There are two things in the "Biography of Zhen Huan" that are the favorite of the "Big Orange Cat" Emperor: the same is the "Shocking Dance" of Empress Chunyuan, and the same is An Lingrong's "Goose pear tent incense".
Dance is good dance, incense is good incense, but what makes them gods is still a storytelling technique: all the "ancient recipes" that have been lost have been carefully restored.
No one knows whether Sister An's good means are to slander the emperor, but there are really many people who eat this set.
Ancient brown sugar, ancient loquat paste, ancient sour bean carob, ancient moxibustion... In recent years, in the field of consumption, "everything can be ancient", eating and wearing, health and beauty, but with an "ancient" word, this business can be better. Especially for goods such as brown sugar and soy sauce, without adding an "ancient method", they feel that they are not advanced.
When did this ancient wind blow? Ancient things, really better, safer and more advanced?
What is an "ancient law"?
Ancient law is an ambiguous concept.
Generally understood, that is, the techniques and methods that distinguish them from modern industrial technology. But as for how ancient, the Qin, Han, Tang, and Song dynasties are still Ming and Qing, or only to the Republic of China, then half rely on research, half rely on blind fabrication.
The author has seen the three no shampoo products sold by micro-merchants, and it is said that it originated from the "Shennong Ancient Law". Good fellow, the ancient is ancient enough, but the Shennong clan is a mythological figure without accurate written records, and several generations of historians have spent their entire lives unable to verify his exact chronology, and the "ancient law" commodity even knows the magic recipe for how he washes his hair.
There are also some "ancient methods" that are a little more responsible, at least know how to find a source in ancient books, "Qianjin Fang", "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Mengxi Pen Talk", "Tiangong Kaiwu" and so on are the main reference books, but they are only used as gimmicks, anyway, consumers will not be more real enough to look up books for things of one hundred and ten pieces.
The third type of "ancient law" is indeed evidence-based, such as the production of daily necessities such as brown sugar and soy sauce, which has left a detailed production process, such as the ancient brown sugar pay attention to "three sieves, three washes, four filters and eight boils" Eighteen courses; Ancient soy sauce requires the process of koji making, fermentation, sun and night dew, etc., and the familiar advertising slogan "180 days of sunbathing" is one of the links.
In some areas, traditional production techniques such as ancient brown sugar and ancient soy sauce have also been included in the list of local, provincial and national intangible cultural heritage.
This kind of ancient law, at least well documented, is not outrageous.
Modern anxiety, "ancient law" cure
In the eighties of the last century, the spring breeze of reform blew all over the ground, and fashionable men and women in the city popularly wore really good shirts and plastic sandals, only for forty years, the wind direction changed greatly, before people were afraid of foreign countries, and now they are afraid of soil is not in place.
"Ancient law" tie-dye grass and wood color short sleeves, one piece sold for thousands; A bottle of ancient brewed soy sauce, seventy or eighty pieces. This transformation cannot be generalized, and the reasons behind it are also complex.
On the one hand, it is the improvement of self-confidence. People have a deeper understanding of Traditional Chinese culture and skills, and are more confident and identified with traditional and national things.
More importantly, the search for antiquity stems from the boredom of industrial products. Excess additives, emotionless assembly lines, cookie-cutter products... Industry means efficiency and standardization, but it can't meet people's pursuit of individuality and originality.
In today's rapid development of economy, industry, science and technology, and the rapid expansion of urban civilization, people are chased by fine KPIs, fast-running machines, and are also overwhelmed by the rows of high-rise buildings and noisy streets and roads.
In the "ancient" farming world, time is leisurely and slow, and everything is far from the city and industry. Farmers and craftsmen spend months or even years working intensively with sweat and hands to cultivate small seeds into fruitful fruits.
In recent years, many bloggers have vividly displayed traditional crafts such as making ancient brown sugar, ancient soy sauce, and ancient autumn pear paste in front of the audience by shooting short videos, and this kind of slow-paced, pastoral video content has also invisibly "healed" many people.
