Development and Protection of Yan Tao

Yan Tao is different from the other three types of inkstones in that it stores ink, does not leak at night, makes ink like oil, and does not repel ink. After it appeared, literati rushed to buy it and became famous for a while. Huang Tingjian, a famous scholar in the Song Dynasty, once praised Yan Tao as "Zhou Taoqing's ripples without wind can be ground like a cone". Throughout the ages, although the stone used to produce Yan Taoshi mainly comes from Lama Cliff on the east bank of Taohe River, where the cliff is steep, the road is rugged, surrounded by water on three sides, and the water flow is rapid, which makes it very difficult to mine, the work of mining Yan Taoshi has never stopped, and many rare treasures have been excavated.

However, in recent years, there are fewer and fewer Yan Tao stones mined from Lama Cliff on the east coast, and the quality is not as good as before. A quarryman who has worked in the local area for 30 years told reporters that their mine has been dug from the previous 60 to 70 meters to more than 100 meters, but there is still no good stone. Nowadays, in Lama Cliff, many mines have to be abandoned because there are no stones.

Another important quarry named Shuiquanwan also encountered the same embarrassment. The local people who lived by quarrying stones in the past generations now have to keep an eye on the empty mountains. According to relevant data, the stock of Yan Tao stone hidden in the deep layer does not exceed 20 tons at most, and the development of stone is close to the extreme.

At the same time, Jiudianxia Reservoir, as the core project of the national key project, has also begun to flourish, and all the stone producing areas in this area will be submerged in the water. At that time, Yan Tao will completely lose its source of survival. According to the local government, in order to protect Taoheshi, they are discussing with the company in charge of the Jiudianxia project and plan to introduce a specific protection plan.