June 14, 2008 is the third "Cultural Heritage Day" in China. During this period, the State Council published the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Two wonderful flowers of Luzhou's intangible cultural heritage-the production technology of water-splitting oil-paper umbrella in Jiangyang District and the brewing technology of Gulinlang wine are on the list.
Intangible cultural heritage, as the witness of China's history and an important carrier of China's culture, is known as the "living fossil" of history and culture and "the back of national memory". As the second batch of water-dividing oil-paper umbrellas selected in the national intangible cultural heritage list of our city, it carries a special "Luzhou memory". Along the way, 400 years of "past lives" are accompanied by the hard and persistent backs of generations of umbrella makers.
One day in June, 2008, the Municipal Bureau of Culture held a ceremony to award medals to the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage. How excited he was when Bi, director of Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory, took over the heavy brand of Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella from Zebo, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Culture! He silently said to his ancestors in his heart: I have kept the traditional handmade oil-paper umbrella technology, a cultural treasure of the motherland. As a descendant of your, I have no regrets in my life!
Six generations' inheritance of Biyou paper umbrella
Fenshui people are good at making oil-paper umbrellas. In about 400 years, as many as 1000 craftsmen made oil-paper umbrellas for a living. "Every family has an umbrella maker, and every family can weave an umbrella thread." How prosperous it was to make umbrellas by hand at that time!
The Bi family have lived on Fenshuiling Street for generations. His family's history of making oil-paper umbrellas has lasted for six generations.
His first great-grandfather learned to make umbrellas from Xujia School in Fenshui Street. The second generation of Bi family is called Bi Luxiang. This artist, who also studied with his teacher since childhood, is smart and willing to work hard. Under the guidance of his master and father, he mastered the skill of making umbrellas. He thinks it is better to be a boss than to work for others for a long time. So he opened his own "Bi's Oil Paper Umbrella Shop" in Fenshui Street.
Bi's oil-paper umbrella business is getting bigger and bigger. As the saying goes, "when the tree is divided, the child is divided." Brothers are all making oil-paper umbrellas in a small street, and the supply exceeds the demand, not to mention there are other umbrella shops in the street. So the Bi family adopted the method of outward development.
From the middle of19th century to the founding of New China, several generations of Bi family opened an umbrella shop in Dahe Street, Luzhou City, with the address of "Unity Hotel". He also opened an umbrella shop in Shanyannao. The oldest umbrella shop is now Houhe Street Steamship Hotel. Later, my ancestors moved to fairy town, Hejiang County, and opened an umbrella shop in Luzhou University. Finally, my great-grandfather took Bi's grandfather back to his hometown to divide water and open an umbrella, and never left this water area again.
Why did Bijia return to Fenshui after several generations? Bi Liufu said that his great-grandfather had eight brothers in his generation. Except for his two brothers, the other seven brothers all had daughters. Daughters grow up and get married, the old man who makes umbrellas dies, and the umbrella factory naturally closes.
There is a strange phenomenon in the Bi family, that is, from Bi's father to Bi's son, three generations are all single-handed, with only one son. Before liberation, Grandfather Bi's younger brother was arrested by the Kuomintang as a able-bodied man. Since then, there has been no news, which is equal to four generations of single transmission. As a result, the "Bi's Umbrella Shop" in Luzhou, which has flourished for nearly a hundred years, has gradually come to an end. In the end, only the navy is left. The predecessor of Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory is Lu Xian Umbrella Production Cooperative, which was established in 1952. At that time, Bi's parents were workers in an umbrella factory. My father began to learn to make umbrellas when he was a teenager. After a long time, he knew every process like the back of his hand and became a "generalist" in the umbrella factory. He knows everything from making umbrella stands to umbrellas.
Bi Liu Fusheng was born in 1957. When he was just sensible, he followed his parents and watched them make umbrellas. Not until he entered primary school at the age of seven.
When I saw a pile of bamboo pieces magically turned into handfuls of exquisite and beautiful oiled paper umbrellas in my parents' hands, Liu Fu Jr.' s hands itched. Mother mainly does the process of "knotting umbrellas". He often secretly picks up an umbrella when his mother goes to the toilet or goes to dinner, and then continues to do it with his unused network cable. When the teachers nearby saw that Liu Fu had done a good job, they all praised him: "Bi San (Bi Liu Fu ranked third) is a promising baby! I am going to take an umbrella at a young age! " They took the initiative to teach him, so that he could do some simple processes of making umbrellas at an early age. Mother saw that he was doing well and let him do it slowly.
At that time, factories were often made by adults, and children followed them. This is how the production process of oil-paper umbrella was handed down.
