Jinxing inkstone, also known as "Jinxing Song inkstone". The main production area of Jinxing stone, the raw material for making inkstones, is Song Village at the foot of Tuoling Mountain in Hengtang Town, Xingzi County. According to folklore, the first inkstone was made by Tao Yuanming, a poet in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Mi Fu's "History of Inkstones" in the Northern Song Dynasty said: "The bluestone inkstones of Mount Lu are roughly the same as those of Tanzhou Gushan", "the color is blue with patterns, like a tangled silk curtain, it makes a sound when knocked, it gets ink quickly, the ink is shiny, and there are gold stars, it is smooth and smooth when touched." It can be seen that Xingzi Jinxing inkstone was already famous among literati in the Northern Song Dynasty. The county cultural relics management office now has a collection of several ancient stone inkstones from the Song Dynasty, such as "Phoenix Inkstone" and "Winnowing Dustpan Inkstone", and the modeling craftsmanship has begun to show taste. In the Ming Dynasty, the production of Jinxing inkstones declined for a time, but gradually became popular in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. There is even a special "Inkstone Pond Street" in Xingzi City. It developed slightly during the Republic of China. There were more than 100 inkstone workshops in the county. The Jinxing inkstones made by local artists participated in international exhibitions twice and won awards. The Jinxing inkstone is made of exquisite materials and is well made. The raw material Jinxing Song stone is produced in Tuoling Mountain. The Republic of China's "Lushan Zhiwuchan" records: "Bluestone is produced in Badu Tuoling and Sidu Jishan. Tuoling stone is particularly ancient. It is cut into inkstones and is called Jinxing Song stone." Badu and Sidu are now Xingzi Hengtang Town and Hualin Township. This stone is tough, delicate, warm and clean, and has a meticulous texture. Because the stone contains iron, it turns golden after oxidation, so there are stars on the stone in various shapes. According to the shape, thickness and size of the pattern, there are gold stars, gold halos, gold circles, golden waves, water pineapples, eyebrow patterns, ice patterns, cat eyes, gold lines, silver lines, wood grain, fish roe patterns, etc.; just for gold stars, there are eyebrow gold stars, fish roe gold stars, water wave gold stars, and there are also extremely rare golden turtle eyes, dragon and phoenix eyes, and thrush eyes. The Jinxing inkstone made of this stone produces ink quickly, does not dry up water, does not produce powder after long grinding, and "produces shiny ink". However, this stone is rare and precious, and its mining is relatively tedious and complicated. It is necessary to dig out the bluestone with hard texture and uniform layering, find the bluestone layer containing Jinxing (iron sulfide), and transport it down the mountain by manpower after mining. Then there are the processes of material selection, blank making, carving, and fine grinding. Material selection is to consider the Jinxing characteristics of the material and the hardness and color of the stone to conceive the type, shape, and grade of the inkstone. Local craftsmen call it selecting "flesh stone". Blank making is to fix the blank on the "inkstone bench". The craftsman half squats and half rides, holding a shovel, and uses the power of the "shoulder pot" to cut the blank to form a blank inkstone. Carving is to use different "shovels" and "chisels" respectively, and use shoulder strength, arm strength, wrist strength and other techniques to carve the inkstone stone into shape. The main carving methods include positive carving, negative carving, shallow water, relief carving, three-dimensional carving, etc. Fine grinding is to grind and polish the inkstone stone. The flat back and sides of the inkstone are placed on a large stone (inkstone grinding stone) and polished horizontally; the ink pit (ink pool) is first coarsely ground with purple stone, and then finely ground with a small piece of bluestone; the delicately carved parts are wiped with a blue indigo cloth or a blue indigo cloth to make the indigo adhere to it, the color settles and appears shiny, which is called "opening the light" (polishing). The tools needed for production mainly include inkstone benches, saw benches, shovels and chisels, "extra-fine" stone tools, indigo cloth, etc. The shapes of Jinxing inkstones vary according to the materials and are formed naturally. The shapes include long, square, round, irregular and natural shapes. The irregular shapes include phoenix inkstone, dustpan-shaped inkstone, tile inkstone, fan inkstone, skirt inkstone, lotus leaf inkstone and other shape characteristics. No matter what shape, they all give people a sense of simplicity, generosity, simplicity and freehand brushwork. There are more than 20 types of inkstones, including flowing water, walking water, singles, square, Tiansu, Yuanmo, flat plate, gift table, student inkstone, ordinary carving, fine carving, etc. The fine carving can be subdivided into grave head carving, three-side carving, irregular carving, natural carving, etc. The patterns include flowers, grass, birds, beasts, single dragon playing in the water, double dragon playing with pearls, double phoenix facing the sun, dragon and phoenix auspicious, Poyang Lake scenery, Lushan scenery, character legends, etc. Xingzi Jinxing inkstone has both practical value, humanistic value and natural beauty. Its style is simple and generous, and its concise freehand brushwork is a brilliant treasure of Chinese folk art.