Cigarette Yanghuo Lao Maosheng Candy ‖ Cheng Zhaoqiang ‖ picture and text
When I was young, I loved watching movies, because I was a boy, and I especially liked war-themed movies - coincidentally, most of the movies released at that time were war movies. In 1974, a color movie called "Reconnaissance Across the River" was released in cinemas around the country, which caused a sensation and the venue was full. I watched this movie, and I was impressed by the many wonderful performances and classic lines in the film, especially the "cigarette osmanthus candy" shouting as a code word for the scout.
"Cigarette and osmanthus candy" is the shouting sound of Jiangnan hawkers carrying baskets, and I am very interested in it, not because Jiangnan Little Sister's Wu Nong soft language is good, but because the cigarettes, foreign fire, and osmanthus candy that are sold are my favorite with my companions. One is the "props" in the game, the other is the "ammunition" in the toys, and the other is the candy that you love to eat. At that time, I was seven or eight years old, and I used to play a game of "fan painting" with my companions. The game we play is a little different from what people play before, this "foreign painting" is not a small "picture" in a cigarette box, but a cardboard folded into the outer packaging (cigarette label) of the cigarette box. At that time, cigarette packaging was mostly flexible packaging, and the outer layer was cigarette trademark (brand name), with rivers and mountains, flowers, birds, fish and insects, plant buildings, place names, and era terms, flowers and green, very good-looking; Inside the cigarette box is a layer of liner paper, the liner paper is neatly wrapped with 20 cigarettes, the liner is mostly carbon gray, there is also tin foil, which is for high-end cigarettes. At that time, cigarette boxes were not easy to find, not every man smoked, although some men smoked, but in order to save tobacco money with powder and paper roll tobacco smoke, there are also elderly people still use tobacco bag pot to smoke, if there are partners have a lot of cigarette boxes, will make everyone envious.
The "Fan Painting" game is fun. Stretch the cigarette label flat and fold it into a square "foreign painting", everyone gathers together, each person puts one on the ground, uses "scissors, baggage, hammer" to determine the order of "fan painting", in turn holds the "foreign painting" in hand to fan the "foreign painting" on the ground, whoever fanned the "foreign painting" on the ground will win, and the "foreign painting" will belong to whomever and can fan continuously. There is also a way to play "fan and foreign painting", take a cigarette label, fold it into a "A" shape "foreign painting", fold it slightly to make it into a semi-arc, several partners get together, each take one and put it on the ground or table, and then everyone blows in turn, whoever blows the "foreign painting" over, the "foreign painting" belongs to whom. This kind of game, probably because when blowing "foreign paintings", it makes "poof" and "puff" sounds, and Jinan people call it "puff er" (pronounced peier). Cigarettes were first imported products, sold to China by British American Tobacco in the 1910s, so they were called "foreign tobacco", in order to distinguish them from tobacco products such as dry tobacco, hookah, snus, etc., also known as "paper cigarettes". After "foreign smoke" entered China, it first had the "Old Dao", "Kingfisher" and "Three Fortress" brands, and then the "Red Tin Bag" and "Hademen" brands. Later, British American Tobacco began to build cigarette factories in China, and there were brands such as "Beautiful", "Camel" and "Sanjiu". Initially, "foreign cigarettes" came in two kinds of packaging, paper boxes and iron boxes (listening, cans), and the price of cigarettes was very expensive, and when you heard fifty cigarettes selling three oceans, you could buy a bag of "foreign noodles", and the rich and officials could afford it. Later, the price was cheaper, one dollar could buy three cans, and people who smoked were still rich. In order to develop the Chinese market, British American Tobacco has invested heavily in advertising, and many large cities and commercial ports have cigarette advertisements. I saw an old photo of Baotu Spring, in which a huge "New York Brand" cigarette advertisement was painted on a wall on the north side of Guanlan Pavilion, indicating that the shooting time was 1919.
Although the game of "Fan and Western Painting" played by my companion was called "Western Painting", at this time, "Western painting" was no longer from the West, and it was completely domesticated. Most of the cigarette boxes of our "Fan Yang Painting" are cigarettes produced in Jinan, with brands such as "Quancheng", "Golden Ju", "Thousand Buddhas", "Public", "Production", "Amber" and "Changqing", and there are few cigarettes in other ports, and there are several brands of "Qingdao", "Golden Deer", "Daqianmen", "Puteng" and "Goldfish".
Nowadays, in addition to high-end hotels and restaurants, you can occasionally see matches printed with hotel advertisements and scenic spots as gifts, and matches are rarely seen in the street market. Once upon a time, matches were an indispensable item for thousands of households to light fires for cooking, and in the planned economy era, they were still supplied with tickets, and if they went back further, they were made by foreigners and imported products, so people called it "foreign fire". When we used matches as toy materials, we still called them "foreign fire", which we learned from adults, who used the old name, and even the traders who walked through the villages were called "foreign fire". Our toy is called "foreign musket", which is to first use iron bars (also known as iron bars, bean strips, iron wire as thick as beans) to make a pistol model, bicycle chain buckles to make a gun chamber, iron bars as bolts and triggers, "foreign fire" phosphorus heads as "bullets", and rubber bands as accessories. When playing "foreign musket", first pull the bolt to install foreign fire (gunpowder), and then pull the trigger, that is, it makes a crackling sound (some foreign muskets are double), and at the same time emits a trace of green smoke and a smell of gunpowder. At that time, "foreign musket" was a high-end toy, not every partner had it, making "foreign musket" was a technical job, some companions could not do it, parents did not have time to do it, they could only be the audience, watching others play, the envy, grievances and unspeakable, the look of unhappiness hung on the face. The "foreign fire" we use to play "foreign musket" is the match from Jinan Match Factory, the brand is "Double Happiness" and "Jinan", a box seems to be 50, and the number of delicate packaging is less. At that time, matches were paid for two cents a box, the price of civilians, even so, would not be easily obtained, the family strictly controlled matches, firstly, for safety, afraid that we would "play with fire", and then to save money, and two cents were also money, there was a saying at that time, "a penny can stump a hero."
