Xiongxian is a very inconspicuous county in Hebei Province, belongs to the Jizhong Plain, lack of a distinctive natural environment, there is no great value of the cultural landscape, may be because of this reason, Xiongxian people since ancient times like to go out to make a living, in the past there was a business in the north basically let Xiongxian people wrap up, this is upside down antiques. At that time, the traffic was very inconvenient, but the people of Xiongxian county were stunned to rely on two legs, pedal bicycles, collect antiques everywhere, and finally sell them to Beijing.
Topographical map of Xiong County
In the 1970s and 1980s, beijing only bought antiques in a few state-run stores, every morning there was a long queue, the line could not see the head, only to see everyone holding a bicycle, the back shelf of the car tied to a huge porcelain bottle, the store opened the door to loudly tell how many pieces to buy today, the day of good luck to sell, bad luck will have to queue up again, waiting for the next day. At that time, I often passed by a store acquisition department in Wangfujing's eight-sided trough, curious to see the things tied up on everyone's car, and when I met someone I liked, I went forward to talk, and I couldn't buy one or two pieces for ten days and half a month, and then let the owner of the goods ride home with me.
Xiongxian antique stalls
At that time, I found that these people were all from Xiong County, because at that time, the bicycle had a license plate, and like today's cars, the license plate was clearly stated to be from Xiong County. At that time, I really did not know the specific location of Xiongxian County, but later I slowly understood that Xiongxian was an antique distribution center in north China, northwest, northeast and even central China, and many People in Xiongxian county had lived on it for generations. This kind of upside-down antique business is said to have a history of more than 500 years in Xiongxian County, and in 1978, the antique stalls in Xiongxian County were the first to open, twelve years earlier than the famous Panjiayuan, and many national treasures were from here to the world.
The old appearance of Xiong County
I bought a lot of cultural relics from the people of Xiongxian County, and at that time, the acquisition of cultural relics was monopolized by the state, the price was extremely low, and I had to queue up in grievances. I always choose one by one from the end of the team, and when I meet the favorite, I negotiate a good price to deliver to home, I remember that year I bought a pair of 60 cm Qing Dynasty blue and white vases, the good price was 10 yuan, because the national purchase price was uniform, no matter whether good or bad, it was only given 8 yuan. After I said a good price to my compatriots in Xiong County, both sides were very happy. What I marveled most was the hometown rope killing stunt, which tied two large bottles like contemporary art, tied up with flowers, not afraid of riding bumps, and shuttled freely. Remembering today is like another life.
Source: Guanfu Museum