Donald
B.
Wagner,
Den
traditionelle
jernindustri
i
Kina
og
dens
moderne
skæbne
Click
on
any
image
to
see
it
enlarged.
The iron industry in Fujian and the
Philippines
 |
| Diagram
of
a
‘trumpet-shaped
blast
furnace’
used in Fujian in 1958. (Yang
Kuan, Zhongguo gudai yetie jishu
fazhan shi, Shanghai 1982, p. 195). 1. Iron bands. 2. ‘Face of Avalokitesvara’ (?). 3. Slag-tapping hole. 4. Iron-tapping hole. 5. Hearth. 6. Bottom. 7. Iron woks. 8. Iron tripod. |
In the mountainous coastal province
of Fujian, iron was smelted in a small ‘trumpet-shaped blast furnace’.
The ore was ironsand and the fuel charcoal. It is interesting to see
that the same type of blast furnace was used in the Philippine Islands.
There is a large Chinese minority group in the Philippines, largely
descendants of immigrants from Fujian, and it is certainly these
immigrants who introduced this type of furnace here.
 |
| Blast furnace in Bulacan, Philippines, 1902. Height from the ground 226 cm, inner diameter at the top 81 cm. (The Mining Bureau, Bulletin no. 3, Manila 1903, pl. AJ). |
Click on any image to see it enlarged.