Chapter 1,682: Eight sedans, ten miles of red makeup
In ancient times when there were no cars, the common means of transportation for princes and nobles to travel were horses and sedan chairs.
As early as more than 4,000 years ago, sedan chairs appeared in ancient China.
Among the records in "Shangshu" that "I ride on it for four years, and follow the mountain to publish the wood", the sedan chair is the most important one among the "four years".
In ancient weddings, sedan chairs were also indispensable.
The bride in Fengguanxiapei will be taken to the wedding hall in a sedan chair, followed by a ten-mile long stretch of red makeup.
In the popular cultural and museum exploration program "National Treasure", a particularly exquisite and complicated cultural relic, the "Boning Wan Gong Sedan", was displayed, which can be called "the best sedan in the world".
It is completely different from the traditional sedan chair. It looks magnificent and magnificent, like a small palace.
Its appearance can satisfy the vision of "eight-carrying sedan chairs and ten-miles of red makeup" in the hearts of all women.
This Wan Gong sedan was collected from Boning in 1954.
It is a unique sedan style from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. It is similar in size and shape to the sedan in front of Chen Wenzhe.
Anyway, the appearance of such a sedan is extremely gorgeous and eye-catching.
This small sedan chair has 7 floors of pavilions and 5 main courts, which means "the five mountains facing the sky".
It is said that it takes 10,000 man-hours to make one, so it is called the "Ten Thousand Works Sedan".
It is composed of a sedan roof, sedan clothing, sedan body and various relief decorations.
There are as many as 400 various carved figures on the sedan, depicting dramatic scenes such as "The Story of Huansha", "The Romance of the West Chamber", "Water Margin", "The Story of Jingchai" and so on.
Moreover, it has been carefully installed with movable hidden buckles. As long as the sedan moves, these characters will also sway.
In addition, there were 24 phoenixes, 38 dragons, 54 cranes, 74 magpies and 92 lions on the sedan.
Coupled with exquisite palace lanterns, colorful gold-embroidered sedan clothes, crystal ball tassels, and a sedan body made of withered red gold and wood...
The entire sedan chair is luxurious, exquisite and beautiful.
The most interesting thing is that this kind of sedan does not have a door or a nail. It uses a mortise and tenon structure, and all the flower panels can be disassembled.
When picking up and seeing off relatives, special sedan dismantling masters will be assigned.
When the bride enters or exits the sedan chair, she needs to remove the flower panel.
Although this is more troublesome and complicated, it ensures the stability of the sedan structure and the integrity of the art.
The whole sedan is not only "beautiful" but also "expensive".
The gold foil and gold-lacquered wood carvings on the sedan are all made of real gold.
Needless to say, only the rich can afford to rent this kind of sedan.
It is said that when the son of my country's business father Sheng Xuanhuai married the daughter of Yu Qiaqing, he used this magnificent Wangong sedan, and the wedding procession caused a sensation throughout the beach.
There is an interesting legend about this Wan Gong sedan.
It is said that before Zhao Gou became emperor, he was chased to Boning by the Jin soldiers.
Fortunately, a girl from Huansha came to his rescue and hid him under the white gauze so that he was not found by the Jin soldiers.
Later, when Zhao Gou became emperor, he wanted to repay his savior.
But after searching for a long time, the girl could not be found, so he ordered that all women in Boning could enjoy the treatment of "half-couple driving" when they got married.
The authenticity of this legend cannot be tested, but the appearance of this kind of sedan chair has a lot to do with Boning's craftsmanship and economic prosperity at that time.
From these customs, we can also see the development trend of a city at that time.
Nowadays, Chinese-style weddings have gradually been replaced by Western-style weddings, and the ten-mile red makeup has become a scene that can only be seen in movies and TV series.
Therefore, this sedan chair can only be stored in the museum as an orphan cultural relic, showing visitors the dreams it has witnessed one after another.
However, there are no absolutes in this world. As China's comprehensive national strength continues to improve, various Chinese etiquettes are slowly being restored.
For example, getting married, or graduating from college.
It turns out that when a college student graduates, he wears a black robe, just like a dark wizard.
Now there are universities that wear Hanfu during graduation ceremonies.
This is also national self-confidence, which is even more obvious when getting married.
It's just that Chinese weddings are too luxurious and ordinary people can't afford them.
Not to mention wedding clothes, even a sedan is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
However, there have been big businessmen in Boning since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as the current Dahai City. Even the dialect such as Dahai dialect was passed down from Boning.
Therefore, there is never a shortage of rich people around the sea, and they should also be able to use this kind of Wangong sedan.
So after seeing him, Chen Wenzhe would wonder why those wealthy people from Boning didn't buy this sedan?
Even if such a sedan was sold for several million, the rich would certainly not hesitate to buy it.
Chen Wenzhe looked at the sedan that was slowly taking shape. It was really beautiful.
The most important thing is that the construction of this sedan took a long time.
It should have been built by craftsmen from the Qing Dynasty, and it must have taken more than 10,000 man-hours.
The sedan chair used to transport the bride is so gorgeous and luxurious that it looks like a moving palace from a distance.
Such a palace-like sedan actually uses mortise and tenon joints without a single nail.
Therefore, it is amazing that such a huge amount of manpower and material resources have been spent in the manufacturing process.
In addition, the relief of Wan Gong Jiao is of great ornamental value. There are three techniques: round relief, relief and open relief. Countless flowers, birds and figures are carved out, which is so beautiful.
There are also many opera scenes carved on the sedan chair, which are very interesting.
The sedan is also decorated with gold foil, making it very elegant and luxurious.
Obviously, even in ancient times, not everyone could afford such a sedan.
Therefore, Wan Gong sedans at that time were rented out as wedding sedans.
Even so, only young ladies who were very wealthy at the time could afford to sit there.
And as long as you ride it, you will definitely be the envy of others.
Seeing this sedan, Chen Wenzhe's carpentry and carving skills must have reached the master level, not to mention anything else.
Each top of such an exquisite sedan was carefully carved and made by the top craftsmen at the time.
Because without that ability and without that confidence, it is certainly impossible to spend more than 10,000 man-hours making such a sedan.
Because it can’t be done well, no one will spend a lot of money to rent it.
Such a sedan chair contains top-notch woodworking and carving techniques.
"I'll give you five million for this sedan. It may not be worth the price, but this thing has a price but no market. Maybe we can still use it when our brothers get married."
Chen Wenzhe was very satisfied that Cao Qingchun was able to snatch this sedan from the rich man in Boning.
Nowadays, you can't buy this thing if you have money, let alone have someone copy it if you have money.
Regardless of whether Cao Qingchun got it by chance or through deliberate efforts, it was all his fault.
Besides, Chen Wenzhe really doesn’t take those millions seriously now.
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Please remember the domain name of this book: .Novel about Strange People of the Republic of China