The most famous lanterns in the capital are palace lanterns.
Palace lanterns are unique products of palace decoration.
The production of palace lanterns in the Qing Dynasty was under the unified management of the Manufacturing Office of the Imperial Palace Household Office, and craftsmen were called into the imperial city when necessary.
Even to this day, artifacts from that time are hung in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Kunning Palace, Changchun Palace and the Summer Palace in the Forbidden City.
Just like the palace lanterns in Tingli Pavilion and Beihai Fangshan, most of them are old things.
What to do with the deficiencies? What to do with the maintenance of these palace lanterns?
It doesn't matter, there are manufacturers of special palace lanterns in Beijing.
Although the factory disappeared for a time in history, it was converted to produce electronic components in 1969 and was renamed Jingcheng Component No. 7 Factory.
However, in 1972, with the need for foreign currency exchange for the country's export products, the production of palace lanterns and other handicrafts was resumed.
The factory was once again renamed Jingcheng Art Red Light Factory.
It's just that one means one, and two means two.
This art red light factory has been able to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign exchange every year since the 1950s.
At the same time, it is also responsible for the business of maintaining the existing palace lanterns in the royal gardens of the capital, and even the business of making red gauze lanterns for Tiananmen Square.
But the most glorious time for this factory was in 1957, when it had 382 employees and had a capital of 140,000 yuan.
Nowadays, just because the demand for domestic business is too small and the foreign trade gap is too tight, it is completely unpopular with the Light Industry Bureau.
In addition, there are fewer and fewer veteran artists. After retirement, it is impossible to recruit people.
The size of the factory has been reduced to less than 60 people, almost like a workshop.
It is said that Wang Xiaoer is celebrating the New Year, and every year is not as good as the previous year. I am afraid that it will be suspected of beautification.
But on the other hand, the burden is quite heavy.
Secretary Hu Kuanfu and factory director Xu Pingzhi have to play hide-and-seek with the old workers who ask them to reimburse their medical expenses all day long.
I also have to worry about various expenses in the factory and deal with the abacus repeatedly.
Even they themselves have to set an example by being diligent and frugal, which would be a miserable life!
Don't talk about eating and drinking with public funds.
The only tea they can get from the factory, the standard has been reduced to two yuan and a pound of flower triangle.
(Note: The flower triangle is the tea leaves screened out during the rolling process, and the quality is poor)
This is thanks to the oversupply of tea this year and the price reduction.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to afford scented tea, and you will have to switch to southern tea that no one likes to drink.
No problem, he is still a leader after all, and he has an identity here.
You can't drink the "high end" that's so broken that you can't watch it, it's making people laugh, isn't it?
Especially Monday, June 6th.
Both the secretary and the factory director were told bad news as soon as they entered the factory.
We ran to the warehouse together and worried about the roof.
Thanks to the rain last night, not only did the roof leak, but half of the gable fell down.
Of course this needs to be repaired? But where will the money come from?
Wages have just been paid, and the factory's finances are at their most strained. They can't even raise the money to buy bricks and tiles.
If we don’t repair it, it’s easy to talk about the other things in this house. The key thing is what to do with the “Hundred Flowers Poke Lamp” that was built last year?
That big guy with a height of two meters was the apprentice of the famous modern palace lantern maker "Ball Lantern Han". The last work left to the factory by two skilled old workers when they were about to retire.
The lamp holder is a large flower basket carved from mahogany. The entire flower basket is carved with blooming magnolias, chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, crabapples and other flowers. The lamp is inlaid with a painted glass screen, and six high-rising flowers are installed on the flower basket.
small magnolia lamp.
The lamppost is partially embossed with traditional patterns, and the lower end is engraved with four lions playing with hydrangeas, and the lion's claws form the base of the lamp.
I did it so exquisitely so that I could catch up with some important events in the future and earn some face for the factory.
They can't live up to this intention.
If there is really going to be another storm, what will happen if the wind blows and the rain bubbles break?
What's more, if it is not repaired, there is a risk that the entire wall and half of the roof will collapse, which is related to production safety.
Don't say it, maybe it's a good day and I really got lucky.
Just when the secretary and the factory director were facing each other and frowning and sighing, something happened to them.