Jinan Match Factory is a large factory, famous in North China, formerly known as Jinan Zhenye Match Company, is the earliest national match industry in Shandong, the founder is Cong Liangbi. Cong Liangbi (1869-1945), a native of Penglai County, Shandong Province, was a student at the Dongshun Tai Business in Yantai when he was young, and was appreciated for his intelligence and ability, and was sent to Osaka, Japan in 1895 to purchase matches. Dongshun Tai is a business name specializing in matches opened by Muping Renjin, at that time there were no manufacturers of matches in Shandong, and the matches on the market were produced in Japan and Sweden, so it was called "foreign fire". Dongshun Tai specializes in match business, purchasing matches from Japan and shipping them to Tianjin, Yantai and other places for sale. After the Xinhai Revolution, inspired by the idea of "saving the country through industry and rejuvenating China", Cong Liangbi returned from Japan to raise funds to set up a national match industry. After various fundraising, 200,000 silver yuan was raised, and a factory was built in the winter of 1912 in Linxiangmenli, Jinan, and officially opened in July 1913. Jinan Zhenye Match Company took the name "Zhenye", which means "revitalizing industry", and the product is the "Sanguang" brand, followed by "mountain lion" and "push mill" and other brands. In April 1955, the public-private partnership was renamed as the public-private partnership Jinan Zhenye Match Factory, and in May 1958, it was merged into the local state-owned Jinan Match Factory, which went through the period of Beiyang warlords, the Nationalist government, the Japanese army's invasion, public-private partnership, state-owned and other periods, and then was merged by the Bohai Group until it disappeared. Because he loved to play with "foreign muskets" when he was young, he had a warmth for matches, so that when he knew that the match factory went bankrupt and turned into historical dust, a feeling of loneliness and sadness surged in his heart.
Jiangnan vendors are drinking osmanthus candy for sale, which I have never seen until now, let alone eaten. I like to eat sugar, most of the sugar I eat is local sugar, sugar makes me happy. When I was young, when I heard gongs in the street, I would run out of my house and look at the candy sellers. The small seller is sweet potato candy, an irregularly shaped, sauce-red sugar cube, divided into one penny and two cents according to the size of the piece, and the small piece sells the fastest. The sweet potato candy is very sweet, but it has a burnt flavor in the sweetness, which is not as delicious as the fruit candy sold in the commissary. But there is one thing, if you don't have money in hand, sweet potato candy can be exchanged for toothpaste skin and the sole of your shoes, but you can't spend sugar, you have to trade it in cash. Later, in a few days, we can eat fruit flower sugar, but the sugar is in the mouth, still reluctant to chew, slowly melt and eat, eat for a long time. There are several candy factories in Jinan, and the various fruit hard candies produced are delicious.
I once heard my father say that the sugar he ate when he was a child was called "foreign sugar", the earliest was "Korean sugar", when the Japanese occupied Jinan, in order to make a Sino-Japanese goodwill look, I saw that Chinese children would give one or two pieces of "foreign sugar", but most Chinese children did not dare to eat it, even if they had to accept it, but when it came to their mouths, they always felt an indescribable taste. It is said that the earliest store selling candy in Jinan is called Lao Maosheng Candy Zhuang, on Puli Street outside the west gate, is Tianjin Lao Maosheng's semicolon in Jinan, the name of the treasurer is Xue Baosheng, selling self-produced candy, mainly bag sugar, peanut beef root candy, amber nuts, ghee candy, cowhide candy, wine heart candy, etc. I haven't heard my father say that he has eaten Lao Maosheng candy, nor have I read the detailed information of Jinan Lao Maosheng Candy Farm, so I dare not write in vain. In May 2014, when Pooley Street was renovated, I wanted to go there to see the old shop there, and ask the old people there if they knew about the old Maosheng Candy Farm, but unfortunately they didn't go to it because of the delay, which is a pity.
Speaking of which, whether it is "cigarette foreign fire osmanthus candy" or "cigarette foreign fire old Maosheng candy", in fact, it is talking about three items: cigarettes, matches, and candy. Nowadays, in addition to cigarettes are still the favorite of smokers, matches have been replaced by gas lighters, electronic lighters, although candy can bring people happiness and sweetness, but many people "stay away" for health reasons. People no longer pay as much attention to these three objects as they used to, and the reason why I still have a little attachment to them is because of my childhood experience. These three objects often remind me of my old life, and I can also peek into the leopard, more or less understand the historical fragments of China's transition from traditional society to modern society and China's economic development over the past century.
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