The Seven-Star Sword refers to a sword inlaid with seven copper nails. The actual Ming and Qing Dynasty objects that exist in modern times were used by Tan Sitong. The seven stars are mainly symbolic, but from the perspective of material mechanics, they should have the function of buffering stress concentration and preventing the sword from breaking. Basic introduction Chinese name: Seven Star Sword Foreign name: Seven Star Sword Origin: China Users: Tan Sitong knife history, modern seven-star symbol, modern Longquan sword, production technology, Tan Sitong weapons, sword's destination, knife history modern seven-star symbol early Qing Dynasty, Taoism rise. Since ancient times, Taoist priests have used the "Seven-Star Sword" as a magical tool for rituals, and even as a treasure to guard their gates. At that time, Buddhism and Taoism were both prominent, and both advocated the rise of martial arts. Therefore, Buddhism and Taoism have greatly promoted the vigorous development of Chinese martial arts. For a time, Buddhists, Taoists and chivalrous people had more and more requests for sword making, and Longquan swords naturally developed. According to the newly compiled "Longquan County Chronicle" in 1994: In the 13th year of Qianlong's reign (1748), Zheng Yisheng established a sword in Dongqian Street, Longquan Town. The sword was cast using the "steel pouring" method (melting pig iron and pouring wrought iron) into the sword. The resulting sword had a very good steel edge, but had no elasticity. But it is very sharp. Around 1830 (during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty), Liao Taihe Jianpu of Longquan created the technology of drilling holes and inlaying copper on the sword surface. At this time, the copper inlay could only be inlaid with seven stars (the Big Dipper constellation, marking the seven wells of the sword pool), which was called the "Seven Star Sword". In the fifth year of Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1855), Zheng Sangu, the fourth generation swordsmith of Zheng Yishan, inherited and developed Liao Taihe's sword-making skills and officially opened the "Thousand Characters" sword shop at the gate of Tianfei Palace on East Street. He switched to using earthen steel to forge it and followed the "water quenching" method, which made it harder and sharper than the sword made by the old method. But the sword surface is still rough and easy to break. In the eighth year of Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1858), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising army was stationed in Longquan for ten days. They needed to replenish a large number of swords as weapons for officers and soldiers, so the "Thousand Characters" sword shop was overwhelmed. In addition, many thousand-character swords are also used to decorate Buddha statues. In the early years of Guangxu, three brothers, Zhou Guohua, Zhou Guorong and Zhou Guogui, became their disciples, Zheng Wenxuan (son of Zheng Sangu) of the Qianzi sword shop. After becoming their master, Zhou Guohua opened the "Wanziha" sword shop next to the "Qianzihao" sword shop. In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), Shen Tingzhang, a master blacksmith from Lishui Bihu, moved to Longquan and opened the "Shen Guanglong Renzihao Sword Shop" on the West Street of the county seat, where he taught his five sons Huanwen, Huanwu, Huanzhou, Huanqing and Huanquan carefully. The sword-making skills were known as "the home of sword-making, Shen's Wenwu Zhou Qingquan". From February 20 to December 4, 1915, at the Panama International Exposition in San Francisco, the United States, the Longquan sword cast by "Shen Guanglong Ren" was listed as an award-winning handicraft and became famous all over the world. During this period, craftsmen began to experiment with embedding better-quality construction steel (original steel produced in Fujian) into the sword's edge, which enhanced the toughness of the sword to a certain extent, but it was still unable to bend and have no flexibility. In terms of shape, there are ordinary single swords with double blades (divided into long blades and short blades), as well as male and female double swords (double swords equipped with a scabbard). In terms of decoration, the surface of the sword is carved with gilt copper, that is, the pattern is carved on the surface of the sword first, and then the copper sheet is placed. After heating, the copper flows into the carved mark, and the pattern is inlaid with copper. But only simple patterns can be set. The copper-wrapping process for the sword scabbard started in 1924 at the copper shop of Jiang Yuanda (originally from Wenzhou). Patterns such as cloud hooks and ancient coins were carved, and colored ribbons were hung on the hilt. The appearance of the sword was much more beautiful than in the past. On the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar in 1927, a certain army entered Zhejiang from Fujian and passed through Longquan. A certain battalion's gun chief (commonly known as gun chief, a kind of gun management staff person) asked Shen Guanglong's sword shop if he could use steel to forge swords. He said: "Wrought iron forged swords can be quenched with water, but pure steel cannot be quenched with water, otherwise it will be brittle and easy to break." Brother Shen quickly asked him for advice. He said: "I can handle small parts such as the handle and spring of the gun. Quenching, but not large ones." He also said that if you want a sword to glow green, you have to use steel that is harder than the sword body to "glow" the surface of the sword. After hearing this, the Shen brothers Huanwen, Huanwu, and Huanzhou immediately started experimenting. In the following months, lessons were learned from numerous failures, and the experiment was finally successful. In the past, wrought iron was easily deformed when quenched in water, and earth steel was easily broken when quenched in water. Therefore, no ancient sword can bend. The pure steel technology uses a new method of quenching. The sword body is both sharp and flexible, and the hard steel is used to "raise the light" to make the edge shine green and cold. Since then, the swords made by Shen Guanglong Sword Shop have gradually developed three characteristics: "sharpness", "toughness" and "blue light". The Shen family kept this a secret. Later, after Shen Huanwen's wife leaked the information, the two techniques of "quenching" and "glow raising" were spread to other sword shops.