It's similar to someone bringing you a pillow when you want to sleep, but the money comes to them on its own.
Section Chief Zhang of the Business Department took the two guests to the door of the warehouse and shouted inside.
"Secretary Hu, Director Xu, someone is looking for..."
"Oh, here we come." Factory director Xu Pingzhi responded and started to walk out.
Unexpectedly, the two outsiders had already walked in on their own, and Section Chief Zhang could only follow up.
"You are?"
Xu Pingzhi looked at the two young men he had never seen before in confusion. Both of them wore half-sleeved shirts, trousers and leather shoes, had watches in their hands, and held leather briefcases.
At first glance, he seems to be the kind of person who lives a healthy and decent life.
Unexpectedly, they were all very polite. One said, "You are Director Xu? My name is Qiao Wanlin. I am from the Comprehensive Management Section of the District Service Bureau. We want to open a palace-style restaurant in our district and need a lot of palace lanterns. Isn't this right?"
I’m asking our factory for help.”
The other one directly handed over the cigarette.
And he obviously knew that the warehouse was an important place, so he could only show his respect by taking out cigarettes and handing them over.
He himself did not smoke cigarettes, nor did he get angry.
"I am the manager of the palace restaurant under preparation, Ning Weimin. Just call me Xiao Ning. We have come here presumptuously and caused trouble for you. But after all, this is our own business in the district. We still need the full help of our factory.
ah……"
It's just that the words are nice, the key is that the pomp and circumstance is astonishing.
Xu Pingzhi was shocked when he found out that the cigarette he was handed was from Greater China.
One stick of this thing can hold the same weight as a pack of ordinary Class C cigarettes.
He immediately knew that the other party had a lot of background, and quickly went to recruit Hu Kuanfu.
"Lao Hu, these two are comrades from the district. You should also come and meet..."
But Hu Kuanfu was still a little unhappy because of troubles.
Besides, Qiao Wanlin did not reveal that his position was section chief.
So the secretary was not in the mood at all and just looked at the ruins without even looking back.
"Isn't it just a palace lantern? First ask them if they have the procedures? If not, we can't control it. Let them go to Wangfujing and find the Art and Crafts Service Department to place an order."
Unexpectedly, a sentence came from behind right away.
"Are you Secretary Hu? Don't worry, we have special approval procedures from the district and can contact the manufacturer directly. The invoice from the commercial outlet is also easy to get. Let's discuss the price, and then I will just say hello to the district commercial bureau. We will
I will give you the money, they will just add a number, and they will cooperate with us to complete the procedures on both ends..."
Wow! This is awesome!
Special approval from the district? Can the Commerce Bureau instigate actions?
And the money is given here...
Wouldn’t this solve the thorny problem at hand?
Hu Kuanfu quickly turned his head, his face gentle and his enthusiasm rising.
Of course, Xu Pingzhi was no slower than him in reaction.
The factory director was also aware of the key issue and couldn't wait to inquire about the details first.
"Oh, this is great. How many palace lanterns do you want? What size and style?"
Qiao Wanlin hesitated and said, "In terms of quantity, I'm afraid it will be at least a hundred. As for the size and style... all we can confirm so far is that the color will not be red, but bright yellow. For the rest, I really don't have any clear ideas."
Then he looked around and asked, "Do we have many styles here? I've only seen the hexagonal palace lanterns, the ones hung in Beihai Fangshan and Tingli Hall. Is there anything better than them in our factory?"
I heard that the amount of this job is not bad, and it should cost at least 18,000 yuan.
It is estimated that even if the gable is repaired, the remaining amount will be enough to cover the entire factory's salary for two months.
Xu Pingzhi was full of energy and immediately threw out knowledge like a cross talk speaker.
"Oh, then you're asking. We have too many types of lamps here. The shapes include round, oval, square, hexagonal, rhombus, fan-shaped, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, etc.
"Look, there are no lamps in this room. They are basically square lamps. Just to accommodate this big thing, the style in this library is relatively simple. They are easy to stack against the wall. There are also some lamps for the elderly.
Old things. In fact, there are many more complicated styles than what is in this room, but they are all in other warehouses."
