It takes a whole week to make this set, so it is expensive, but such things can only be collected, because contact between copper and liquid is not good for human health, and it is not suitable for use, so it can only be collected."
While listening to Boshanka's introduction, Han Peacock picked up each item and looked at it carefully, especially the exquisite scissors, which were really exquisite. Although they were small, they looked extremely sharp.
Of course, in addition to exquisite scissors, several other pieces are also very good. These improved crab pieces are shaped like bamboo sections and made of tableware-grade stainless steel.
Most of the items sold here are stainless steel, and there are very few copper collectibles. After looking for a while, Han Peacock only saw a set of eight silver crabs.
The silver material is too soft and will become useless if you are not careful. Therefore, in order to save materials, most master craftsmen will hang a piece of plastic cloth in front of the grinder to collect the droplets, remelt it into material, beat it, and make a set of flowers.
for a month.
This eight-piece set of crabs is currently the most expensive one from Changji, costing 8,800 yuan. It is considered a luxury item.
"Huh? This is not from Chang Kee?" Han Kongque held a small plate, and the mark on it was actually "Kang". It was obviously not produced by Chang Kee.
"This one is also very famous. The one just now was made by the descendants of Su Jian, and this one was made by the descendants of Hang Jian." ∑♀Boshanka laughed when he saw it. There are many such old craftsmen on the island now, and
These are all the achievements of Korean stars.
There is no cultural heritage in their area, but there is a lot of heritage in the country, and many of them are still not taken seriously. This makes Korean stars like it. With the help of Bai Xiaoyi and the others, Korean stars are even more at home and get a lot.
nice one.
Among these good things, there are descendants of Su Jian and Hang Jian, and Su Jian and Hang Jian are equally famous traditional crafts.
The introduction of Hangzhou scissors was made by the Kang brothers in Suzhou City. They are also famous for their eight pieces of crabs. Compared with the eight pieces of crabs from Changji, in addition to the very different appearance, the Kang family has one more "dish" and one less "
tweezers".
Of course, some people disagree. They think that copper itself is no longer suitable for use as tableware. If it is made into a "dish" and vinegar is added, it will be very harmful to people's health.
Among the eight crab tools, "tweezers" are the most useful tool. They can be used to insert the crab legs to poke out the meat, or to pick out the small meat deep inside the crab body. It can be used as you like.
It may also be for this reason that the Kang brothers' crab business is not as good as Changji's.
"Changji" is a time-honored knife and scissors brand in Suzhou. During the Qianlong period, "Su Jian" was created, which is as famous as "Hangjian".
"Scissors are used less and less now. A few decades ago, almost every household had a pair of scissors. At that time, when a daughter got married, scissors would definitely be given as a dowry. Now these are no longer fashionable," Boshanka said.
Wearing various colored scissors. A little emotional.
Han Peacock disagreed a little: "Scissors have always been used frequently. Maybe young people in big cities don't use them anymore. But they are still used in rural areas and some elderly people."
"That's right." Boshanka said.
"Chang Kee's scissors sell better." This is an exhibition held by Chang Kee, so almost all the things here are made by Chang Kee.
"After much thought and innovation, the swallow tail was cut into a piece of brocade. The embroidered pavilion and the red building are my constant companions, and the gold needle and jade ruler are my neighbors. This is the sharpness, durability and high quality of Changji's copper scissors." Bo Xiangka said.
Han Kongque shook his head and said: "High-end things are never available to ordinary civilians."
Han Kongque often used scissors at home when he was a child, but folk scissors were never made of copper. One reason is that copper is a precious metal. The other reason is that copper is soft and is not suitable for making scissors. Changji's scissors are all high-end.
Goods, the use of copper is essential.
Of course, once copper is used, it is indeed better than iron.
Copper is not easy to rust, and the scissors are durable and can even be used as family heirlooms. They also have the meaning of warding off evil spirits. Since ancient times, they have become a dowry in the Jiangnan area.
However, copper is too soft to be used as a blade. Instead, it is made of steel (iron in the early days). The two metals have different melting points. How to weld them together has become the biggest commercial secret of "Changji".
The scissors have a curvature at the edge and are not easy to split when cutting hard objects, which requires all hand-making.
Therefore, Changji's copper scissors were never used by ordinary people, but were kept by the rich.
In the early years, I had seven pairs of Changji copper scissors, which could be exchanged for a big house with a yard.
"Come on, let's go over there. You will definitely be more surprised when we see that." Looking at Han Peacock who was admiring his words, Bo Shankara took him to the other side.
"Chopsticks?" Looking at the exhibits here, Han Peacock was really surprised.
They used chopsticks a lot, but he had never thought that there were so many types.
Qing Dynasty ivory and gem flower chopsticks, Qing Dynasty knife chopsticks, one piece after another, pairs of chopsticks, dazzled the Korean peacock.
Chopsticks are tableware that everyone uses every day, and they are also one of the representatives of Chinese culture. However, if you want to ask: When did Chinese people start using chopsticks? Where did the name chopsticks come from? I guess not many people can answer it.
