"Sharpen scissors and kitchen knives..." A loud and crisp shout penetrated time and space, evoking the memories of many people's childhood.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the business of sharpening scissors with knives was booming. Knife sharpeners always carry a long bench on their shoulders, and they walk the streets while shouting, supporting a business that can support their families.
The business of sharpening scissors is booming, and behind it reflects the love and cherishing of handmade scissors by that generation. "When I was a child, my parents were busy at work, and it was always my grandmother who took me. What impressed me most was the black scissors in my grandmother's sewing basket, and she told me stories while sewing and mending them every day. Post-90s Chang Xiaochen recalled.
A hand-cut, passed on to three generations. This is a true portrayal of countless families who own Zhang Xiaoquan's hand-cut families.
The old times are like white colts passing through the gap, and childhood memories are becoming more and more blurred, but Zhang Xiaoquan, the brand that makes scissors, has become a fragment of a generation's memory and has been deeply burned into the heart.
"I saw Zhang Xiaoquan's official flagship store in Pinduoduo and bought a set of knives that were co-branded with Transformers. Or the old brand is trustworthy, but also a feeling of buying. Xiao Chen added again.
Pinduoduo is one of the earliest e-commerce companies to support the rise of domestic products. As early as 2019, Zhang Xiaoquan's official flagship store settled in Pinduoduo. With the support of the platform "tens of billions of subsidies", more and more consumers have re-recognized domestic products and pursued domestic products.
Domestic products are also making a strong comeback, and the old brands have been revitalized.
On Zhang Xiaoquan's factory production line, robots with solid arms pull steel blades, which is not busy. Mechanized and intelligent production has enabled Zhang Xiaoquan to increase production capacity on the basis of high technology.
In another production workshop, Chen Weiming, the master responsible for forging scissors by hand, is also quickly hitting a piece of steel blank that has been heated by 1250 degrees Celsius with his apprentice. This is the unique "steel inlay" technology of Zhang Xiaoquan scissors - the steel bar is embedded in the iron groove, so that it has the characteristics of clear steel and sharp edge. The so-called "good steel is used on the blade" refers to the traditional technology of Zhang Xiaoquan.
The quenching of steel and fire has also refined Zhang Xiaoquan, who has traveled through hundreds of years of history, washed away lead and endured for a long time, and has become a good helper in the homes of tens of millions of consumers.
Old craftsman
"Zhang Xiaoquan is my home." Chen Weiming said emotionally.
At the age of 22, Chen Weiming inherited his father's business, and Chen Weiming left all his youth in Zhang Xiaoquan. For almost 40 years, I have been banging and beating day after day, just to make the most ordinary scissors. This is a "Zhang Xiaoquan-style" romance, and it is also a deep confession of a generation of craftsmen like Chen Weiming to The Intangible Cultural Heritage of China.
Looking back on the past, Chen Weiming felt that he was a very lucky person. As a master of enlightenment, his father aroused his passion for making scissors. After entering the industry, he also studied under Shi Jinshui, the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage and Zhang Xiaoquan's scissor forging skills.
"Master was very strict with me, and during my apprenticeship, he was very strict with every task I did." Shi Jinshui had a total of three apprentices, Chen Weiming ranked second, but in Shi Jinshui's heart, Chen Weiming's talent was the highest. Privately, Shi Jinshui once commented on Chen Weiming: (Craftsmanship) is closest to Grandmaster Zhang Xiaoquan.
Receiving such a high degree of praise from Master, only Chen Weiming knew in his heart how much he had invested in this cause.
"Making an ancient scissors, from steel testing to packaging and storage, has to go through a total of 72 processes. Among them, the three processes of inlaying steel, tapping sewing and quenching are the most important. The stove forging determines the intrinsic quality of the scissors, and the steel is clear. Quenching ensures that the scissor edge steel meets the requirements of hardness and toughness. Chen Weiming introduced.