Be ordered to be in danger
Bi Liufu's father has always disapproved of his learning to make oil-paper umbrellas. Maybe it's because the salary in this line is too low. At that time, it was only a few cents to make an umbrella, and it was difficult to support the family after a month of hard work.
1975 after graduating from high school, like thousands of young intellectuals all over the country, they went to the countryside to receive re-education from poor middle peasants in a "vast world" Later, the educated youth returned to the city, and he 1980 returned to Fenshui Town. The policy at that time was: go back to work in your parents' unit. Bi naturally returned to her parents' unit-Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory.
In 1970s and 1980s, with the rise of nylon folding umbrellas, completely hand-made oil-paper umbrellas gradually withdrew from people's sight. In just one or two decades, the manufacturers of hand-made oil-paper umbrellas in Jiangnan closed their doors and stopped production. The water-separating oil-paper umbrella stands alone and is in danger of being closed and lost at any time.
In order to survive and develop, the factory began to find another way. First set up a steel umbrella workshop. Liu Fu was sent to Wuhan Dongshan Machinery Factory to study maintenance technology, and was responsible for the equipment maintenance of the steel umbrella workshop after returning to the factory.
Because the raw materials needed for the steel-reinforced cloth umbrella are all shipped from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the cost is very high. An umbrella is more expensive than buying one in the market. This kind of umbrella is getting worse and worse. Finally, the steel umbrella workshop closed down.
Later, the factory also set up a honeycomb coal workshop. The whole factory voted by secret ballot to be the director of honeycomb coal workshop.
A small monitor, he didn't get more money, but he did much more work than others. Bi Liu Fu didn't complain, but he worked hard. Because of his outstanding performance, he gloriously joined 1990 China * * * Production Party.
Umbrella factory mainly produces umbrellas, but now paper umbrellas can't be sold, making it difficult for umbrella factory to maintain. The town leaders are in a hurry. Hard-working, willing to endure hardships and flexible mind. They saw it in their eyes. 1994, Mou Zhengquan, then secretary of Fenshui Village, talked with Bi and asked him to come out and lead the staff of the umbrella factory. A staff meeting was held in the factory, and the staff of the whole factory unanimously elected Bi as the director of the umbrella factory. Bi said that at that time, there was no choice but to bite the bullet.
He inherited hundreds of thousands of debts, and the interest for one year is not small. At that time, the retired workers in the factory only received 10 yuan in January. I heard that Bi agreed to be the factory director. Someone said to him, "Bi San, you are really a fool. The umbrella factory is already an empty shell, a mess and an empty shelf. Do you still have the ability to return to heaven? "
Bi Liu Fu doesn't believe in evil. The first thing he did after taking over as the factory director was to solve the current concrete difficulties. He immediately called a workers' congress. After obtaining the consent of the employees of the whole factory, we sold several unused old factories and paid off the old accounts; Retired workers only pay 10 a month, which is too little, and it will be increased to15 a month; The price of oil-paper umbrella is too low to be profitable. He raised the price three times in a month, and raised the original 3 yuan to 5 yuan. Workers' labor is linked to economic benefits, and it is implemented on people's heads, and more work pays more. Workers can get 2300 yuan in January.
Handmade umbrellas, from cutting to making, have to go through more than 100 processes and use hundreds of tools. "There are more than 80 kinds of parts alone. Of all the processes, at present, only a few processes, such as drilling, can use power tools, which is considered uncontrollable, and other processes are still done by hand. It takes about half a month to make an umbrella, and the economic benefit is very low.
During the period of 1996, the price of tung oil for making oil-paper umbrellas rose sharply. This factory tries to make umbrellas with chemical oil. After a long time, the umbrella surface sticks and the umbrella paper becomes brittle and hard. To keep the tradition, we must use tung oil! But in this way, there will be no profit.
The laws of market economy do not depend on human will. The superior decided that the umbrella factory should be contracted by individuals! The contract fee has dropped from 20,000 to 8,000, and no one dares to disclose the "yellow list". Bi once again contracted the umbrella factory with extraordinary courage, and no one contracted it! In the late 1990s, when the umbrella factory was in the most difficult time, even the retired workers were given 20 yuan a month. Bi asked retired workers to go to the honeycomb coal factory opened by Lao Bi's wife to bear 200 pieces of honeycomb coal as monthly retirement wages. The umbrella factory struggled in stormy weather.
Parents in their hometown always care about the good things in their hometown.
