Well salt is produced by drilling wells and extracting underground brine.

By digging wells to extract underground brine (naturally formed or generated after water injection in salt mines), the salt produced is called well salt, and the vertical shaft that produces well salt is called a salt well. Among the ancient salt-making processes, the well salt production process is the most complex and best reflects the ingenuity of the ancient Chinese. The production technology of well salt has gone through a process of continuous development.

The investors in well salt production areas are mainly businessmen, especially those from Shaanxi and Shanxi. Most of them started out as salt merchants and pawnbrokers. They first started by controlling the transportation field of Sichuan salt, using the method of "renting, leasing and selling on behalf of others" to obtain a large amount of profits. Then they further controlled the vast number of Sichuan salt sales ports, opened salt shops in various places, and accumulated huge wealth; In the end, they often partnered with local indigenous people.

History of well salt development

The production process of well salt requires division of labor and cooperation. Therefore, various types of specialized craftsmen are needed in wells, stoves, and kitchens. For example, there are mountain craftsmen who dig and repair wells. , there are salt burners who fry the salt, there are mountain craftsmen who set up the brine, there are stoves who install the fire pits and fire rings, and there are water bearers who transport the brine, and they are paid according to their professionalism and different types of work; stoves and mountain craftsmen They are so valued by well owners that they even have the right to recruit workers to facilitate the normal production of wells and stoves.

The workers in the salt industry who dug wells and burned stoves were mostly farmers who had lost their means of production and sold their labor power in exchange for value for work. Among them are local indigenous people, some from counties across Sichuan, and refugees from Guizhou, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Yunnan and other places, and those who work as servants to make a living. Zigong is a famous well salt production area in Sichuan Province. It has a long history of digging wells to collect brine for salt production.

Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Well Salt