At present, the brush is as big as a broom and as small as a needle, and there are many varieties, including more than 1,000 varieties in eight categories such as wolf, sheep, and purple. Speaking of brushes, we have to mention Wengang Town, Jinxian County, which is known as the "hometown of Chinese brushes". As early as the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Wengang Town had a pen market, and in the Qing Dynasty, Wengang brush production entered its heyday, with exquisite production technology, "sharp, Qi, round, jian" at the same time, quite prestigious; Wengang people not only made pens, but also went to the whole country to open pen houses. Among the four famous brushes of the Qing Dynasty, Wengang accounted for two, namely Zhou Huchen and Zou Ziguangge.
One of the four famous pens in China
Zou Ziguang Pavilion PenZhuang was founded in the Daoguang period and was opened in Hankou by the brothers Zou Farong and Zou Fajing of Linchuan County (present-day Jinxian County). According to the "General History of Wuhan", in 1850, Zou Farong opened a brush shop in Huabu Street in Hankou, and specially invited calligrapher and Hanlin Li Ruiqing to write a plaque of "Zou Ziguang Pavilion", and these four characters have since become the century-old signboard of Zou Ziguang Pavilion.
In 1879, his grandson Zou Wenlin opened a pen-making workshop in Hanzheng Street, hired a highly skilled master to make it, formed a unique set of pen-making processes, and gradually became the premier brush shop in several neighboring provinces. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Zou Ziguangge and Beijing Li Fushou, Shanghai Zhou Huchen, Huzhou Wang Yipin three pen villages, and called China's "four pens".
Around 1874, the Zou brothers who created the foundation died one after another, and the business of The Pen Estate was continued by Zou Jialian, son of Zou Farong, and Zou Jiaqian, son of Zou Faring. In 1921, Zou Jialian was nearly 70 years old, physically weak, and it was difficult to perform heavy shop work, which was convenient for returning to his hometown that year. His six sons all held different management positions in the factory and the store, and zou Jiaqian was in charge of the store.
In 1926, Zou Ziguangge PenZhuang was divided into three branches: Yiji, Chengji and Jiuji. The new store assigned by Zou Jiaqian was named Zou ZiguangGe "Yiji", while the old store divided by Zou Jialian's six sons was split into two, namely "Jiuji" and "Chengji".
The craftsmanship is unique and the material selection is exquisite
Zou Ziguangge brush enjoys a reputation because it has unique features in material selection and craftsmanship. In terms of craftsmanship, Zou Ziguangge has created a set of traditional processes, with 83 processes and many unique operating techniques.
In terms of material selection, the materials are exquisite. The raw materials it selects are wool in the Suzhou and Hangzhou areas, winter wolf tails in the northeast and northwest, and incense fox tails, stone badger tips, sea rat tips in The Tongshan, Enshi and Xianning areas of Hubei Province, yellow and white castrated chicken feathers in Jiangxi, rabbit hairs in Wuyuan, Jiangxi, and so on. The purchased raw materials should be stored for more than one year, until they are naturally degreased.
The pen holder uses huangzhu bamboo from Hunan, white bamboo from Huangshan, and natural wind-eye bamboo from Fujian and other places in Liangguang. The high-end pen also uses a bull horn bucket. Zou Ziguangge's pen has several categories: sheep, jianhao, wolf, and chicken. Its pen can be written, italic, fluent in writing, and handy.
"Zou Ziguangge" brush gradually formed with Wuhan as the sales center, Qiantang as the production base, the use of the Yangtze River water transport route, play the role of Wuhan, Nanjing, Chongqing in the Republic of China period, the political center of the role and then radiate the pattern of the whole country, and opened up the southwest region of the mainland to Southeast Asia brush sales channels, for China and Southeast Asia cultural exchanges have made positive contributions!
Until now, wengang brush employees still reach more than 13,000 people, wengang pen in the national market share is also more than 75%, which is a great achievement!