One day in 2004, Chen Hong, director of Jiangyang District Cultural and Sports Bureau, came to the umbrella factory and said to Bi, "Old Bi, you should have confidence in the umbrella factory. Let's develop well! " Director Chen and other leaders have visited various scenic spots in Luzhou many times to promote oil-paper umbrellas.
On February 9th, 65438, Luzhou entered the last day of national acceptance for establishing an excellent tourist city in China. In the morning, accompanied by relevant leaders of Luzhou City, the national inspection team went to Fangshan Scenic Area, which is known as "Little Emei in South Sichuan", for inspection and acceptance. With its beautiful natural scenery and profound cultural heritage, Bi was designed and produced by Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory, and the unique production technology of "Umbrella King" and Tung Oil Paper Umbrella in China was displayed on the spot, which made the leaders and experts of the national inspection team sincerely admire. In the tourist reception center, the "China Umbrella King" with a height of 8m, a diameter of12m and a weight of1000kg stands proudly on the roof of the reception center, equipped with 2,000 tung oil paper umbrellas with different styles, showing its extraordinary "physique" and exquisite craftsmanship. At the foot of the slowly rotating "umbrella king", several artists are skilled in lithography, pasting, oiling, wearing umbrellas, weaving umbrellas, etc ... These unique production techniques have aroused great interest from the leaders and experts of the national inspection team, who keep asking questions. Before leaving Umbrella King, the national inspection team and his party happily took a group photo with him as a souvenir. Director Chen Hong revealed to People that from now until the Spring Festival, Umbrella King will open its screen to welcome guests. During this period, Fangshan Scenic Area and Yunfeng Temple will hold a series of wonderful activities to spend New Year's Day and Spring Festival with tourists.
"To really keep this umbrella, we still have to take the road of intangible cultural heritage protection." Jiangyang District has started the "triple jump" of oil-paper umbrella protection.
In September 2006, the water-dividing oil-paper umbrella was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage protection in Luzhou City. In March, 2007, Sichuan Province listed the water-dividing oil-paper umbrella in the provincial intangible cultural heritage protection list. In March 2008, Luzhou successfully approved the application of oil-paper umbrella as a national intangible cultural heritage protection object. The traditional skill and historical and cultural value of the water-dividing oil-paper umbrella have been recognized. Bi was elected as the representative inheritor. In the southern part of Luzhou, a watershed town surrounded by the Yangtze River and Tuojiang River, the ancient salt channel once passed through the town, leaving an unknown story for water diversion. Nowadays, you can occasionally meet caravans and hear the bells of horses.
Fenshuiling Town, an old street paved with bluestone, an old house stands precariously on the street, which is the factory building of Fenshui Umbrella Factory. The oil-paper umbrella produced here, as rain gear, has been used by human beings for more than 1000 years.
Oil-paper umbrella has rich cultural connotation: oil-paper umbrella is homophonic with "having children", which means that many children are blessed; The umbrella stand is made of bamboo, indicating that it rises steadily; Has a long history, noble and elegant; The shape is round, which means happy reunion; Tung oil crafts, town houses to ward off evil oil paper umbrellas not only have the function of shading from the sun and rain, but also have the value of ornamental decoration, historical humanities and folk culture.
Oil-paper umbrellas, cloves and rain lanes are fixed in people's memory because of a beautiful poem Rain Lane by the famous poet Dai Wangshu, and become synonymous with romance and classicism. For a long time in the past, the oil-paper umbrella accompanied by apricot blossoms and misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River has romanticized countless affairs and decorated the dreams of many young people.
Nowadays, in the streets, it is difficult for us to find traces of oil-paper umbrellas. With the development of economy and society, oil-paper umbrellas gradually fade out of people's sight. At present, there is only Luzhou Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory in China. Luzhou Fenshui Liu Fu Oil Paper Umbrella is praised by experts as "the living fossil of China folk umbrella art", which is the only national intangible cultural heritage of China oil paper umbrella industry. Due to the rise of nylon folding umbrella and the collision between modern technology and traditional technology, Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory is famous all over the world today, and even if the government takes a series of protective measures, there is still great pressure for survival and development.
As the director of Fenshui Oil-Paper Umbrella Factory, the sixth generation of oil-paper umbrellas and the only representative inheritor of handmade oil-paper umbrellas in China, China Umbrella King Bi, who was paid attention to by Guinness World Records Headquarters twice, sent a shortlist letter, said that he would pass on this umbrella-making technology with his lifelong persistence and perseverance.
In Luzhou, Sichuan, China, the only traditional oil-paper umbrella inheritor and oil-paper umbrella factory in China is silently insisting. Liu Fu Oil Paper Umbrella has become the last night watchman of China Tung Oil Paper Umbrella!