"Of course, you are right. The shapes of orthodox palace lanterns are mostly octagonal, hexagonal or tetragonal. But judging from the content of the lantern paintings, they are quite different. There are blessing lanterns, longevity lanterns, double happiness lanterns, great luck lanterns, etc.
Changfang Sheng Lamp, Pisces Lamp, Songhe Lamp, Baizi Lamp, Ten Thousand Evergreen Lamp, Wanshou Boundless Lamp, Orb Lamp, Peace Lamp, Universal Celebration Lamp, Golden Jade Full Hall Lamp, Eight Treasures Auspicious Lamp, and "Auspicious Ruyi", "Dragon and Phoenix Present"
Lamps with themes such as "Auspicious", good luck, good luck, longevity and so on..."
Okay, just this big set, it comes out loud and clear.
Qiao Wanlin and Ning Weimin were almost dumbfounded by this. They were no less shocked than Secretary Hu, who had just taken over Greater China from Ning Weimin.
For this reason, Hu Kuanfu glanced with satisfaction at his old partner who had given him a good reputation, and then coughed.
"This is so inconvenient. Lao Xu, I think we should take these two to look at the products of our factory and talk while we look at them. Well, should we go to the office to look at the photos? Or should we go to the warehouse next door to room one first?
Turn around?”
It should be said that Hu Kuanfu quickly regained his composure as secretary, and this idea was quite right.
But no one expected that just when everyone was about to move, Ning Weimin urgently stopped and raised objections.
"Don't worry, I haven't seen the things in this room yet. The old things are so good, I just like old things..."
As he spoke, he walked to the corner of the room and picked up a copper four-corner palace lantern from the shelf. There was another one on the same style shelf.
But no matter which one, there was a thick layer of dust, the lacquer painting on the lantern was old and out of shape, and the canopy and base of the palace lantern were gone.
But what is rare is that the copper work on the main body of the palace lantern is exquisite, and it looks like an old thing from a long time ago.
Ning Weimin asked while blowing the ashes, "Is this lamp good? Why do you just leave it here to eat dirt?"
"Hey, even though you are an outsider, you have really good eyesight. These lamps are the two oldest ones here. It turns out there are four of them. They were made by Mi Wanzhong, a famous lamp maker in the capital during the Yongzheng period, for a prince's palace.
There's no such thing as copper work. It's hard for today's people to catch up. It's always been like our four-cornered palace lanterns. It's a pity that it didn't become a 'movement' later. Two of the four lanterns were smashed and all were taken away.
Sold for scrap. An old worker of ours managed to recover these two items from the scrap yard. Unfortunately, the lid and bottom are gone. Repair it, it will be a waste of money, but it would be a pity not to repair it. Hey, anyway
It's almost like trash, no, just throw it here..."
Xu Pingzhi said slightly frustrated, but he didn't expect Ning Weimin to ask him again.
"Then if you keep this lamp and it's useless, let's discuss it and sell it to me after repairing it, okay?"
"Selling you? I'm really not bragging to scare you. It's just these two lamps, they're expensive!"
Xu Pingzhi felt happy and seemed to think that Ning Weimin was whimsical.
"Palace lanterns are generally made of carved bamboo, carved wood as the skeleton, or carved lacquer as the frame, and then inlaid with silk yarn, glass or horn pieces. On top are painted landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, insects and fish, ancient cultural relics, drama stories, etc.
.Some add a canopy above the lampshade, and hang various styles of pendants and pendants under the lamp. What makes this lamp unique is not only that it has a beautifully carved copper body, but also that auspicious treasures are hung around the lampshade.
, tassels and necklaces are not ordinary things. You can't just use a tassel to fool them. The top of the canopy is also inlaid with exquisitely carved jade or white jade. So these two lamps are really repaired, but it takes a lot of effort. I'm afraid the price is not
It’s several thousand dollars. What do you want this for? Let’s not joke..."
Who knew that Ning Weimin was still excited about it? "A few thousand? Tell me..."
Xu Pingzhi got a little angry when he saw how aggressive the young man was, so he simply yelled a big number.
"Five thousand!"
Unexpectedly, the people of Ningwei knelt and refused to fight. Instead of retreating despite the difficulties, they defeated an entire army.
