology in the Western mind, I deemed important to find an article written by a learned Chinese. Full contents can be found here.

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