The book is a record of ceremonial court cords in Chinese Western Chou dynasty, ca. 1027770 B.C., and is believed to have been written in the era of Ch'un-ch'iu (770-475 B.C.). This book presents some metallurgical descriptions, bronze alloying, casting and standardization of implements. This oldest metallurgical textbook of the world was donated from The Chinese Society of Metals in 1979. -- AATA