Regardless, this is a big leap forward in sword training technology. In terms of shape, the sword body was changed from "same width and narrow" to a "calamus leaf" shape, which is suitable for dancing. In terms of decoration, one side of the sword has been changed from seven round stars to seven five-pointed stars, and the arrangement is more appropriate. On the other side, "auspicious dragons and phoenixes", "mandarin ducks playing in the water", "white cranes flying", "fairies descending to earth", etc. are also created. Auspicious patterns. The scabbard is inlaid with copper and engraved with traditional and beautiful patterns such as "Bagua". During this period, the entire production technology of swords made significant progress. Modern Longquan Sword After the founding of New China, the party and the Communist Party of China attached great importance to restoring the production of traditional handicrafts. After 1950, the "Shen Guanglong" sword shop at No. 21 Xinhua Street, Longquan resumed business. At this time, although Shen Guanglong's Ren brand sword was of high quality, because our country was in the economic recovery period and people's lives were still in poverty, the sales volume of the sword was not much, and Shen Guanglong's family could not make a living by producing swords. Therefore, they also produce some handmade farm tools and cultivate several acres of farmland, living a poor life. In 1956, swordsmiths in Longquan formed the Longquan Town Sword Production Cooperative Group, which was affiliated to the Longquan County Iron Society and was located at No. 21 Xinhua Street. At that time, there were seven veteran artists in the country. The sword makers were Shen Huanwen, Shen Huanwu, Shen Huanzhou and their apprentice Ji Yangchun. The scabbard maker was Ji Huorong. The copper cladders were Jiang Hua, Kong Qingbiao and Zhang Baohua. Shen Huanzhou was the team leader. After three years of economic recovery and land reform in our country, counter-revolutionaries have been suppressed, society has stabilized, people's lives have begun to improve, the sword market has begun to recover, sword-making artists have a secure life, and are highly motivated to produce. The cooperation group brought together the strengths of each family, and out of their gratitude to the party and New China, during the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of China, a long-edged silver sword was forged and dedicated to Chairman Mao. Later, Chairman Mao remitted 200 yuan to the Longquan County ***, which was transferred to the sword production team, which was a great encouragement to the artists. Since then, Longquan's sword production has been flourishing with the sword production group as the mainstream. In order to make it easier for customers to use and keep the Longquan sword, and also for advertising purposes, the sword production team asked Chen Qikai to write the book and Shen Huanwen to provide information, and the first instruction manual in the history of the Longquan sword was born. Later, the sword production group, the Iron Works Society, and the state-owned iron factory were separated and merged several times. Finally, in September 1963, Longquan County Baojian Production Cooperative was established, with Shen Huanzhou as the director and Ji Yangchun and Jiang Hua as board members. At this time, the annual output was 420 swords. In 1965, in order to expand the production of swords, the factory moved from No. 21 Xinhua Street to No. 74 Hualou Street. From 1956 to 1966, the swords produced by the cooperative were either called Longquan swords or Longquan ancient swords. The names were uncertain; in terms of craftsmanship, they completely followed the traditional forging, shoveling, filing, carving, quenching and grinding processes. After 28 manual processes for production, the dragon, phoenix and seven star patterns are carved randomly without certain standards. However, the four characteristics of the Longquan sword, including its toughness and sharpness, its combination of strength and softness, its striking cold light, and its exquisite patterns, remain unchanged. The market for Longquan swords is gradually expanding, and it is mainly sold in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Henan. However, the Longquan sword, which had just entered a period of vigorous development, suffered misfortune at the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution". It was criticized and sealed as the "Four Olds", the cooperative stopped production, and the swordsmiths were driven to the countryside to make hatchets and hoes. Until the end of 1971, the Baojian Production Cooperative was rebuilt