For example, in a video introducing "Ancient Orange Brewed Kudzu Powder", bloggers went from picking and drying green oranges, to digging, cleaning, beating kudzu, and finally making orange-stuffed kudzu powder, which took a full four months. There are also videos that even start with growing raw materials, spanning more than a year.
To put it bluntly, the "ancient law" can provide consumers with more emotional value. Ancient means the precipitation of time, the delicacy of production, the uniqueness of taste, and the closeness to nature.
Ancient french commodities have also seized the outlet of such a traditional culture and the rise of the national tide, and when people are thriving, they will do what they like. Merchants associate "ancient law" with profound traditional Chinese culture, giving it a perceptual selling point full of historical background and national culture.
Good ancient can, do not "mud ancient"
Not only grasping the rise of traditional culture, but also aiming at the pain points of modern anxiety, it is no wonder that "ancient goods" have become the darling of the consumer market, making many people willing to pay for it. But is it really better and more worthwhile to strip away its gorgeous coat, the ancient thing?
Ancient methods are not the same as handicrafts
Many people will think that ancient goods are handmade and therefore willing to pay for high labor costs, but this is not the case.
Taking brown sugar as an example, many products with ancient labels, carefully read their product details, or watch product promotion, you will find that many "ancient brown sugar" is actually borrowed from the traditional production process, supplemented by artificial help in some links, in fact, it is also produced through industrialization.
There are also some products that basically just use traditional recipes, and there is almost no manual intervention in production.
In 2019, a tea brand launched the "Master Tea" series, convened 8 tea masters from 6 major tea categories to create tea products, and used slogans such as "** Tea, Master Work" and "Non-hereditary Master Master Tea" in publicity.
There are many consumers who have questioned this and roughly calculated according to the sales of their products, "assuming that all year round, on average, a master stir-fried 220 pounds of net tea every day", some people pointed out that "the top tea lady only fried 40 pounds a day", and some people issued a "caring" greeting: "Are your masters tired?" ”
Later, the brand issued a statement saying, "'Master's work' refers to the work that represents the master's skills, not the master's hand to stir-fry tea", the master mainly works with the brand to "jointly formulate tea product standards" and "check the picking and production process", while the work of roasting tea is "gradually handed over to modern tea-making equipment to solve".
It is true that retaining the essence of traditional processes and recipes, and replacing repetitive and heavy manual labor with modern technologies and means, can not only inherit ancient art, but also better ensure quality and standards.
Since most of the labor has been replaced by machines, then "ancient commodities" should not play the banner of "handmade" and gimmicks when publicizing, selling the feelings of intensive cultivation in agricultural society, raising commodity prices, but selling products under the industrial assembly line.
Ancient methods are not necessarily purer
Many people who prefer "ancient goods" will feel that the things produced by industry are "not pure", "not authentic", and "not the taste", but that they are produced through the "ancient law" technology.
And "authentic", "pure", "genuine", "original" and "fragrant" are indeed the high-frequency keywords that appear in the promotion of many ancient products, and even some merchants directly set the product name on the shopping platform to "I think it is still my own boiled loquat paste is correct enough".
In fact, with the improvement of national market supervision, the quality of industrialized products with relevant formal qualifications can basically be guaranteed.
For example, for the popular commodity of the "ancient method" series, lotus flour, the state has implemented the corresponding national standards since June 2011 (standard number: GB/T 25733-2010), and clearly stipulates that "pure lotus powder" is a lotus starch product made only by processing mature lotus root as raw material, and it is "the original starch produced without any chemical treatment and without changing the intrinsic physical and chemical characteristics of starch"; In instant lotus powder and modulated lotus powder, the amount of pure lotus powder must be greater than 50%.
Therefore, instead of focusing on whether it is an ancient method of production, it is better to take a serious look at the ingredient list or ingredient list of the product and choose the right goods according to your own needs.
Mo blind faith, Mo obsessed with ancient, try to reduce emotional purchases, whose "cheats" do not eat!
Source: CCTV