"No problem! But does it count for you alone? And where is Secretary Hu? Do you both agree to the price?"
Where is the consultation here?
Secretary Hu shook his head just to make Xu Pingzhi lose face. This was clearly a disguised attempt to force him into the palace.
But Secretary Hu is still young after all. He has been a top leader for many years and will not give in so easily.
He laughed, not saying he agreed or disagreeing, but he went around in circles and treated others the same way.
"Young man, you are so heroic. You want to ask my opinion? How about I recommend two better palace lanterns to you? If you can afford to buy these two lanterns, then I really have to
On behalf of our factory, thank you for helping us save significant property damage."
With that said, he walked to the shelves and rummaged through them, and finally, with the help of Section Chief Zhang of the Business Department, he dug out two more old lamps from the pile of junk at the back.
Not to mention, these two lamps are indeed more gorgeous because they are made of enamel filigree.
The colors are bright, the light is delicate and soft, and the shapes of the objects are generally complete.
The most special thing is the shape, which is like a pavilion.
And it is not a chandelier, it has a base and can be placed on the countertop or lamppost.
But the most serious damage is that these two lanterns no longer have colored paintings.
Moreover, the enamel filigree lamp body is full of pits.
Things that were obviously embedded in the past were roughly picked out.
Xu Pingzhi smiled again when he saw these two lamps. He obviously admired Secretary Hu's methods and told Ning Weimin with confidence.
"Did you see, we still have some good stuff in our factory. This is a copper filigree painted enamel glass pavilion style palace lantern. It was the treasure of our factory in the past. It was the craftsmanship of Xu Baizhai during the Qianlong period. He was a bannerman noble and also a lantern maker for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Master. This is definitely something for the imperial palace. No one else could make such a noble thing. It's a pity that the lamp painting is completely ruined. The original painting was "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is particularly wonderful. Take a look again
On this top, all kinds of gems originally inlaid, such as cat's eye, tourmaline, emerald, sapphire, ruby, citrine... have all been dug up. They were destroyed in a special era. We want to repair it, then
You have to go to the jewelry factory to buy various gemstones. Do you still want this? I’m not unfair to you. If you want to buy it, I will have to sell it to you for at least 50,000 yuan. There is only one pair like this in the world..."
As soon as he said this, he saw Qiao Wanlin next to him and covered his face with his palms.
Hu Kuanfu and Xu Pingzhi both thought they had frightened him, and they immediately felt proud.
But where is it? Qiao Wanlin has recently felt the pulse of Ning Weimin. As soon as he heard about the "treasure of the factory" and "the only pair", he knew that Ning Weimin was probably going to "make something wrong".
As expected, following him, Ning Weimin also clapped his hands with joy and excitement in his mouth.
"That's it! I want it!"
Ah? Fifty thousand! This...is it necessary? So easy?
Hu Kuanfu hurriedly asked, "Young man, are you listening correctly? We are talking about fifty thousand yuan, not five thousand..."
Unexpectedly, Ning Weimin laughed loudly, "Understood, four lamps, the total is fifty-five thousand, right? You two are sincere, so I'm happy, and we won't bargain. Should I pay in cash or by check? Hey, but we
I'd like to tell you first, please take care of me and fix it for me!"
"Ah! You really want it!" Xu Pingzhi couldn't remain indifferent.
"Then there is still a holiday? Why, Director Xu can't bear to part with it?"
"That's not true..." Xu Pingzhi murmured, "I just don't believe that someone really wants such an expensive thing. These are just a few lamps, and they are broken. Back then, when we offered less than half of the price, we just listened.
The Oriole Pavilion was scared away, and even the Forbidden City was not willing to take it over. You...won't regret it?"
The final winner was destined to be Ning Weimin, and he laughed heartily.
"Don't worry, I won't regret it. By the way, I also want to ask, is the big guy in our house also a lamp? If so, how much do you want to sell it for?"
Pingzhi and Hu Kuanfu were not allowed to say anything else. Qiao Wanlin really couldn't bear it, and he shook his head helplessly.
"Wei Min, Wei Min, I'm begging you. Can you please stop doing this? You are really using your company's money as money! Let's talk about business first and put those hundred palace lanterns in place first, okay?"