Insiders judge whether a pair of scissors is good or not, mainly depending on "steel fire", and steel fire also contains three meanings: one refers to the steel used in the scissor blade; Second, the heat treatment process is passed, and the fire is handled well; The third refers to the use of smooth hands, if the use is not smooth, then the best steel, quenching and then pass, may not be able to get the favor of the praise.
Chen Weiming has long produced muscle memory for forging scissors. Today, Chen Weiming also takes two apprentices to continue to pass on this intangible cultural heritage that was born in Zhang Xiaoquan. Chen Weiming said frankly, "How master taught me, I will teach my disciples." Everyone makes a pair of scissors is very hard, after going through more than 70 processes, in the end, whether you can achieve opening and closing and smooth, the last link 'copying oil' is very critical. ”
There is a saying in the industry that the "copy oil" link is called: boils old children return to the end. This means that the defects of all the previous processes, here comes a big aggregation, the problems in forging, the grinding mouth line is not straight, the concave and convex mouth, the inner mouth tail is not worn through, the collapsed head, the joint, the round mouth, the side mouth and other problems will be concentrated here, which requires the "oil" master to have superb skills, solve them one by one, and finally make the scissors open and close smoothly.
The complicated work continues day after day, and Chen Weiming uses down-to-earth practice to interpret the old craftsman's love for Zhang Xiaoquan and his adherence to the intangible cultural heritage.
To this day, Chen Weiming has retired from Zhang Xiaoquan for 3 years, but he is still inseparable from Zhang Xiaoquan's factory. "I have to get up at 5 o'clock every morning, take Line 2, Line 5, Line 4 from Xiaoshan in Hangzhou, pour three subways, take the company's shuttle bus, and get to the factory at 8 o'clock."
The reason why Chen Weiming is so desperate is, on the one hand, to cultivate better inheritors; on the other hand, to cash in on the handmade cuts scheduled for collectors. "When I work with two of my apprentices, I can only make one beautifully crafted pair of scissors a day."
Nowadays, the traditional hand-cut has been discontinued for several years, but in order to better promote Zhang Xiaoquan to consumers and publicize the intangible cultural heritage, Chen Weiming of The Flower Armor still insists on quenching and polishing in the factory.
Speaking of Zhang Xiaoquan, Chen Weiming was very grateful. "Our family of six, the most difficult time, I became the pillar of the family, Zhang Xiaoquan learned of my family's difficulties, in addition to paying me a salary every month, but also pay an additional 50 yuan of living allowance, in that era, 50 yuan can do a lot of things."
It is precisely because of the company's support and help to Master Chen Weiming that Chen Weiming has no complaints or regrets about this 40-year work, and his heartfelt love has become the most ordinary footnote in non-genetic inheritance.
New Zhang Koizumi
The wheel of history is rolling forward, and Zhang Xiaoquan is also experiencing changes from generation to generation. From manual forging to fully automated and intelligent production, Zhang Xiaoquan constantly completes the alternation of old and new. On Zhang Xiaoquan's path of innovation, traditional craftsmen like Chen Weiming have become Zhang Xiaoquan's product dictionary.
As early as 1957, after the establishment of Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Scissors Factory, there was a mechanical spring hammer and formwork stamping gradually replaced manual forging, and Zhang Xiaoquan scissors entered the era of semi-mechanized and mechanized production.
At that time, Shi Jinshui, as the first batch of workers of Zhang Xiaoquan Scissors Factory, was mainly responsible for the quality inspection and technical guidance of scissors. In the face of the decline of manual cutting, Shi Jinshui did not fall lonely, but lamented that the progress of technology had freed the hands of workers.
But that doesn't mean that old craftsmen don't have a place to use new technologies. Through its own technical cultivation and accumulation, Shi Jinshui timely and accurately identifies where the products that have been eliminated from the assembly line have problems and whether they need to be reworked or scrapped. At the same time, he has continuously improved and improved the template to make it as close as possible to the handmade style in terms of efficacy.
No matter how the times develop, Zhang Xiaoquan must protect his core technology. This is not only the mission of Master Shi Jinshui, but also the responsibility of Chen Weiming.