again and a revolutionary committee was established. In 1978, it was renamed Longquan Sword Factory. Because the Longquan sword was so exquisite and famous all over the world, the country included it as a "national gift". Therefore, in 1972, the Longquan sword was customized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Four high-end Longquan swords were carefully made by swordsmith Shen Huanzhou and his successor Shen Xinpei. The sword was presented as a national gift to US President Richard Nixon and his delegation who visited China, and contributed to the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. At this time, the number of employees of Baojian Society grew to 14, and the annual output was 827 swords, which was double that before the Cultural Revolution. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Longquan Sword Industry ushered in its brilliant spring. Longquan Sword was upgraded to a large collective enterprise owned by the county and was renamed "Zhejiang Longquan County Sword Factory". It has 43 employees and an annual output of swords. 3079, with a tax profit of more than 50,000 yuan, and it has obtained two registered trademarks: "Longquan" and "Dragon and Phoenix Seven Stars". From then on, the full name of Longquan Sword was fixed as "Dragon and Phoenix Seven Stars Longquan Sword", and the Longquan sword industry has taken a rapid development pace.

In the early 1980s, sword-making technician Shen Xinpei developed the "Cloud Flower Sword" and the antique "Yuchang Sword", and Chen Ajin developed the "Huama Sword". Among them, the "Cloud Flower Sword" won the international award in the China International Tourism Souvenir Competition. Tourism Product Excellence Award, "Huamajian" was listed as one of the "Four New Products" in Lishui area. Moreover, at the National Sports Equipment Exhibition held during the Fifth National Games of the same year, long-edged swords, short-edged swords, cane swords, male and female swords produced by the Longquan Sword Factory were also on display, as well as imitations of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Eight kinds of weapons. With the rise of martial arts and the improvement of people's living standards, Longquan swords have become more popular in the market. The county sword factory alone and manual production alone can no longer meet the needs of the market. Under the situation of reform and opening up, township and individual sword manufacturers continued to appear in Longquan. In April 1984, the "Wanzihao Sword Factory" in Longyuan Town was established, and Zhou Ziwang, the successor of the original "Wanzihao Sword Shop", was hired as a consultant. This broke the situation where the "Longquan County Sword Factory" dominated the world and produced exclusively in Longquan County. This was a milestone in the development of the Longquan sword production industry. There has been no standardization of Longquan swords in history. However, with the rapid development of modern science and technology To this end, the Longquan County Sword Factory did a lot of basic work on industrial production and operation in 1987, and accepted the commission from the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Standards and Measures to formulate a formula. The Zhejiang Province Sword Quality Standard "Zhejiang Q/SG45-84 Standard" was established. At the same time, based on the factory's technical and technological level, it also formulated and implemented the "Longquan Sword Q/ LBJ05-87 Standard". This is the first quality standard ever formulated for swords, bringing my country's sword production into an era of quality standards. The production process of Tan Sitong's Seven-Star Sword was used by Tan Sitong, one of the Six Gentlemen of 1898. He traveled up and down the Yellow River and north and south of the Yangtze River. The "Seven Star Sword" was his loyal companion on the journey. He traveled more than 80,000 miles across the mountains and rivers of his motherland, traveling to 13 provinces, making friends with righteous men, visiting famous people, and opening his eyes to the places where the sword ended up. Especially on one occasion, Tan Sitong rode his horse and hunted with a sword. He traveled more than 1,700 miles in seven days and nights. Although he was "in a mess", he was still "enjoyed". During his grand tour, Tan Sitong unexpectedly traveled from two extremely remote places. He got two old things from Wen Tianxiang, the person he admired most in his life: "Jiaoyu Qin" and "Fengju Sword". From then on, he cherished these two treasures as much as his soul. From then on, he kept the "Seven Star Sword" in the "Da Fu Di". /p>