ĦĦĦĦCHONGQING, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- A 1,900-year-old stone stele has been rescued
from being submerged in the huge reservoir of the Three Gorges dam project in
Zhongxian county, southwest China's Chongqing municipality.
ĦĦĦĦArcheologists completed securing the stele in a safe temple Thursday.
Beside it are two other priceless ancient steles also removed from the
designated reservoir area for China's gigantic water conservation project.
ĦĦĦĦThe 5.65-meter-high stele, dating from the East Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.),
is a unique kind of ancient invaluable monument named "Que" that was usually
made in pairs. They stood, one to the left and one to the right, in front of
Buddhist temples, palaces and tombs of nobles and senior officials.
ĦĦĦĦThis stele is believed to be a right-hand one, and is named "Wuming" in
Chinese which means having no inscription on it.
ĦĦĦĦThere are five "Que" steles altogether in the county. Four comprise two
pairs, one of which was moved to the same temple on Feb. 12 this year and the
other will go on show in a new museum inthe city of Chongqing as it is the most
complete "Que" ever found in the country.
ĦĦĦĦThe "Que" steles represent one of the oldest and most imposing forms
of stone monuments discovered in the country and many have valuable sculptures
on them, said Wang Chuanping, deputy director of Culture Bureau of the
Chongqing municipal government.
ĦĦĦĦ"We took a lot of trouble to move it to the new site, it was much harder
than we had ever expected," said Zhang Caiyou, a leading archeologist in charge
of the transfer.
ĦĦĦĦThe team had to build a simple access road to get a truck to the stele's
original site to move the huge stone out.
ĦĦĦĦArcheologists numbered the nine parts of the stele and wrapped each in foam
sponge and blankets and then 2-cm-thick pieces of wood.
ĦĦĦĦTo avoid damaging the stele while transporting it, they cushioned a layer
of sand 30 cm thick in the truck.
ĦĦĦĦAnother big headache problem occurred when the stele reached the temple,
Zhang said. People could hardly move it up the 100 steps in front of the gate as
the major body of the stele weighs four metric tons.
ĦĦĦĦSpecialists laid pieces of wood on the steps with logs under the stele
parts and eventually "rolled" the nine heavy stones up the long stairway.
ĦĦĦĦIt took the archeologists full nine days from Jan. 6 to 14 to move all the
stele pieces into the temple and then another month to re-assemble them.
ĦĦĦĦ"We have to work very hard so all the ancient cultural relics will be moved
to safe havens before the reservoir is filled with water," Zhang said.
ĦĦĦĦHe and his colleagues will start to remove another piece of antiquity, the
home of an ancient general who lived some 1,800 years ago, in Yunyang county at
Chongqing. They have to finish thework by June 1 when filling the reservoir is
due to begin. Enditem
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