In fact, Chen Weiming constantly updates the technology on the hand cut, which provides great help for the manufacturing process of the industrial production line. According to Chen Weiming, Zhang Xiaoquan's scissors have their own unique personality, the blade is like a sharp bamboo shoot, the handle is like a round old wine altar, Chen Weiming through constantly updating the technology, shortening the process, so that zhang Xiaoquan scissors manufacturing to achieve cost reduction and efficiency.
The era of forging a knife a day seems to be still in sight, but the fully digital production of robots has become a reality.
Xia Qianliang, director and general manager of Zhang Xiaoquan Co., Ltd., introduced: "In the past few years, we are also thinking about how to solidify the ancestral good process, for which we have made a lot of investment, and have now realized a full line of automated production, Zhang Xiaoquan now a large proportion of products, has been completed through the full digitization of robots, which is also the process of the old brand to the new generation." ”
True tide
Moving from the old brand to the new generation is the mission that Zhang Xiaoquan wants to complete at the moment. As a brand used by everyone, zhang xiaoquan's three words have long become a symbol of national significance.
How to create new opportunities in the new era? Guochao has become Zhang Xiaoquan's most powerful booster. Zhang Xiaoquan brand department also believes that "now consumers pay for the national tide, focusing on the cultural symbols and aesthetic values behind the product, in the final analysis, it is actually the spiritual value, whether it is consumers or brands have reached the consensus that Chinese culture is proud, so when the brand and consumers carry the same frequency of cultural identity and national self-confidence, the brand's action can be released to the greatest extent." ”
Based on this, Zhang Xiaoquan plays with new marketing as a long-established brand. Upgrade Zhang Xiaoquan's IP image, apply and extend the brand IP image in multiple scenarios, prepare for the brand day offline experience activities that integrate Zhang Xiaoquan elements including script killing and market; jointly develop various products with Hangzhou Liangzhu Culture; and launch set knife products with Transformers... Experiment with the formats that young people are passionate about and innovate.
In the past two years, with the help of the live e-commerce platform, Zhang Xiaoquan's opportunities for communication with young people have been greatly enhanced, and the cost has been greatly reduced.
According to Jiang Yong, head of Zhang Xiaoquan's e-commerce department, in 2019, Zhang Xiaoquan, as the first batch of flagship stores to enter Pinduoduo, the platform gave them great support. Since entering Pinduoduo, Zhang Xiaoquan's sales curve has shown a rocket-like jump, and the entire brand has sold more than 10 million yuan in a single month. "Channel is king, and Pinduoduo has become an important breakthrough for us to open up a larger market." What surprises us is that in addition to the official tens of billions of subsidies and support, Pinduoduo has an exclusive small two docking with us on various big promotion nodes, which is also a surprise that as a national tide brand, we are treated with emphasis. ”
A few days ago, Pinduoduo launched the "Duoduo New National Tide" Zhang Xiaoquan live broadcast special session, at 3:30 pm on the same day, Xia Qianliang, director and general manager of Zhang Xiaoquan Co., Ltd., walked into the live broadcast with goods, setting off a crazy order from netizens.
As of 8:00 p.m. that night, driven by Xia Qianliang, more than 1.46 million netizens poured into the live broadcast room, cultural and creative co-brand products such as "Transformers" and "Liangzhu Culture", as well as innovative products such as Zhang Xiaoquan Air Fryer were well received by netizens, and the live broadcast room also rushed to the first place in the hot list of knife and scissors in a short period of time, and drove the sales of Zhang Xiaoquan Pinduoduo's flagship store to increase by 53.68% month-on-month.
Nowadays, driven by the "Duoduo New National Tide", more and more long-established and domestic brands like Zhang Xiaoquan have gathered on the Pinduoduo platform, and the century-old artisan spirit has been revitalized, and the long-established gold signboard has been polished more brightly.
(Source|.) AI Blue Media Collection Author| Yang Lei)