The second lecture of the Yichang Cultural Forum was recently held at the Yichang Museum. Nearly 100 representatives from Yichang Museum, various district and county museums, and Three Gorges University attended the lecture.

　　In this lecture, Professor Mei Jianjun, Director of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, UK, was invited to explain the latest research results of the Chu metal decorative pieces in the Yichang Museum. Professor Mei successively described the metal casting and forging technology in the pre-Qin period, the Chu metal plaques collected in the Yichang Museum,the results achieved by scientific analysis, and analyzed the social and cultural background of the rise of related forging technologies in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The lectures explain profound theories in simple language, allowing the audience to have a new understanding of the important cultural relics collected in the Yichang Museum and metal processing technology in the pre-Qin period and the reflected social and cultural issues of this technology. (Reporter: Zheng Miao;Correspondent: Tang Lingran)