Right here, there is an old man who spent more than 30 years collecting more than 2,000 pairs of chopsticks of various types and published 8 books on chopstick research. He is known as the "first person to hide chopsticks" in China.
In order to promote Chinese chopstick culture to more people, he has insisted on opening his "Chopstick Museum" free of charge for 13 years.
Therefore, Han Xing and others sent out an invitation, and this old man took the trouble to come here, and collaborated with several other companies to quickly hold this exhibition.
Although chopsticks are simple, they are such a frequently used item and they attract as many people as the exquisite crab pieces.
This old man's collection of chopsticks is related to "Nixon Chopsticks". His "Chopsticks Museum" is located on a cultural street in Shanghai. It is actually a very inconspicuous store with only about 10 square meters.
If you hadn't checked the house number carefully, it would be hard to imagine that it was the first place in China dedicated to displaying chopstick culture.
Although the 84-year-old man is still in good health, he talked about why he collects chopsticks. This has something to do with US President Richard Nixon's visit to China.
"Nixon had just put down his chopsticks at the state banquet in the Great Hall of the People. A Canadian reporter rushed up to him, grabbed the chopsticks, and inserted them into his suit pocket. Later, when this reporter arrived in the United States, more than a dozen collectors wanted to buy them.
Pair of chopsticks.”
In 1978, the old man saw this report in the newspaper and was deeply inspired. He discovered that chopsticks are not only a tool for eating, but also have profound cultural value and international significance, worthy of in-depth study. However, no one has done this.
After some research, he decided to do it himself.
This year, the old man was 48 years old. After that, he spent almost all his energy in collecting chopsticks for the rest of his life.
Today, he has collected more than two thousand pairs of chopsticks dating from the Tang Dynasty and from Korea, Japan and Thailand. They are made of various materials, from gold, silver, and copper to ivory, jade, bamboo, coral, animal bones, bronze, etc.
In addition, he also collected hundreds of types of chopstick cages, chopstick boxes, and chopstick pillows.
These chopsticks placed together seem to be silently telling the history of chopsticks' changes.
For example, there is a long, slender tube made of cloisonne. The tube is engraved with Manchu and Mongolian characters. The upper end is a cover and the lower end is decorated with a jade pendant.
Open the lid, and there is a pair of silver chopsticks and a dagger inside. The two chopsticks are connected by a thin silver chain. When you remove the silver chain, there is a mystery.
It turns out that the chopsticks are hollow and have a toothpick attached to each end of the silver chain, which is hidden in the chopsticks to facilitate picking teeth after meals.
"This type of chopsticks is from the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus and Mongols originally did not use chopsticks when eating, but used knives because they were nomadic people. Later they entered the city of Beijing. The use of knives by the royal nobles to eat would damage their image. In this case
Then I came up with a way to combine the knife and chopsticks. The knife is only kept as a souvenir from the ancestors, and the chopsticks are used when eating."
Another set of chopsticks used by Mongolian nobles is more complicated.
This is a cylinder about 30 centimeters long and 5 centimeters in diameter, wrapped in shark skin. Inside are two pairs of chopsticks made of elephant bone, two forks, a spoon and a colander, a knife and a pair of tweezers.
There are also two small silver plates and two small wine glasses, and the cylinder can be tied to the horse's back with a leather strap.
The Mongolian prairie is vast and sparsely populated, and sometimes you can’t meet anyone for hundreds of miles. With this set of tableware, you don’t have to worry about eating along the way.
The old man is one of the few collectors who is very knowledgeable about his collection. He not only wrote and published the first monograph on chopstick culture in my country's history, "Chopsticks in Ancient and Modern Times", but also "Three Thousand Years of Chopsticks" and "The Story of Chopsticks" , "A Grand View of Chopsticks in Ancient and Modern China and Foreign Countries" and eight other works, some of which have also been published in English, Japanese and French.
There is no doubt that chopsticks were invented in China, but when were they invented?
According to the research of the elderly, chopsticks with written records in China appeared in the Shang Dynasty.
"In "Historical Records", there is a saying, "The beginning of Zhou was like chopsticks, but the chopsticks were terrible." King Zhou was the monarch in the late Shang Dynasty. After he killed the elephant, he sawed off the ivory to make chopsticks, which showed his luxurious spirit as a king. This
It is the first pair of ivory chopsticks that we have written records about, but it is not the first pair of chopsticks in China. The prototype of chopsticks appeared as early as four to five thousand years ago."
“In the Kangxi Dictionary, there is only ‘箸’ but not ‘chopsticks’. This is because this spontaneous change among the people at that time had not yet been officially recognized, so it was not included in the dictionary.
At the same time, there are both "chopsticks" and "箸" in "A Dream of Red Mansions", which can prove that the name of chopsticks in China was changing at that time."
Since around 2000, the old man's "Chopsticks Museum" on Wenhua Road has been open to the public free of charge, and it has been open to this day.
For more than 13 years, no fees have been collected, which cost the old man a lot of energy and financial resources.
But he believes that the reason for persisting is that he cannot give up promoting chopstick culture. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!